272
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1843
Executive will here remark that the Lipans were perfectly satis- fied and considered the allowance made them as an equivalent for the various campaigns in which their warriors had cooperated at different times with our troops, .under the command of General Burleson and others. It will be remarked by your Honorable Body, that the greatest economy has been exercised in the disbursement of the fund. That it was not all immediately appropriated to the protection of the South Western frontier ,vas owing to the fact that it was not sufficient, had it all been in par funds, to have supported one full company of infantry; arid it is a fact notorious to every man of observation, that unless men on our frontier are well mounted they are worse than useless. To have equipped and supported a company of cavalry would have required a sum of more than fifty thousand dollars. The Executive under these circumstances, believed it much more advisable and beneficial to the country that the money should remain in the Treasury than be expended in the attempt to effect a purpose which must prove in the end an utter failure, and disappoint the expectations which it would have inspired. The Honorable House will also recall the fact to their recollec- tion that the money has been depreciated to a scale never above fifty cents, and for a great portion of the year was worth but thirty cents on the dollar and even less. Hoping that our cur- rency would improve, and not wishing to injure our :finances, the Executive has been constrained from a sense of duty to act upon principles of economy, for which he shall feel perfectly justified if he can once more see confidence and a sound currency restored to the country. Sam Houston. 1Exccutive Rec.01·d Book, No. 40, pp. 195-197, Texas State Library. Joiu-nals of the House of Rep,·esenta,tives of the Rc1mblic of Texas, 7th Cong., 1st Sess., 200-202. :William Leslie Cazneau was a native of Boston, Massachusetts. He came to Texas in 1830. In 1835 (December 17) we find him serving as an auc- tioneer for the sale of the cargo of the schooner William Robbins. See William C. Binkley (ed.), Official Co1·respondcnce of the Texa.n Revol11tio11, 1895-1896, I, 210. In 1835 he was a member of General Chambers' staff, and from that time on, for a number of years, was connected with the Texas army. See Com7>trolle1· Military Service Records, Texas State Library.
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