29
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON,. 184-8
times and the transactions which took place in the affair of annexation, after the joint resolutions of Congress had been pre- sented to the Republic of Texas. It is to be regretted that Ex-President Jones lays claim to merit (as a member of the then Cabinet) for having asumed the responsibility of disobeying an order from me, of the greatest importance to the probable condition of Texas, at the only time when any possible advantage could have resulted to her interest;· and subsequently, when the contingency which the order was in- tended to provide against could not exist, should then, in a manner neither as perfect, nor by no means [sic] necessary, attempt to obtain the objects, only in vart, which are contemplated in the order that I, as Executive, gave to him for his direction in the execution of his duties as Secretary of State. Sam Houston. 'The Northe1-n Standa.rcl, February 3, 1849. While the endorsements by Jones on letters from Houston to himself always exhibit a somewhat sullen, moody, suspicious disposition, and show that he generally dis- agreed with whatever policy Houston might propose, the letters of July 8, 1844, and September 24, 1844, are the ones to which Houston is probably referring here. In the endorsements on both these letters, Jones avows his intention to disobey the Executive's orders. See the letters men- tioned above in Volume IV, pp. 340, 372..
SPEECH ON THE BOUNDARY OF TEXAS 1
Fellow-Citizens of the Democracy of New York:
[February, 1848 ?] For the first time in my life I am here presented before an assembly which is the most cheering, and the most embold[en]ing which I ever saw or ever heard of, or ever speculated upon see- ing and hearing. I have heard much of the Democracy of New York; I know their zeal, their ardor, their devoted patriotism, and their fidelity to the principles of liberty and of the constitu- tion. But now I see and have learned that they are mighty peo- ple-mighty, I mean to say, in the dignity and magnitude of those feelings which influence a great people, and which make the man ever ready to vindicate his rights, and sustain and sup- port the constitutional authorities of his country. (Loud applause) What is the subject and object of this meeting? It is not, fellow- citizens, a meeting called to deliberate upon a wa1~which we are about to go into. No; but it is concerning a war in which we are already engaged-which we are now in the midst of-which, I
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