WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1824-1857
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few days, or weeks. Why did he not make his claim in his life- time? Do, I pray you, to look into this matter. I may judge harshly, but facts will show if I am wrong. Truly yr. Friend, Sam Houston [Rubric] Jno M. Swisher, Esq. 1 Comptroller's Letters, Texas State Library. Houston's letter to Swisher was writtel'1 on the blank page of a letter from Peter MacGreal, part of which reads as follows: Brazoria, November 21, 1853. Dear General: I received from J. M. Swisher, Auditor, the following copy of an endorsement made by you on a Commission issued to Col. D. C. Barrett as Judge Advocate General of the Army of Texas, by the Convention:- "This man never was in the service, and left the Country contrary to the Constitution, and did not participate in the War. He is entitled to nothing either as pay, rations, or perquisites. This is void. City of Houston, 30th April, 1838. Sam Houston." As the attorney of the Estate of D. C. Barrett, I filed a claim for his services, not being aware of any objection; and especially as I had the declaration of E. M. Pease, Esq., that Barrett was justly entitled to com- pensation." ... Peter MacG1·eal [Rubric]. 2 For a sketch of Barrett and an estimate of his service in the Consultation and the General Council during the Texas Revolution see Eugene C. Barker, "Don Carlos Barrett," in The South.western Historical Quarterly, XX, 139- 145. Besides his civil employments in the provisional government, he was elected on December 11, 1835, to be judge advocate general of the army. He died near Brazoria, May 19, 1838. In the light of the public record- which is rather full-and in view of the esteem in which numbers of his contemporaries held Barrett, this harsh estimate by Houston cannot be certainly explained, though upon the legal claim to salary and allowances, Houston would seem to have been correct. This statement seems demanded if we are not to omit Houston's letter.-E. C. B. INFORMATION ABOUT ACTION UNDER CERTAIN CHEROKEE INDIAN TREATIES, AUGUST 4, 1854 1 Resolved by the Sena.te of the United States, That the attorney general of the United States be required to examine the records and proceedings of the different boards of commissioners ap- pointed by the President to adjudicate claims under the Cherokee treaty of New Echota, made in 1835, and the supplemental articles added in 1836, and reported to the Senate at its next session, the manner in which those treaties have been carried out, and complied with on the part of the two contracting parties, and whether the independence and free action and deliberations
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