WRITINGS OF SAM HousT!)N, 1843
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it will be seen that, unless the necessary provision is soon made for t~.king care of our public vessels, they will be abandoned, and in that event must inevitably be lost to the country. A ~tatement of the condition of the vessels and of the amount requh·ed for repairs will be laid before Congress at an early day. The estimates now furnished are made upon the lowest possible scale which could serve any useful purpose. Sam Houston. 1 ./ournals of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Texas, 8th Cong., 1st Sess., pp. 93-94. "Messages of the Presidents," Congressional Privers, Eighth Congress; also Executive Record Book, No. 40, pp. 291-292, Texas State Library.
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1
Executive Department, Washington, December 28th, 1843. To the Honorable the House of Representatives: In reply to a resolution of your Honorable Body, of the 22d. instant, I herewith transmit a copy of the correspondence of the Department of State with the British Charge d'Affaires near this government, in relation to the release of our fellow citizens now, or lately, prisoners in Mexico. This correspondence com- prises the information sought by the resolution; and the Executive hopes soon to have it in his power to inform the Representatives of the people, that an object so much desired as the liberation of our captive countrymen, has been fully attained. I also send a copy of the proclamation of the Executive of the 4th September last, tendering to all Mexicans within our limits, who had been at any time captured by the forces of Texas, free passport and safe convoy to the Rio Grande. As the correspondence now transmitted, has hitherto been made public for the satisfaction of those immediately interested in the measures adopted by the Government for the restoration of the prisoners, the Executive conceives it unnecessary to make this communication under injunction of secrecy. Sam Houston. 1Journals of the House of Re7n-esenta.tives of the Republic of Texas, 8th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 93. "Messages of the Presidents," Congressional Pcipers, Eighth Congress; also Execnti11e Record Book, No. 40, pp. 292-293, Texas State Library.
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