WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1842
212
Departments from the City of Austin to a place of safety. As to the propriety and necessity of the act, no reasonable doubt could exist. The constitution declares that the President and Heads of De- partments shall remain and keep their offices at the seat of gov- ernment unless removed by the permission of Congress, "or un- less in cases of emergency in time of War the public interest may require their removal." That this emergency did exist to a most palpable extent is demonstrated by the fact that, for temporary security, the archives were buried with a view to secure them from injury. The Executive, in accordance with this information, ordered their immediate removal to the City of Houston, as a place of undoubted security. Agents were ordered to provide transportation, so as to effect it with the greatest despatch, and to secure the public arms and stores which were at that point and which have since sustained much damage and loss by their non- -i-emoval. The President considered that he was the sole judge of the emergency requiring their removal. Resistance however has been offered and continued up to the present time. Acts of the most seditious and unauthorised character have been per- petrated by persons styling themselves the "Archive Committee,'' positively refusing obedience to the orders of the Executive, and refusing to permit individuals to remove from that place with their effects, unless a passport was granted by some member of said committee. The Executive felt a reluctance to have recourse to such measures as would have enabled him to carry out the pro- visions of the constitution. During the late incursion of the Mexi- cans, the Executive has been informed that a prominent indi- vidual made application to cull and select such papers as he deemed of importance for the purpose of conveying them to a place of safety. The Commissioner of the General Land Office, anxious to secure the archives in his charge from injury, at- tempted their removal, but his authority was resisted-the com- mittee proposing to remove them, but at the same time to retain a supervision of them and to designate the point to which they were to be removed-thereby clearly conceding the insecurity of their present situation, and assuming to themselves the power of resisting the constitutional authorities of the country and interfering with the constitutional right and duty of the Execu- tive. The causes which at first existed under the provisions of the constitution for the order for their removal by the Executive still exists with undiminished force. This flagrant violation of
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