WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1842
252
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trial of offenders, and hence it is that delinquents go unpunished and subordination and discipline come to be totally disregarded. No matter how great the outrage against the rules and laws established for the government of the army-no matter how mutinous and insubordinate and insulting to his immediate com- manding officer, the Congress, or the Executive, an officer may be, according to the doctrine heretofore proclaimed, is not to be stricken from the rolls, but; in comtempt of all order and in the face of the soldiery whom he has disgraced, he is to triumph in his defiance. Unless, therefore, power to bestow adequate and certain punishment is acknowledged to exist somewhere, no good can be expected to result to the country from our military ex- penditures; and the idea of national protection under such circum- stances becomes supremely ridiculous. It will be perceived from the accompanying estimate, that the amount of twenty thousand dollars in Exchequer bills appro- priated by the last Congress was totally inadequate to the creation of a force for the protection of the South western frontier. The Executive deemed it useless to attempt an impossibility; and he had no inclination to squander the amount placed at his disposi- tion. Hence it is that a portion of that appropriation has re- mained subject to the action of the Honorable Congress trans- ferring it to other purposes. Such portions as have been used were devoted to giving every feasible facility to the attainment of the object intended. No regularly constituted companies were maintained, because that would have been impracticable; but in various other ways, aid, encouragement and support were ex- tended, resulting either directly or indirectly in promoting the safety of the frontiers. Such portions as may not be required to meet obligations thus incurred will be held subject to the future action of the Honorable Congress. Sam Houston. 1 "Messages of the Presidents," Congressional Papers, Seventh Congress; also Executive Record Book, No. 40, pp. 182-183, Texas State Library. Journals of the House of Representctti'L·es of the Revublic of Texas, 7th Cong., 1st Sess., pp. 129-131; also, Journals of the Senate of the Re1mblic of Texas, 7th Cong., 1st Sess., pp. 53-54. ~see the estimate for the cost of equipment and maintenance of a company of cavalry for one year in Cong·ressional Pa1>ers, Texas State Library. Also in Senate Jo11r1wl, p. 55, where the "cost of sustaining a company of cavalry of sixty-seven men including officers," is itemized in detail.
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