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doubted that the House had the power to censure another department of government; (2) the resolution arraigned the Executive upon a high charge, without affording him an opportunity of defense; and (3) such a resolution, if adopted, would show to the country that the House "had witnessed a violation of the Constitution and laws," and had failed to discharge its duty. Instead, it raised the question of impeachment of President Lamar,[15] Vice President Burnet,[16] and Secretary of the Treasury John G. Chalmers, for their conduct in the fitting out of the Santa Fé Expedition, but refrained from recommending to the House any definite action in regard to impeachment.[17] The Select Committee, unanimously, except for Jones of Gonzales, found "the President, in fitting up and sending out the Santa Fé Expedition," had 15. A scathing denunciation of Lamar for fitting out the Santa Fé Expedition and for other actions, signed by "A" -- subsequently identified as General Memucan Hunt -- appeared in the January 26, 1842, issue of the weekly Texian. Its author proposed that Lamar should be delivered up to the vengeance of Mexico for the redemption of the unfortunate Santa Fé prisoners, and that he should be prevented from leaving Texas until the proposition could be made to Mexico and responded to by her. At first, Lamar thought that the article had originated with Anson Jones, the Secretary of State, and if so, he thought, it wore "the aspect of a Government measure," and "I cannot allow him to escape from his responsibility to me." In conclusion, Lamar remarked: "Had the production eminated from the Editor of the Texian or from any irresponsible scoundrel like him, it might be suffered to pass unnoticed without any detrim[en]t to my own character or that of the country." Mirabeau B. Lamar to James Webb, Galveston, Feb. 23, 1842, in Lamar Papers, IV, pt. I, pp. 1-2. See Anson Jones to Mirabeau B. Lamar, Galveston, Feb. 27, 1842; P. Edmunds to M. B. Lamar, Galveston, Nov. 15, 1843; both in ibid., IV, pt. I, pp. 2, 28. 16. Burnet's reply to the charges made against him was written on January 17, 1842, but an earlier publication was delayed by factors beyond his control. Congress adjourned in the meanwhile and publication did not take place until the eve of the convening of the Sixth Congress in special session in June, in order "that a 'report' of a select committee of the Hon. House of Representatives, charging me," he said, "with a violation of 'every obligation which is held sacred by man,' should not remain on file among the archives of the Republic, without an effort to expose the error of its positions, and the fallacy of its arguments." David G. Burnet to the Hon. I. Van Zandt, G. T. Wood, John Brown, and W. N. Porter, Select Committee on Resolutions relative to the Santa Fé Expedition, Oakland, 17th January 1842, in Smither (ed.), Journals of the Sixth Congress of the Republic of Texas, II, 176-182; David G. Burnet to the Editor of the Telegraph, Oakland, June 25, 1842, in ibid., II, 176 n; [David G. Burnet], Reply to the Report of Committee on the Santa Fé Expedition. 17. "Report of Select Committee on Resolutions relative to the Santa Fé Expedition," in Smither (ed.), Journals of the Sixth Congress of the Republic of Texas, II, 99-109. |