WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1842
225
and the success of your mission. Write whenever you can. I will do so with pleasure. Sam Houston. Hon. A. Smith London or Paris [ Addressed] : Hon. A. Smith Paris Mr. Barnard Europe 1 Ashbel Smith Pctpers, The University of Texas Library. 2 General James Hamilton. See Houston to W. H. Daingerfield, February 27, 1842. 8 Charles Elliot. See Houston to Charles Elliot, November 5, 1842. 4 Henry Addington, Viscount Sidmouth, was a British attache at Wash- ington, D. C., in 1827, while Houston was there serving as a representative from Tennessee. 6 George Hamilton Gordon, fonrth earl of Aberdeen.
TO GENERAL ZACHARY TAYLOR 1
Washington, Texas, December 9, 1842.
To General Taylor:~ General - The bearer, Mr. Parker,3 will hand you this note. He is the uncle of the little boy purchased of the Comanches by the name of Tommy; 1 and said to be within your command. That he can identify the child, I have no doubt. In relation to the boy and other prisoners, Mr. Parker applied to me six years ago; from which time he has been a constant sufferer, using every exertion in his power and exhausting his means, until he has become poor in their pursuit. He is now a poor man; and I feel assured, from your known character, that you will fully appreciate his condition of mind as well as his circumstances; and render him every facility which his situation may require. Any expenses which may be necessarily incurred in obtaining the boy will be met by the government. The law does not author- ize an advance to Mr. Parker on this occasion; and owing to the universal pressure in Texas, he will have to rely upon the charity and munificense of the friends of humanity. Sam Houston. 1 From Mr. Al Dealey's Collection of Houston Lett:ers, Dallas, Texas; also Executive Reco,·d Book, No. 40, pp. 168-169, Texag State Library. The two sources differ in the fact that Mr. Dealey's document is clearly in the hand- writing of Washington D. Miller, Houston's private secretary; and although it is deleted there is this addition to the second paragraph: ["Though Con- gress appropriated money for the purchase of the prisoners; and the ex- penses attached to their reclamation, no money ha$ yet come to the Treasury
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