416
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1845
be paid to the State of Texas, so soon as it should be organized and admitted as a State. That Texas should retain her public lands and if the U States should hereafter vary her boundary, or limits as at present de- fined by contracting; or reducing them, that in that case they should indemnify the citizens of Texas by payment, for any lands, which they may hold by location under the laws of Texas, in the Territory, abandoned by the U States, at the minimum price of the Government lands at this time in the U States. That the Government of the U States may at any time, pur- chase the vacant lands of Texas, at a price to be stipulated, by the commissioners, and in the event of their purchasing our lands, that they should not (without the consent of the State of Texas) sell to, or permit to settle, within the present limits of Texas, any nation people, or tribe of Indians. That Texas should pay her national debt. T11at the United States should remunerate the citizens of Texas whose lands fell within the U States bound- ary, in running the line in the same manner & with the same liberality that Texas did those of the U States or that they (the U States), pay them for their lands which had been located on valid titles, issued by the Government of Mexico, at a time when it was believed, the limits of Texas, would embrace the locations, and previous to running the line. And I would recommend that an article be inserted in the agreement stipulating expressly, that Texas, should not form a part of the Union, until her constitution, is accevtecl by the Con- gress of the U States. I candidly conceive, that these stipulations are absolutely nec- essary, and proper to secure to Texas, and her citizens, as well as to enable the U States to maintain peace with all the Indians on our borders. I have thus hastily written you a long letter, subject to frequent interruptions, you may therefore find my meaning in some things obscure. I have not even glanced at the general policy of the measure of annexation, but have given my views as to the mode of its execution, and what appears to me necessary to be done by the parties. I must confess, that I have, not been free from embarrassment upon the subject. I have felt so deeply for my venerated, and highly valued friend, the Sage of the Hermitage, that nothing but the most sacred regard for my adopted Country could have induced me again, to thus express my opinions upon this subject. The feelings of Genl. Jackson are so much absorbed in the subject of annexation, arising from
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