WRITINGS OF SA:M HOUSTON, 1850
159
"I understand that this was a hurried affair, and that voters were picked up at whatever place they were found." That is, I suppose, taking a fellow by the scalp, and saying, "You must go to the poll." "But," says the voter, "I don't know anything about it," and he gets excited, supposing he is going before the alcalde; and these Pueblo Indians are very fearful of the alcaldes, who, by the way, are generally great rascals. Well, the voter goes forward, and he is informed that he has nothing to do but to take up a little piece of paper and put it into a box. He says, "this is easy enough," and having deposited his ticket, he runs away from the ballot box, expecting some horrible ex- plosion. But it does not explode, and the poor fellow thinks himself happy in getting off so easily, and says he never got out of a scrape so easily in his life. [Laughter.] Well, sir,- "It was a hurried affair, and voters were picked up at whatever place they were found, and this arose from the extreme anxiety to secure the services of an exceedingly clever man, the honorable Hugh N. Smith, as the delegate of certain influential citizens of this territory." Well, I suppose that all the intelligence of everything we have is derived from this source, for I believe that everything we have had here has been adjudicated upon his peculiar intelligence, and his great facility of communicating what he knows, for I believe he has no scruples in doing so. Now, this is the delegate of the influential citizens of this terri- tory; yes, sir, the delegate of certain influential citizens. He is their delegate, sir, not the delegate of these poor Pueblo Indians -those poor creatures on whose behalf the honorable Senator from Illinois has so largely taxed our sympathies, but for whose condition Texas is not responsible. Sir, these "influential citi- zens" have sent a delegate here, through the instrumentality of these poor Pueblo Indians, by means of what was termed "an election." And is his say-so to determine with my friend the rights of a State here? Sir, I have more respect for the opinion of my honorable friend-though this is a subject which he has not had time to examine thoroughly-yet I have more respect for his opinions than for certain opinions of that "delegate of certain influential citizens." Now, I cannot help thinking about these subjects sometimes, because I hear so much about Texas, and she has been so badly abused. How long then, have these citizens been there? I should imagine that they were gentlemen who had been induced to go
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