this agreement shall be sent to General Vincente Filisola and to General
T. J. Rusk, commander of the Texan army, in order that they may be
apprised of its stipulations; and to this end they will exchange
engagements to comply with the same.
"Article IX. That all Texan prisoners now in the possession
of the Mexican army, or its authorities, be forthwith released, and
furnished with free passports to return to their homes; in consideration
of which a corresponding number of Mexican prisoners, rank and file, now
in possession of the Government of Texas shall be immediately released;
the remainder of the Mexican prisoners that continue in the possession
of the Government of Texas to be treated with due humanity,--any
extraordinary comforts that may be furnished them to be at the charge of
the Government of Mexico.
"Article X. General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna will be sent
to Vera Cruz as soon as it shall be deemed proper.
"The contracting parties sign this instrument for the abovementioned
purposes, in duplicate, at the port of Velasco, this fourteenth day of
May, 1836.
"DAVID G. BURNET, President,
"JAS. COLLINGSWORTH, Secretary of State,
"ANTONIO LOPEZ DE SANTA ANNA,
"B. HARDIMAN, Secretary of the Treasury,
"P. W. GRAYSON, Attorney-General."
REPORT IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY 19, 1848.
Mr. Lincoln, from the Committee on the Post-office and Post Roads, made
the following report:
The Committee on the Post-office and Post Roads, to whom was referred the
petition of Messrs. Saltmarsh and Fuller, report: That, as proved to
their satisfaction, the mail routes from Milledgeville to Athens, and from
Warrenton to Decatur, in the State of Georgia (numbered 2366 and 2380),
were let to Reeside and Avery at $1300 per annum for the former and $1500
for the latter, for the term of four years, to commence on the first day
of January, 1835; that, previous to the time for commencing the service,
Reeside sold his interest therein to Avery; that on the 5th of May, 1835,
Avery sold the whole to these petitioners, Saltmarsh and Fuller, to
take effect from the beginning, January a 1835; that at this time, the
Assistant Postmaster-General, being called on for that purpose, consented
to the transfer of the contracts from Reeside and Avery to these
petitioners, and promised to have proper entries of the transfer made on
the books of the department, which, however, was neglected to be done;
that the petitioners, supposing all was right, in good faith commenced the
transportation of the mail on these routes, and after difficulty arose,
still trusting that all would be made right, continued the service
till December a 1837; that they performed the service to the entire
satisfaction of the department, and have never been paid anything for it
except $----; that the difficulty occurred as follows:
Mr. Barry was Postmaster-General at the times of making the contracts
and the attempted transfer of them; Mr. Kendall succeeded Mr. Barry, and
finding Reeside apparently in debt to the department, and these contracts
still standing in the names of Reeside and Avery, refused to pay for the
services under them, otherwise than by credits to Reeside; afterward,
however, he divided the compensation, still crediting one half to Reeside,
and directing the other to be paid to the order of Avery, who disclaimed
all right to it. After discontinuing the service, these petitioners,
supposing they might have legal redress against Avery, brought suit
against him in New Orleans; in which suit they failed, on the ground
that Avery had complied with his contract, having done so much toward the
transfer as they had accepted and been satisfied with. Still later the
department sued Reeside on his supposed indebtedness, and by a verdict of
the jury it was determined that the department was indebted to him in a
sum much beyond all the credits given him on the account above stated.
Under these circumstances, the committee consider the petitioners clearly
entitled to relief, and they report a bill accordingly; lest, however,
there should be some mistake as to the amount which they have already
received, we so frame it as that, by adjustment at the department, they
may be paid so much as remains unpaid for services actually performed by
them not charging them with the credits given to Reeside. The committee
think it not improbable that the petitioners purchased the right of Avery
to be paid for the service from the 1st of January, till their purchase
on May 11, 1835; but, the evidence on this point being very vague, they
forbear to report in favor of allowing it.
TO WILLIAM H. HERNDON--LEGAL WORK
WASHINGTON, January 19, 1848.
DEAR WILLIAM:--Inclosed you find a letter of Louis W. Chandler. What
is wanted is that you shall ascertain whether the claim upon the note
described has received any dividend in the Probate Court of Christian
County, where the estate of Mr. Overbon Williams has been administered
on. If nothing is paid on it, withdraw the note and send it to me, so that
Chandler can see the indorser of it. At all events write me all about it,
till I can somehow get it off my hands. I have already been bored more
than enough about it; not the least of which annoyance is his cursed,
unreadable, and ungodly handwriting.
I have made a speech, a copy of which I will send you by next mail.
Yours as ever,
A. LINCOLN.
REGARDING SPEECH ON MEXICAN WAR
TO WILLIAM H. HERNDON.
WASHINGTON, February 1, 1848.
DEAR WILLIAM:--Your letter of the 19th ultimo was received last night, and
for which I am much obliged. The only thing in it that I wish to talk to
you at once about is that because of my vote for Ashmun's amendment you
fear that you and I disagree about the war. I regret this, not because of
any fear we shall remain disagreed after you have read this letter, but
because if you misunderstand I fear other good friends may also. That vote
affirms that the war was unnecessarily and unconstitutionally commenced by
the President; and I will stake my life that if you had been in my place
you would have voted just as I did. Would you have voted what you felt
and knew to be a lie? I know you would not. Would you have gone out of the
House--skulked the vote? I expect not. If you had skulked one vote,
you would have had to skulk many more before the end of the session.
Richardson's resolutions, introduced before I made any move or gave any
vote upon the subject, make the direct question of the justice of the war;
so that no man can be silent if he would. You are compelled to speak; and
your only alternative is to tell the truth or a lie. I cannot doubt which
you would do.
This vote has nothing to do in determining my votes on the questions of
supplies. I have always intended, and still intend, to vote supplies;
perhaps not in the precise form recommended by the President, but in a
better form for all purposes, except Locofoco party purposes. It is in
this particular you seem mistaken. The Locos are untiring in their efforts
to make the impression that all who vote supplies or take part in the war
do of necessity approve the President's conduct in the beginning of
it; but the Whigs have from the beginning made and kept the distinction
between the two. In the very first act nearly all the Whigs voted against
the preamble declaring that war existed by the act of Mexico; and yet
nearly all of them voted for the supplies. As to the Whig men who have
participated in the war, so far as they have spoken in my hearing they
do not hesitate to denounce as unjust the President's conduct in the
beginning of the war. They do not suppose that such denunciation is
directed by undying hatred to him, as The Register would have it believed.
There are two such Whigs on this floor (Colonel Haskell and Major James)
The former fought as a colonel by the side of Colonel Baker at Cerro
Gordo, and stands side by side with me in the vote that you seem
dissatisfied with. The latter, the history of whose capture with Cassius
Clay you well know, had not arrived here when that vote was given; but,
as I understand, he stands ready to give just such a vote whenever an
occasion shall present. Baker, too, who is now here, says the truth is
undoubtedly that way; and whenever he shall speak out, he will say so.
Colonel Doniphan, too, the favorite Whig of Missouri, and who overran
all Northern Mexico, on his return home in a public speech at St. Louis
condemned the administration in relation to the war. If I remember, G. T.
M. Davis, who has been through almost the whole war, declares in favor of
Mr. Clay; from which I infer that he adopts the sentiments of Mr. Clay,
generally at least. On the other hand, I have heard of but one Whig who
has been to the war attempting to justify the President's conduct. That
one was Captain Bishop, editor of the Charleston Courier, and a very
clever fellow. I do not mean this letter for the public, but for you.
Before it reaches you, you will have seen and read my pamphlet speech,
and perhaps been scared anew by it. After you get over your scare, read it
over again, sentence by sentence, and tell me honestly what you think of
it. I condensed all I could for fear of being cut off by the hour rule,
and when I got through I had spoken but forty-five minutes.
Yours forever,
A. LINCOLN.
TO WILLIAM H. HERNDON.
WASHINGTON, February 2, 1848
DEAR WILLIAM:--I just take my pen to say that Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, a
little, slim, pale-faced, consumptive man, with a voice like Logan's, has
just concluded the very best speech of an hour's length I ever heard. My
old withered dry eyes are full of tears yet.
If he writes it out anything like he delivered it, our people shall see a
good many copies of it.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
ON THE MEXICAN WAR
TO WILLIAM H. HERNDON.
WASHINGTON, February 15, 1848.
DEAR WILLIAM:--Your letter of the 29th January was received last night.
Being exclusively a constitutional argument, I wish to submit some
reflections upon it in the same spirit of kindness that I know actuates
you. Let me first state what I understand to be your position. It is that
if it shall become necessary to repel invasion, the President may, without
violation of the Constitution, cross the line and invade the territory of
another country, and that whether such necessity exists in any given case
the President is the sole judge.
Before going further consider well whether this is or is not your
position. If it is, it is a position that neither the President himself,
nor any friend of his, so far as I know, has ever taken. Their only
positions are--first, that the soil was ours when the hostilities
commenced; and second, that whether it was rightfully ours or not,
Congress had annexed it, and the President for that reason was bound to
defend it; both of which are as clearly proved to be false in fact as you
can prove that your house is mine. The soil was not ours, and Congress did
not annex or attempt to annex it. But to return to your position. Allow
the President to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it
necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may
choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose, and you allow him to
make war at pleasure. Study to see if you can fix any limit to his power
in this respect, after having given him so much as you propose. If to-day
he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada to prevent
the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may say to
him,--"I see no probability of the British invading us"; but he will say
to you, "Be silent: I see it, if you don't."
The provision of the Constitution giving the war making power to Congress
was dictated, as I understand it, by the following reasons: kings had
always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending
generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object.
This our convention understood to be the most oppressive of all kingly
oppressions, and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one
man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us. But your
view destroys the whole matter, and places our President where kings have
always stood. Write soon again.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
REPORT IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
MARCH 9, 1848.
Mr. Lincoln, from the Committee on the Postoffice and Post Roads, made the
following report:
The Committee on the Post-office and Post Roads, to whom was referred the
resolution of the House of Representatives entitled "An Act authorizing
postmasters at county seats of justice to receive subscriptions for
newspapers and periodicals, to be paid through the agency of the
Post-office Department, and for other purposes," beg leave to submit the
following report:
The committee have reason to believe that a general wish pervades the
community at large that some such facility as the proposed measure should
be granted by express law, for subscribing, through the agency of the
Post-office Department, to newspapers and periodicals which diffuse daily,
weekly, or monthly intelligence of passing events. Compliance with
this general wish is deemed to be in accordance with our republican
institutions, which can be best sustained by the diffusion of knowledge
and the due encouragement of a universal, national spirit of inquiry and
discussion of public events through the medium of the public press. The
committee, however, has not been insensible to its duty of guarding the
Post-office Department against injurious sacrifices for the accomplishment
of this object, whereby its ordinary efficacy might be impaired or
embarrassed. It has therefore been a subject of much consideration; but
it is now confidently hoped that the bill herewith submitted effectually
obviates all objections which might exist with regard to a less matured
proposition.
The committee learned, upon inquiry, that the Post-office Department,
in view of meeting the general wish on this subject, made the experiment
through one if its own internal regulations, when the new postage system
went into operation on the first of July, 1845, and that it was continued
until the thirtieth of September, 1847. But this experiment, for reasons
hereafter stated, proved unsatisfactory, and it was discontinued by
order of the Postmaster-General. As far as the committee can at present
ascertain, the following seem to have been the principal grounds of
dissatisfaction in this experiment:
(1) The legal responsibility of postmasters receiving newspaper
subscriptions, or of their sureties, was not defined.
(2) The authority was open to all postmasters instead of being limited to
those of specific offices.
(3) The consequence of this extension of authority was that, in
innumerable instances, the money, without the previous knowledge or
control of the officers of the department who are responsible for the good
management of its finances, was deposited in offices where it was improper
such funds should be placed; and the repayment was ordered, not by
the financial officers, but by the postmasters, at points where it was
inconvenient to the department so to disburse its funds.
(4) The inconvenience of accumulating uncertain and fluctuating sums at
small offices was felt seriously in consequent overpayments to contractors
on their quarterly collecting orders; and, in case of private mail routes,
in litigation concerning the misapplication of such funds to the special
service of supplying mails.
(5) The accumulation of such funds on draft offices could not be known
to the financial clerks of the department in time to control it, and too
often this rendered uncertain all their calculations of funds in hand.
(6) The orders of payment were for the most part issued upon the principal
offices, such as New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, etc., where
the large offices of publishers are located, causing an illimitable and
uncontrollable drain of the department funds from those points where
it was essential to husband them for its own regular disbursements. In
Philadelphia alone this drain averaged $5000 per quarter; and in other
cities of the seaboard it was proportionate.
(7) The embarrassment of the department was increased by the illimitable,
uncontrollable, and irresponsible scattering of its funds from
concentrated points suitable for its distributions, to remote, unsafe, and
inconvenient offices, where they could not be again made available till
collected by special agents, or were transferred at considerable expense
into the principal disbursing offices again.
(8) There was a vast increase of duties thrown upon the limited force
before necessary to conduct the business of the department; and from the
delay of obtaining vouchers impediments arose to the speedy settlement of
accounts with present or retired post-masters, causing postponements which
endangered the liability of sureties under the act of limitations, and
causing much danger of an increase of such cases.
(9) The most responsible postmasters (at the large offices) were ordered
by the least responsible (at small offices) to make payments upon their
vouchers, without having the means of ascertaining whether these vouchers
were genuine or forged, or if genuine, whether the signers were in or out
of office, or solvent or defaulters.
(10) The transaction of this business for subscribers and publishers at
the public expense, an the embarrassment, inconvenience, and delay of
the department's own business occasioned by it, were not justified by any
sufficient remuneration of revenue to sustain the department, as required
in every other respect with regard to its agency.
The committee, in view of these objections, has been solicitous to frame
a bill which would not be obnoxious to them in principle or in practical
effect.
It is confidently believed that by limiting the offices for receiving
subscriptions to less than one tenth of the number authorized by the
experiment already tried, and designating the county seat in each
county for the purpose, the control of the department will be rendered
satisfactory; particularly as it will be in the power of the Auditor,
who is the officer required by law to check the accounts, to approve or
disapprove of the deposits, and to sanction not only the payments, but to
point out the place of payment. If these payments should cause a drain
on the principal offices of the seaboard, it will be compensated by the
accumulation of funds at county seats, where the contractors on those
routes can be paid to that extent by the department's drafts, with more
local convenience to themselves than by drafts on the seaboard offices.
The legal responsibility for these deposits is defined, and the
accumulation of funds at the point of deposit, and the repayment at
points drawn upon, being known to and controlled by the Auditor, will not
occasion any such embarrassments as were before felt; the record kept
by the Auditor on the passing of the certificates through his hands will
enable him to settle accounts without the delay occasioned by vouchers
being withheld; all doubt or uncertainty as to the genuineness of
certificates, or the propriety of their issue, will be removed by the
Auditor's examination and approval; and there can be no risk of loss
of funds by transmission, as the certificate will not be payable till
sanctioned by the Auditor, and after his sanction the payor need not pay
it unless it is presented by the publisher or his known clerk or agent.
The main principle of equivalent for the agency of the department is
secured by the postage required to be paid upon the transmission of the
certificates, augmenting adequately the post-office revenue.
The committee, conceiving that in this report all the difficulties of the
subject have been fully and fairly stated, and that these difficulties
have been obviated by the plan proposed in the accompanying bill, and
believing that the measure will satisfactorily meet the wants and wishes
of a very large portion of the community, beg leave to recommend its
adoption.
REPORT IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
MARCH 9, 1848.
Mr. Lincoln, from the Committee on the Postoffice and Post Roads, made the
following report:
The Committee on the Post-office and Post Roads, to whom was referred
the petition of H. M. Barney, postmaster at Brimfield, Peoria County,
Illinois, report: That they have been satisfied by evidence, that on the
15th of December, 1847, said petitioner had his store, with some fifteen
hundred dollars' worth of goods, together with all the papers of the
post-office, entirely destroyed by fire; and that the specie funds of the
office were melted down, partially lost and partially destroyed; that this
large individual loss entirely precludes the idea of embezzlement; that
the balances due the department of former quarters had been only about
twenty-five dollars; and that owing to the destruction of papers, the
exact amount due for the quarter ending December 31, 1847, cannot be
ascertained. They therefore report a joint resolution, releasing said
petitioner from paying anything for the quarter last mentioned.
REMARKS IN THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MARCH 29, 1848.
The bill for raising additional military force for limited time, etc., was
reported from Committee on judiciary; similar bills had been reported from
Committee on, Public Lands and Military Committee.
Mr. Lincoln said if there was a general desire on the part of the House to
pass the bill now he should be glad to have it done--concurring, as he
did generally, with the gentleman from Arkansas [Mr. Johnson] that the
postponement might jeopard the safety of the proposition. If, however, a
reference was to be made, he wished to make a very few remarks in relation
to the several subjects desired by the gentlemen to be embraced in
amendments to the ninth section of the act of the last session of
Congress. The first amendment desired by members of this House had for its
only object to give bounty lands to such persons as had served for a time
as privates, but had never been discharged as such, because promoted to
office. That subject, and no other, was embraced in this bill. There were
some others who desired, while they were legislating on this subject, that
they should also give bounty lands to the volunteers of the War of 1812.
His friend from Maryland said there were no such men. He [Mr. L.] did not
say there were many, but he was very confident there were some. His friend
from Kentucky near him, [Mr. Gaines] told him he himself was one.
There was still another proposition touching this matter; that was, that
persons entitled to bounty lands should by law be entitled to locate these
lands in parcels, and not be required to locate them in one body, as was
provided by the existing law.
Now he had carefully drawn up a bill embracing these three separate
propositions, which he intended to propose as a substitute for all these
bills in the House, or in Committee of the Whole on the State of the
Union, at some suitable time. If there was a disposition on the part of
the House to act at once on this separate proposition, he repeated that,
with the gentlemen from Arkansas, he should prefer it lest they should
lose all. But if there was to be a reference, he desired to introduce his
bill embracing the three propositions, thus enabling the committee and the
House to act at the same time, whether favorably or unfavorably, upon all.
He inquired whether an amendment was now in order.
The Speaker replied in the negative.
TO ARCHIBALD WILLIAMS.
WASHINGTON, April 30, 1848.