The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963 Page: 99

Notes and Documents

Squadron were divided on that coast) which I gladly put in execution.
Before the proper tribunal, I again say, that I will prove that the
charge of disobedience and insubordination, of treachery, mutiny and
piracy, contained in the President's proclamation and the published
letter of instructions to the Commissioners are all utterly false; and
I am also prepared to prove that the many slanders privately circulated
against me during my absence, by means of which I am led to believe
that the minds of my country's representatives in Congress were
poisened, are totally false, and were invented for the purpose of sac-
rificing an absent man, unheard and undefended on the altar of secret
legislation.
As some excuse for the obstacles which were thrown in my way in
the proposed expedition against Mexico, reports have been widely
circulated, emanating at the Seat of Government, that I am a de-
faulter, and have refused to render an account of the monies received
from appropriations, &c., and this report was finally endorsed by the
President in his letter or orders to me, enclosed to the Commissioners,
which he has caused to be published. The President well knew that
there was no cause of complaint on that score, for he knew that the
means received from Texas and Yucatan were far short of the absolute
requirements of the Navy, and that I must have procured means from
other sources to enable me to keep the vessels afloat. But, independent
of this, he should have known before he preferred charges, the fol-
lowing facts:-that I have necessarily been absent from Texas (with
the exception of four days in May '42 and four weeks in July '42)
for upwards of nineteen months, say from 8th Dec. '41 to the 14th
July, 1843: that I notified the Department in Dec. '41: that my duties
afloat would prevent me from any longer performing the duties of
Navy Agent and Naval Storekeeper, and that I forwarded my accounts
and vouchers, (shewing a large balance in my favor) the receipt of
which was fully acknowledged by the Auditor: that during the extra
session of Congress (July '42) I made repeated efforts to have my
accounts audited up to that date, (during my short stay) in relation
to the monies received from Yucatan, but was informed that the
press of business, and the fact that many of my vouchers, &c., being
at Austin, would compel a postponement of the settlement: that on
the 2d December, 1842, I sent an account current to the auditor,
shewing the disbursement of the monies received from Yucatan, and
received an acknowledgement of its receipt; the vouchers were not sent
because I had to transmit the account by steamer from New Orleans,
and feared to risk them by the same conveyance: but the nature of the
service in which I was engaged, compared with the account current,
would have induced anyone, not disposed to find fault gratuitously,
at least to have given me an opportunity to prove the correctness of
my accounts, before reports were circulated to my injury. I again say