237
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1844
And the said P. J . Pillans, Esquire, is hereby specially com- mended to the friendly consideration of all chiefs, headmen, war- riors, and other Indians, in treaty with the whites, and to all officers and agents of the Government aforesaid, whom he may meet. In testimony whereof, I hereunto set my hand and affix the Great seal of the Republic of Texas, at Washington the 3d. day of February, 1844. Sam Houston W. D. Miller, Private Secretary. 1 Papers on Indian Affairs; P1·oclamations of the Presidents of the Repub- lic of Texas; also Executive Record Book, No. 40, p. 327. T'o THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESt Executive Department, Washington, February 3d. 1844. To the Honorable, the House of Representatives: A bill "for the relief of A. B. Shelby," is herewith returned to your Honorable Body without approval. The reasons already rendered on more than one similar occasion would be sufficient, as the Executive conceives, against the pas- sage of the bill; but others of an important bearing also exist. As the Executive understands, a large portion of this demand is based upon a claim for services as presiding judge of the District Court, after the expiration of the term for which he had been elected, and after Congress had elected a judge to supply his place. He disregarded the action of that branch of the govern- ment and assumed the right to exercise the functions of a judge; the consequence of which was the delay and suspension of judicial business in the District in which he assumed to act. The Executive is constrained to believe that this demand is well ·founded neither in law nor in equity; for if one man can assume the power of acting in the capacity of an officer, when he has not a legal warrant to do so, and when his functions have constitu- tionally or legally ceased, every individual in society might con- tend for the same privilege. And were the government to remunerate contempt of its authority in one instance, it would open the door to endless assumptions, expense and injury. Certain it is, that bills have been rejected, providing for the payment of demands of longer standing accruing under the
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