WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1836
489
Walter E. Hancock, The Life of Santa Anna, 1795-1876 (Ph.D. thesis, 1933), in The University of Texas Library; Frank Cleary Hanighen, Santa Anna, 1795-1876 (1934). 3 George W. Hockley. See Houston to D. C. Barrett, January 2, 1836. 4 William H. Patton. See Houston to Henry Smith, January 17, 1836. t•Barnard E. Bee. See Houston to the Mexican Minister at Washington, October 28, 1836.
To THE TEXAS CONGRESS'
Executive Department, Columbia, 22nd Nov. 1836. To the honorable the Senate ancl House of Representatives: Gentlemen:- A joint resolution of your honorable body ex- plaining the different acts in relation to the service of volunteers and extending the acts relating to bounty lands, has been sub- mitted to me for approval, and I have bestowed such attention upon its several sections, as the responsibility devolving upon me requires. I am always willing to recompense the soldier and the patriot, and would be pleased to sanction the provisions of your resolu- tion, if the following features were excluded from it: Section one grants pay to volunteers sixty days prior to their being muster€d into the service of Texas; that I conceive to be a iong time of leisure, pay for one month will be sufficient to enable them to come into the country; and the bounty lands offered is considered a sufficient recompense, a·s it is contemplated to re- ceive mone for a shorter period than two years, or during the war, they will find a further compensation in establishing the security of a country in which they intend to live. Section 2d extends the bounty lands "to all who have ,·olun- teered in the army of T'exas," and by necessary implication of law, includes those of our own resident citizens who have joined the army as volunteers. I presume the object of your honorable body was not, to compensate citizens for so express a duty of true allegiance but this section as it now reads, can be easily construed in that way. I conceive it sufficient for citizens who have vested interests and head rights in the soil, that their counh'y demands their services, and their lands already acquired need protection. To the stranger and the foreigner who ha,·e nothing here to defend, I would say, we hold forth to you a substantial
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