WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1824-1857
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those resources are to be developed,·and the prosperity that will necessarily follow is to be protected and secured. The construction of these works, while they provide for the defence· of the country, at the same time promote its peaceful pursuits-facilitating the acquisition of wealth, and securing it when obtained. The expense of the preliminary surveys for the fortifications and improvements along the whole coast of Texas is stated by the topographical bureau to be, for two parties, out six months each, the sum of $21,050, and double that sum if out for twelve months. For an enterprise so essential to the proper protection of a large integral portion of the country, and promising such im- ·portant results, it is hoped that the requisite appropriations will be freely granted; and it is confidently believed that when her coast shall have been adequately fortified, and her military and commercial communications shall have been properly established, her returns to the revenue of the United States will be greater, in proportion to the outlay, than those derived from any other State in the Union. [';I.'he editors omit two letters; one from W. L. Marcy, Secretary of War, the other.from J. J. Abert, Colonel of the Corps of Topo- graphical Engineers, as well as the report of the Topographical engineers. The report is, in a general way, covered by this report of the Committee on Military Affairs.] 1 United States Documents, Jo11rnal of the Senate of the United States of Ame1·ica, Ser. No. 469, pp. 348, 378, 1st Sess., 29th Cong., June 15, 1846. The Senate approved the resolutions on June 29, and as Chairman of the Com- mittee on Military Affairs, Houston made a report concerning these resolu- tions on July 22, 1846. This report is to be found in Public Documents of tke Senate of the United States, 1st Sess., 29th Cong., July 22, 1846, Doc. No. 443. We are indebted to Mr. E.W. Winkler for reference to this document. A RESOLUTION CONCERNING THE BOUNDARY OF TEXAS, DECEMBER 27, 1849 1 Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to communicate to the Senate all official correspondence since 4th March last, between the government of the United States and military authorities stationed at Santa Fe; also all correspond- ence between authorities of the State of Texas and those of the United States government, relating to the boundary, or the occupation of the territory of Texas by troops of the United States; also, the reasons why the judicial authorities of the State
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