WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1851
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obliquity ought to be branded with eternal shame; men who went about preaching the doctrines of fools, and avowing that the country was given away without a recompense; men who would dissolve the Union; yet not one of these men ever bared his arm to the enemy, or raised a hand to strike for liberty. They were dastards that sought refuge there, and dishonored the country that gave them shelter. They were the men who were opposed to the acceptance of the Compromise, and verily they shall have their reward if they should receive no harsher punishment than that of contempt and neglect--the just reward of treason, if the gallows is. not decreed to it. I trust that whenever the Union is in danger, if Texas has her work to do, she will show that she appreciates its value in the highest degree; and I know that no race of men can ever inhabit it-unless they desecrate the mem- ory of those who fell at the Alamo and Goliad-that can array a single mutinous hand against the country, and that will not bare their bosoms to receive the blow that was aimed at their paternal friend. The blandishments of office, the hope of com- mendation, the love of fame, all these things embodied in one mass, can never induce an old Texan, who braved the perils of the revolution to establish liberty, to turn recreant to the land of his birth, the home of the free, and the Union of America. 1 0wen Griffith, Lectures on Popula,· Subjects, 21-32. This lecture was delivered in Musical Fund Hall, Philadelphia, to aid in rebuilding South- wark Church. Speaking from memory and with little preparation, Houston was not conspicuously accurate in his 1·ecountal of details.
To ROBERT W1LsoN 1
Washington, D. C., 8th Feb. 1851. My dear Wilson :-I thank you for your favors, and will give all the attention to the subject on which you write that is in my power. General Rusk will do likewise. I have but a moment to write. I hope to shake your hand on the 24th inst. in New York. Sam Houston. 1 History of Texas, 1895 (Lewis Publishing Company), p. 442. It seems well to make some explanation of the source of this letter. The Lewis Publishing Company, New York, Chicago, published sixteen volumes con- cerning Texas history, within the dates 1892-1911. All these volumes consist, for the most part, of biographical materials, and the titles, descrip- tive of this biography, are long and inconvenient for purposes of citation. For instance, the full title of the volume from which this letter was copied is: History of Texas, togethe)· with a B-iogra.phical History of the Cities of
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