WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1842
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the sanction of the Senate. In the case of Yucatan, that Body had given no expression in relation to such an alliance. Our navy was hundreds of miles detached from the protection of our coast, subsidized to a revolutionary possession of Mexico, and placed at their disposition. And after having been thus employed for months, returned destitute to our shores-not having been paid the amount contracted for, and without adding renown to our navy, or reaping glory or advantage for the country. Since that time, all the means and efforts of this government have not been able to get the navy again to sea. The whole transaction was not of this government. It was that of an individual placed at its head, without having authority either under the constitution or law. And ,vhatever is done with- out authority is of course violation of that law from which the authority is assumed to be derived. The Executive cannot but remark to your Honorable Body that had he, under all the circumstances attendant upon this alliance with Yucatan, continued the correspondence, he would have been acting in bad faith to the people of Texas. He does not wish to soil his skirts with the crime of treason; and were he to "adhere to" the enemies of the Republic and render them aid and support, he would bring himself within the definition of treason under the constitution. He regards any aid rendered to Yucatan as ulti- mately serviceable to Mexico; assured as he is, that though the flickerings of a revolutionary spirit render to the malcontents a momentary gleam of hope, eventually they will be reunited to Mexico ; and he would not be surprised if their adhesion had been tendered before the present moment. Sam Houston. 1 "Messages of the Presidents," Cong1·essional Pape1·s, Seventh Congress; also Executive Record Book, No. 40, pp. 172-174, Texas State Library. Journals of the Senctte of the Re1rnblic of Texas, Seventh Congress, 1st Ses- sion, 20-22. To THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1 Executive Department, Washington, December 15th, 1842. To the Honorable, the House of Representatives: The Executive has the pleasure to transmit copies of such official reports and orders under which the present campaign is organized, as are requested in the resolution of your Honorable Body of the 13th instant, embracing an abstract of the force employed, so far as it has been reported to the War Department;
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