23
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 184-7
of the communication generally; and let it be understood that I entertain for the memory of the distinguished dead the most profound respect. Although I had not the pleasure of his personal acquaintance, it can abate nothing of my high estimate of his character. But it must be recollected that the communication which he made to Mr. Murphy, and which was submitted to the President of Texas, being the boasted "initiative," conveyed liter- ally the sentiments of Ex-President Tyler. Perhaps it has no parallel to be found in the annals of the last half dozen centuries. It woos, threatens, and again woos. The Government of ·Texas is lectured, her fears appealed to, her hopes excited, and every in- ducement held out which could either operate upon her love or her fear. In the conclusion of th~ "initiative" alluded to, Mr. Upshur, after urging prompt action on the part of Texas, uses this remark- able language: "This [prompt action] is the more indispensable because the friends of the measure in Congress are impatient to move in it, and are with difficulty restrained, in expectation that the object will be effected by negotiation." The friends of the measure in Congress anxious to move in it! and restrained! Restrained by whom? By Ex-President Tyler? For what pur- pose? That he might have the initiative? He can answer these questions. Was not the measure eventually consummated by Congress? What had excited this feeling in Congress? Was it General Jackson's correspondence with Hon. A. V. Brown? I think that was the great i~itiative, and the apprehension that England was about to intermeddle in the affairs of Texas, not President Tyler's boasted missile. It may be true that the Ex-President took the "initiative" without consultation with General Jackson, as he has stated. I have not charged him with any consultation with Gen. Jackson, or any person. Gen. Jackson's influence and exertion certainly prompted the action which was taken by the Ex-President. It is true he held no official position in the Government, and Ex- President Tyler did. His "initiative," if he will have the credit of it, was but carrying out the promptings of General Jackson. And though he refers to many distinguished men, besides those of his "own identity," he does not controvert the fact that General Jackson's influence and exertions in the U. S. caused the initiative to be taken. It is manifest, as is shown by Mr. Upshur's corre- spondence, that it was with difficulty that Congress could be pre- vented from moving in the measure. It is further manifest that there was in all concerned a belief that if action was not taken
Powered by FlippingBook