305
WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1844
To ANSON JoNEs 1
Houston, 24th April, 1844. P.S. Dear Jones,- It will not be necessary to send anything but a copy of the original instrument from the War Department to the commissioners, with the first draft proposed by our com- missioners to those of Mexico, and for you or the Secretary of War to state that the agreement of the commissioners was " not approved "by me, but "rejected," and ordered it to be so endorsed, and that it is so endorsed and filed in the office. Houston. [ Note.- The great mistake of our commissioners was, that when they found they could not make an agreement with the Mexican Commissioners, within the range and scope of their instructions, that they had not declined to make any. A mere failure to come to an understanding at Sabinas, would have done little injury- but in exceeding their powers and acknowledging Texas to be a "Department of Mexico," they committed a serious and double error, which was well calculated to do us great harm. A. J.] 'Anson Jones, Memoranda and Official Col"l"espondence, Republic of Texas, 342. This message to Jones was written as a postscript to u letter from M. P. Norton to Jones. It is as follows: Houston, 24th April, 1844. Dear Sir,-The publication of the [commission of] armistice is doing great mischief to the cause of annexation in the United States and here, and if not properly met, will place the President in a false position. The only way now left, since it is published in the Civilian, is to publish the commission or letter of instructions to Messrs. \Villiams and Hockley, and to send a copy by the next boat to the United States if it can reach here ... l\I. P. Norton. M. P. Norton lived at Houston, and was one of the judges who served that district from 1838 to 1845. He was a strong advocate for annexa- tion and was the chairman of the convention that met at the Presbyterian Church in Houston (1844), to declare their desires concerning the matter. By virtue of his office as district judge, he was one of the associate justices of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas. See The Southweste1·n Hist01·ical Q11a1·terly, XIX, 24; XVIII, 405; also J. H. Davenport, The Histo1-y of the S-11p1·eme Court of the State of Texas, 16.
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