WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1860
411
should extend to our border. To prevent these influences operat- ing upon the turbulent portion of our own population, as well as to check any effort on the part of the citizens of Mexico to aid them in setting the laws at defiance, the presence of the Federal troops is absolutely necessary; and in my opinion the disturbances may be attributed to the insecurity arising from their removal, which left no check against the influences of civil war in Mexico. I have full confidence that the Federal Government will not only guard against such exigencies in the future, but will, as it should, recognize as valid the acts of its military officer on the Rio Grande in assuming the control of our State troops, and reimburse Texas for the cost of pay and subsistence. Notwithstanding the fact that no appropriation had been made by the Legislature to provide for the defense of our frontier, and the condition of the Treasury warranted but little hope of relief from that quarter, I could not disregard the claims of our frontier citizens to protection from marauding bands of Indians which infest our border, and accordingly at once took steps to call into the field a sufficient force to meet the present emergency. By vir- tue of the constitutional power vested in the Executive to resist invasion, I felt fully authorized to pursue this course, believing that ·the Legislature would provide the means of pay and sub- sistence for the troops. Instructions have been issued to Captain W. C. Dalrymple/ Ed. Burleson,· and John H. Connor,1 to raise each sixty men for immediate service. Since the initiative steps to effect this purpose were taken, the bill entitled "An act for the protection of the frontier," came into my hands. Inasmuch as the Legislature has thrown upon the Executive the entire respon- sibility of defending the frontier, it is but just to him and to the people of the State, that the Legislaure should provide him with the means of meeting that responsibility, as the exigency before him requires. The bill in question but affirms a constitutional power already existing in the Executive. It provides the manner in which the troops shall be organized, and the rates at which they shall be paid; but the money by which they are to be paid and sustained in the field is unprovided for. Without a dollar at his command, it is impossible for the Executive to sustain rangers on the frontier, or accomplish much for the defense of the State; and although numbers of our citizens are ready to go to the scene of danger, relying upon the justice of the State to pay them for their services, yet they can not be expected to enter
Powered by FlippingBook