WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1842
243
the only course left to the Executive was to order the Commodore with his vessels to report at Galveston for further orders. This was accordingly done. It appears, that on the 19th of August, the Schooner San An- tonio was ordered to Sisal without the knowledge of the govern- ment, for the purpose of obtaining the balance of the sum due from the government of Yucatan, under a contract with the former administration. Since then, the vessel has not returned; and it is the universal opinion and belief that she, with her crew, has perished in a gale. This unfortunate event cannot be too deeply deplored; for while it has diminished our naval force, it has deprived our country of the lives and services of the many gallant officers and men who composed her crew. During the time that the Navy was thus inactive, the govern- ments of Great Britain and the United States complained to this government of the continuance of the proclamation of blockade of Mexican ports when this government could not maintain a single vessel upon the gulf. From which fact the President· felt it to be his duty to proclaim a revocation of the blockade. It will be perceived by the estimates furnished by the proper Department, that the amount required to keep the Navy_ in serv- ice for one year will amount to no less than two hundred thousand six hundred and sixty seven dollars and twenty cents. 3 The Executive, however, is inclined to believe that to include the con- tingencies and resulting repairs a sum not less than three hun- dred thousand dollars would be demanded. It is for the Honorable Congress to determine the question, whether Texas is in a situa- tion to accomplish the object of keeping our Navy longer afloat, or whether a good policy does not require us to abandon that arm of defense and make sale or such other disposition of the vessels as will relieve the nation from a burden which it is so utterly unable to sustain. It is believed that the individuals of whom the vessels were purchased would be willing to receive them back if returned on such terms as would exonerate the country from a considerable portion of its debt contracted in their purchase and relieve us of much of the odium and reproach which have attended to us in consequence of the non performance of the contract on the part of the government. The attention of the government has been impressively called to the situation of this individual,-1 owing to his being a foreigner and having extensive commercial con- nexions.
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