WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1844
523
and in collecting and comparing information, would doubtless be of the highest importance. If the honorable Congress should think well of these sugges- tions, they will be aware of the propriety of immediate action upon the subject. The Congress of the United States has now been in session some time, and there can be but little doubt that, if they have not already done Ro, they will soon indicate their disposition and course of policy toward this country. Believing, as the Executive did at the commencement of the present session, that the subject of annexation was in the best position in which Texas could place it, he did not allude to it in his message, apprehending that any public action, taken either by the Executive or the Congress, would only have a tendency to embarrass the subject. Action must now be taken by the United States, and we must now watch and meet their disposition toward us. If we evince too much anxiety it will be regarded as importunity, and the voice of supplication seldom commands, in such cases, great respect. The Executive hopes that these injunctions, under which this communication is made, may be so regarded by the Congress, as to prevent the possibility of its publication, until the measures sought may be accomplished, or the negotiations terminated. Sam Houston. 1 "M:essages of the Presidents," Cong1·cssiona.l Papers, Eighth Congress; also Executive Record Book, No. 40, pp. 308-310, Texas State •Library. E. W. \Vinkler (ed.), Sec1·et Jom·1wls of the Senate, Rep11blie of Texas, 1896-1845, 294-296. John Henry Brown, Histol'y of Texas, II, 292-295. Crane, L-if e and Select Lite1·ary Remains of Smn Ho11sto11, 153-154. Texas National Registe1·, November 29, 1845. Long extracts in C. E. Lesler, Sam Houston, 210-211, and in his A11thcntic Memoirs (1867), 237-238, 239. The 1vloniing Star (Houston), November 22, 1844, prints this same message under date of January 26, 1844; as does also Telegraph and Texas Register, November 26, 1844. There are some slight verbal differences between the newspaper copies of this .message and the copies to be found in the first three cited sources. The copy filed in Co11gressio11al Papers is evidently the original. TO THE TEXAS CONGRESS 1 Executive Department, Washington, January 22nd, 1844. To the Honorable the Senate and the House of Representatives: I have the honor to inform the Honorable Congress that a vacancy exists in the judgeship of the fourth judicial district,
Powered by FlippingBook