AUSTIN - Despite misgivings from the great-grandson of the hero of San Jacinto, a House committee approved legislation Wednesday to initiate negotiations with Mexico onretrieving the flag that flew over the Alamo the day it fell.

The House State, Federal and International Relations JAN Committee voted 6-0 tosend a bill to the full House that would authorize the Texas State Library and ArchivesCommission to negotiate an agreement with the appropriate authorities in Mexico.

Sen. Carlos Truan, D-Corpus Christi, author of the bill - which already has passedthe Senate - said the proposal would call for trading or lending the Alamo flag to Texas forthree Mexican flags captured by Texans at the battle of San Jacinto from Gen. AntonioLopez de Santa Anna.

"I'm very pleased," Truan said of the House committee vote.

The flag, known as the New Orleans Greys, flew over the Alamo and was captured by Mexican soldiers March 6,1836.

The Matamoros, Guerrero and Toluca flags are the banners that would be exchanged with Mexico in return for the Alamo flag.

The House committee action came in spite of misgivings expressedby Sam Houston IV, great-grandson of the hero at San Jacinto, and also bythe San Jacinto Museum of History, where one of the three flags is kept,and by the head of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.

"That's a three-for-one trade," said Houston, who lives in Katy, near Houston. "Those were flags won at the place where we won the independence of the state of Texas. It's nothing against the Alamo, but it's not a good trade.

"We captured those flags at San Jacinto, and the Mexican government captured the flag at the Alamo," Houston said by phone. "That's their flag, whether we like it or not. The Mexican government has in the past not seemed too anxious to return that flag, even for display."

Gail Loving Barnes, president general of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, had similar concerns.

"We're just wanting to be cautious," she said.

Houston, in a reference to Truan, said: "I think the bill is a political maneuver"

Responding to that, Truan said: "No! My involvement in this matter from the very beginning was to lay the foundation for a possible exchange or loaning of the flags."

He went on to say: "This is a very sensitive issue with the people of Mexico."

Neither Houston nor San Jacinto Museum director J.C. Martin came to Austin to testify on the bill Wednesday. They came here for the issue a week ago, but it was postponed.