[No. 163] r.J ASSEMBLY, MAR. 29, 1850. REPORT Of the Select Committee on the subject of the Mew York Volunteers. The select ooranittee, to which was referred the aubject of the New- York Volunteers, would reepeotfully REPORT t That, upon inveuti^ation of the subject, an i In order to a clear understanding of the object coi£ emplated in the resolutions, relating to the Hew York Volunteers, the following facta have demanded atten• tion. Independence Imving been declared by tho oi tizene of Texa*, in June, 1819 and' the .jraall Aeerican population then found in that country having been aoon af"er dispersed or slain, a permanent settlement of Ameriouna was effected in the yo«r 1821, and by the year 1826, a large n-.aaber of American oitiaena, f rear, amy of the State* of the Union, had settled, improved tho lands , and built up towQS and villages. By the year 1833, the great majority of the people were either Aae ricatas or had ooc aam Awer ioanized, andwere continually making such iirjproveiaenta in laws, the arte, and saiencats, as wire in accorwl- a/ace with American ina titutioaa. At this tire, it we found that the laws of Mexico, under whioh they were oompelled to act, were un• congenial with the spirit of Amer ican enterprise; and finding all efforts, to have suoh laws enacted by the government of Mexico as ware, in their judgment, eons latent with the well-being of a free aid intelligent people, they deliberately resolved to organise themselves into a distinct and separate state. In Eoceipber, 1836, an election %vas held, in -viiioh every voter expressed his wish, for or against annexation to th-* United States. The result of that election was, that out of abcyt four thousand votes cast, only about one hundred werr; given ror :•. separate govern• ment. The president ci Llexico, San^f Antm9 had overthrown the federal govern :snt, VJVI a.i;;:;cied supreme and absolute power • Previous to the declaration of iudepj|nienu?;, the people oT Texas had asired ad• s'' mission into the confederation as a separate state, out the J'laxiuan Congress paid no attention to their petition, and imprisoned the agent sent to treat .vith them. Soon afi Santa Anna endeavors to have an act executed preventing any American roxr. sottlizig in Texas. Theso agressions and usurpations of power, axaited th~ citizens of Texas to resistance, and on the 26th of September, 1835, they defeated a party of Moxicai^at the tov/u o|J Gonzales, on tho hio Guadaloupe. This ms $b>« curaaen cement of a revolution wui..:! continued until Santa Anna was captured at the b-ttlo of San Jacinto, .aid lad, sub- sr^ue.utly, by a uclrann obligation to bind bii^solf to acfcaowledgo and ratify a cons ti tution formed in March previous. The boundaries of Texas, as then defined, wer- " Beginning at the mouth of tiie Rio Grande, thence up the princi.^l stream of suid river to its source, thence due north to 42 de-trees north latitude, thenco along the joundary line, as defined in the treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819 to the beginning." •Texas continued negotiations with the United States, Great Britain Franoo and Haxioo, up to 1843, when negotiations '*ore opened between Texas and the United States, and a treaty of annexation *rae signed by lion. Ju Jt 0. Calhoun, secretary of titato, in April, 1844. This step see.'iOd to be forced upon the government oy ihe course of policy pursue-d by Great P.ritain. On the 22nd of April, 1844, Mr. Tyler cuoj i tted a tr-K*ty of an• nexation which was rejected, and left the ratter open fur discussion. The subject seeried to take a political turn, "nu was discussed during the c&ir/aas pre coding the election of l.Tr. yoik, and apparently approved by the people of the United States. In 1845, Congress took action on it, md on July 4, 1845, Texas b »•.•;. ••.!* one of "the states of the Union. It '•••••s feor.ci necessary that a portion of tne American army should bf; sent into Texas to protect her frontier, and in the same year Tan. Taylor was ordered to proceed th'.ro, and take such position as '.voul ' oest. protect the border settlements. He proceeded ffpti Corpus Cristi to ~he !Uo Grande, and commenced the buil tln/c of a fort opposite Matauorae, Ifcxioo, In all hi;: ooi .-runic ationo frith the ITexioan authorities, Gen. Taylor gave every assurance that ris in• tentions .vero of the most friendly and peaceable cl-uraoter, and that his orders and instructions from government .vera, to cultivate the moat "rienrfly relatione with the Mexican government. But a short time, however, had elapsed, when Gen. Taylor n-nt out Capt. Thornton, with sixty-three dragoons, to watch the course of the river. Jnv.n about thirty miles from the carp thoy wore surrounded by a large body of Mexicans, and sixteen of the dotachmer.t were Milsd and the reiminder token pr i.soners. A few days af tar, Cap t. h,lher, vith the Texan raiigers , v.-as also attached and savor'. 1 of his men lei lied. iter;. Taylor, in siting to the Department of *''ar at this time, state;; U-i case of the attack upon Capt. Thornton*s coxa and, and informed the government that he considered hostilities as having oomraoneed, and also that he hat rjade requisition oh Luuisi^na and Texas for Clve f on sand rien, "which", ho says, "I consider necessary to carry on the ';.>ar \ti 1zi energy and into thf. enemy's country, as it shoula oe." On c.:i3 Isx of hUy following, Oon. Taylor left with a large por• tion of his -"oree .'or Point Isabel, >iiaere .he had fixed his principal depot of pro<risions. On Ms return, on tin -th, he *r.;jt a large body o? hojviu.a; soldiery, and foujh-t the me/r-orabl^ tl^ of Balo Alto, and on the day following the oattie of He sac a do la Palm, and then followed xjie Koxioon army over the Rio Grande 'o Xutartoras. Soon the news reached the states that var hxl osnn i^ade upon our army, that our fi_>£ had been insulted, and th- t American blood had been shed. Tlie chivalry of tho Morth, the f'outh, the h*ast, and the '•Vest, was arouse a, an I thousands rusged to ana, Trie executive of the United States issued a proclamation that the sdrvices of 50,000 men •vould 'be wanted, and that in the State of .,ew York he wished seven regiments io hold themselves in readiness^, amy :1 ooked to the st.utdard of their country. (o, The only regiment that was eom.< i.cioned in this State and sent direct to the scene of war, was that of the first regiment of IJew York Volunteers, under the oomicand of Col. \/.„rd B. Burnett. The officers received their commission, and together with the en were mustered into service in January, 1847, ana during the same ? month embarked, as follows: companies 0/ D ana : .t in tlx* ship "Catherine," under command of Major James C. .JU rnhan; eeripanies A and 0, in the bar iue "Isabel," under Captain Charles II. Shaw; companies H/ F, and part of K, in the brig "hh.pire," under Col, Ward 3. Burnett; cor.^ 'lies I and the balance o" K, in the as. rque "Jubilee. under Got. !'V rton Fair child, and company d, under Lieut. Col, Baxte The usual incidents of embarkation and s-^a voyage need no comment here. On one occasion, however, on the 2<k:h of January, the brig Krapire e jo->untcr\>d a severe gale, during which, u'illiar; •!. Jeffries, of Troy, h, Y., o private, fell overboard, and riotwithstan a ng every exertion was made to save him, he was lost amidst the- angry elements, -m.v slsooa in the ocean. On another occasion, the Empire had arrived in night of the Brazos, when she experienced a second gale, which with graat violence drove her out to sea, where for four days she as out of sight of land. On one dark night during this stcrm, she shipped heavy seas, and was in great danger of jeing lost, bvt$ owing to the effioient aid rendered by office-s and soldiers, she sur/ived. It '.a worthy of remark, that dufin5 this storm, I.'rs, Burnet the wife of Col. -vurd B. Burnett, retained r.m greatest composure, and by her courage and animating example in this perilous hour, gave con• fidence hope to all on beard. Such conduct on the part of American ladies has over oeen matter of adjuration, ani in thin euoe we arc ,rLad tovxecord a dietinguihaed proof that tho spirit of the matrons of '76 animates the daughters o1' our happy land. The hnpiro VMO toon enabled no cast anchor off the Brazos, when Col, 3urae It, v/ith oth >r officers, went on h.ore, and h^lacc .received orders from Gen. Scott they immediately set sail for "Lobos," 'here with other iotac. sweats they disembarked and join ad the bri gade for duty. Soon after the disembarkation of tho regiment at "Lobofj" island, the "colors" pro son tod by the corporation and . iti^ens of .lew York were formally dativerod to the proper officers, .Ve bog la-»v« to introduce some of the most str.l/. ing incidents illustrative ch* the character and eonduot of the volunteer." 'hhile in Mexico, from oho many ehiuh have coma to our kno -lodge.