WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1844
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appropriated for frontier protection, Indian purposes and the contingencies of the various departments and offices of govern- ment have been expended, were immediately, upon their receipt, referred to the auditor. The labor and time necessarily required for the compilation of the information requested, have prevented any report from that officer as yet. As soon as it shall have been made, the Executive will forthwith transmit the same to the Senate. In answer to the inquiry as to what amount will be required for the pay of the commissioners to Mexico, I have the honor to reply, that there is now due to the commissioners one thousand dollars each, which was principally expended by them in fitting themselves out for the service assigned to them, in a respectable manner. This was supposed, with the advances which they them- selves very generously agreed to make for the same object, to be sufficient for their support until the probable termination of the commission upon the Rio Grande. The propositions from Mexico, concerning the armistice contemplated the appointment on our part of, not one, but two or more commissioners-other- wise, but one would have been appointed. In addition to the amount due to the commissioners, obligations have been incurred for carrying expresses between Galveston and Matamoras, in relation to the armistice and the release of the prisoners, amounting to between three and four hundred dollars; both of which sums are included in the estimate of ten thousand dollars respectfully asked of Congress as an appropriation for intercourse with Mexico. This estimate is intended to include, moreover, whatever may be reasonably required for the efficient conduct of the negotiations, in the event of their removal to the city of Mexico. The Honorable Senate as well as the Executive are aware that the public interests demand the strictest economy and circum- spection in the disbursement of the public money; and the Execu- tive will not, of course, expend more for the purposes above indicated than may be absolutely necessary to the attainment of the best practicable results in both Mexican and Indian negotia- tions. If the armistice be continued and negotiations progress at the Mexican Capital, it may be unnecessary to employ more than one commissioner. In that case the Executive would feel it obligatory upon him to reduce the expenditures to the most indispensable
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