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248
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1850
This makes, in all, $287.02. Here, then, is the evidence of my "malfeasance in office." Yes, sir, I say "malfeasance in office." Is there evidence of bad faith here? No, sir. The truth, which is itself omnipotent, has vindicated my character. From the day of my enlistment in 1813 to the present, in all my connection with the Government, there is not to be found a jot or tittle that can be brought forward to sustain this charge against me. Now, Mr. President, I hope that, so far as I am concerned in this matter, I have shown that there is no justification for the charge which has been made against me, and no foundation upon which it can be based. But how did this charge now become resuscitated? How did an accusation so long gone by come up at this period? How comes it now to be brought against me? In the communication in the Southe1-n Press the writer says: "I have to inform the Senator, however, that there are few beyond the limits of his acquaintance who are more intimately acquainted with his history than I am. It is certainly the priv- ilege of all to be familiar with the lives of the great even in their own conceit." Well, sir, it has been my misfortune of late to be the object of a great many attacks, but I have never complained much in regard to them. With the help of a good constitution and a hardy temperament, I have managed to get along very well under them. [Laughter.] But I must believe that the individuals in South Carolina who profess such a thorough knowledge of my character are sometimes at fault. When attacked about a year, or a year and a half ago, I think it was, I was threatened with an exposure of the contents of a diary, or forthcoming history, that was going into my private relations, and everything else in regard to me. I confess I certainly had not thought that, for the last twenty-five years, I had been a man of sufficient importance to warrant such a production from any literary or distinguished gentleman of the present day. [Renewed laughter.] I have never dreamed of it, sir. I never solicited it. And I must be the most inclined to doubt the correctness of the information of these individuals when I see them indulging in charges of a character so unfounded as that which I have just overthrown and exposed. There is no portion of my life, perhaps, that might not have been improved. But still, considering the hardy mode of life through which I have passed, and the various rubbings to which I have been subjected, I perhaps have as little to regret as a num- ber of others. I can only say, in the charitable language of Holy
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