WRITINGS OF S,UI HOUSTON, 1842
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power is delegated to Congress. The attention of the Honorable Congress has therefore been called to it and salutary enactments requested. They are now urged as indispensable to the public safety and the execution of the laws. The law has delegated to the President the power to call out the militia to suppress insur- rection, without giving any definition to the crime, or authorising the inflection of any adequate punishment. No tribunal is ap- pointed for the trial of the offence. Instances have occurred within the last three years of a character well calculated to en- force a conviction upon the mind of every patriot that the offence should no longer be disregarded or the delinquents unpunished. Our prosperity as a nation, depends upon the security of life and property being guaranteed to the peaceful citizen, and the pun- ishment of those who disregard the spirit and letter of our social compact. When men take the laws into their own hands, or un- dertake to construe the constitution in derogation of the consti- tuted authorities of the land, it manifests a diseased condition of the body politic and demands of the law making power the pre- scription of a remedy, whilst the Executive by his oath is bound, to enforce it. The punishment of offences ought to be as prompt and summary as the nature of our institutions will admit. The reason is manifest. There are not jails and prisons in the coun- try for the confinement of the accused ; nor are the several coun- ties in a situation to pay a tax sufficient to ensure the safe keep- ing of culprits. Our foreign relations have undergone no material change since the last Executive communication to the Honorable Congress with the exception of the exchange of ratifications of the treaties with Great Britain. No information has been received in relation to the mediation of that power between Texas and Mexico. It is hoped, however, that before the adjournment of the present ses- sion, it will be in the power of the Executive to submit to the Honorable Congress important information embracing that sub- ject. A treaty of amity, commerce and navigation, has been ne- gotiated by our minister the Honorable James Reily, with the government of the United States, the treaty not having yet been received, it will not be within the power of the Executive to submit it to the Honorable Senate for their consideration as early as he anticipated ;-its arrival however is daily expected. Nothing is better calculated to present the deplorable financial condition of Texas than the situation of our post office and mail establishment. For the years 1840 and 1841, not less than one
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