170
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1850
of peril, or recreant in the hour of danger? Yet, here a high functionary of the Government, the head of its army, whose heart ought to have been filled with admiration of valorous deeds and ready to award the tribute that is due to unconquerable valor, stigmatizes the men of Texas as inefficient and unreliable in time of peril? Experience had never enabled him to judge of them, and was this, then, no manifestation of prejudice? Why, sir, two hundred and fifty Texan rangers, if he had applied for them, would have repulsed any attempt that might have been made to cross the Rio Grande, and the song of peace would have been heard uninteruptedly until this day on that border. Five hundred would more than have done it. Yet, instead of calling them to his aid according to his authority under the Government, he denounces them as unreliable. And when at last they were called upon, what did they do? Like chafed lions they were anxious to pursue the enemy, for it was the first time they had had the prospect of encountering them on equal terms, but they were restrained, and men unacquainted with Mexican warfare, lieutenant colonels from the interior, were permitted to lead our troops through the dense chaparrels and jungles of Mexico, whilst the brave Texans were restrained or taken to the southern plains, there to meet, beneath burning suns, a lingering death by disease. But fortunately, sir, this was not done until after new manifestations of irresistible valor on their part, worthy of the cause in which they were engaged. At Monterey, it was Texans who first took the plaza, the key of the victory. The Bishop's palace and heights too were taken by Texans, and Gillespie's monument stands there a record of their unshrinking gallantry. But even these deeds were not sufficient to rescue them from obloquy and defamation. Even after that, they were denounced and stigmatized as the veriest refuse of the community, and as a dishonor to the army. Is it strange then, sir, that a prejudice, thus early and so strongly entertained, should extend now to the invasion of our constitu- tional rights? Is it strange that our civil rights should be no more respected now than was our military character then? No, sir, it is not strange. But I will read for the information of the Senate and of the world, if it chooses to be concerned with matters of such minor importance as encroachment upon the rights of Texas as a sovereign State, further evidence on this point. But first, let me ask, was it from a normal condition, or after passing through a system of terr~torial pupilage, that Texas became a sovereign
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