WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1843
289
adopt any measure, either for the release of the prisoners, or ever made any provision for them. Inasmuch as the late Executive was unauthorized to fit out the expedition, the present Executive did not feel himself justified in placing the country in greater involvement by adopting any measure but such as his defined powers would sanction. No. 3 will show that the Executive, so far as he did interfere, acted as an individual, without embarrassment to the govern- ment; and if his efforts contributed at all to the release of the prisoners he derived sufficient gratification from the fact with- out promulgating to the world the means by which it was effected. He has not taken any step, nor has he had any corre- spondence of an official character with the Mexican government since the capture of the Santa Fe expedition. The relations be- tween Mexico and Texas have not been of such a cast as would justify any propositions on the part of the latter. The Executive has not the vanity to believe, after the rejection of two envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary, and the indignities heaped upon our nation, that Santa Anna would have been dis- posed to conduct a correspondence of a very amicable character. Therefore, he has not essayed to invite the attention of that gov- ernment to the affairs of Texas. The Executive seriously deplores the misfortune of our fellow citizen; and if the Honorable Congress will suggest any means by which his sufferings can be alleviated, or his restoration to liberty procured, he will not delay one moment in the execution of the plan. He has never had a dollar at his command for any purpose connected with the Santa Fe prisoners, nor has he ever been notified where Mr. Navarro is incarcerated, or that he has not been liberated. Had the individual who was in corporal command of the ex- pedition, on his return to the Republic thought proper to have reported to the Government the result of the expedition, it would have presented at once in the records of the proper Department, the number of those who returned- the number of deaths-and the number and names of the absentees, and the cause of the absence, and have necessarily have apprised the Executive of the condition of Antonio Navarro. Owing to this delinquency, the government yet remains without any official intelligence, and could only be dependent upon rumor for any facts which it might
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