20:;)
WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1831-1832
on my part, and under circumstances of provocation, such as I am well persuaded no member of this body would ever brook. Did I attack him without previous challenge? No. Did I not ~.pprise him that I was the individual he had injured? He had ample time to place his hand upon his arms, which he did! I was unarmed. Sir, has this the semblance of assassination? However culpable my conduct may, by some, be considered, the crime of lying in wait had its existence only in the imagination of my accuser. The honorable Senator from Missouri [Mr. Buckner] has testified to the House that I was not apprised beforehand of any such meeting-that it was purely accidental, and wholly un- expected-that the action took place under a heated state of feel- ing, and was prompted by his arraigning me, before this honor- able body, and his subsequent outrages upon my feelings and character! It has been said by my accuser that the attack made upon him was for words uttered in his place. It is true that he had laid before the House a charge of corruption, in which my name was implicated; but it was not for the words he uttered here that I assailed him. It was for publishing in the Intelligencer libellous matter, to my injury; such as no member of this honorable court, who is conscious of the rights of an American citizen, would ever tamely submit to. It was for a false and libellous matter, pub- lished "in anticipation of its regular place" in the debates of this House. After having been "blasted" by the stroke of adversity, and hunted from society as an outlaw, to be now libelled for cor- ruption, and charged with fraud upon the Government, is too much to endure! Could the human mind brook it? Could I sub- mit to this, I should indeed think that I was a man not only of "broken fortune," but of "blasted reputation." It is well known that a private citizen has no opportunity of reply to an attack that may be made upon him on this floor. It was.for the publica- tion of such an attack-for the publication of a charge which has here been disproven, inasmuch as no testimony has been adduced to support it. It was for this that I assailed the member; and I now assert that his charge is groundless. The proof has failed. The proof was on him. I was not called on to prove a negative, though I was prepared to do it. After an attack like this had been made on my good name, with all that respect for the priv- ileges of this House which I have ever felt, and which arises from the conviction that they have been entrusted to it for the public good; although I considered the publication false and libellous,
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