WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1843
488
or that, during their recess, all correspondence must be suspended, as none could be conducted without their advice. T'he constitu- tion surely never contemplated this state·of things; and the Presi- dent entertains too much respect for the rights of the citizens and the body of their representatives to suffer in his hands the rights and dignities belonging to the station he occupies to be degraded and the express letter of the constitution violated, or the national progress impeded, to allay the alleged "excitement" which the emissaries of faction may have sought to produce or the incendiaries of discord lighted up with their torches-min- isters of evil who strive to uproot the foundations of society and subvert the institutions of the country, cemented by the blood of many a martyr in the cause of Texian freedom. No special messenger has been despatched by this government. The gentleman to whom the resolution alludes was none other than the Secretary of Legation to the United States. He had borne despatches from our Charge d'Affaires near that govern- ment to our own, and had been detained for some time awaiting the meeting of the Honorable Congress that he might have it in his power to return with such intelligence as might be of ad- vantage to this g0vernment. It had been known for many days that his departure would take place soon after the meeting of Congress; and certainly there was nothing in the manner of his departure calculated to create or increase surprise or "excite- ment." The Executive has been unable to discover anything in all this to "excite" wonder or suggest the necessity of his recall. In all cases where negotiations have been concluded, and in all other cases requiring the concurrence and sanction of the Senate, they will be laid before that Body, if in session; and if not in session no further proceedings will take place until they shall have been convened and the subject submitted to their constitu- tional concurrence and action. If. however, the Executive required a precedent for a disregard of the intervention of the Senate or its concurrent action, he might find it in the history of the appointment by this government of two envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary to Mexico, with their Secretaries of Legation, without the concurrence or authority of the Senate- one of them the Honorable James Webb, a gentleman -learned in the law and for some time previous to his appointment, At- torney General of the Republic. This gentleman received from the public treasury for his outfit and salary the sum of thirty +:housand dollars, of which, after the failure of his mission, only
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