WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1853
461
time these gentlemen started on their mission to the U[nited] States, until after the election for President, and until I came to Columbia in the fall, I did not see, nor had I any correspondence with either of them, for I was confined at Nacogdoches all sum- mer, and part of the fall. You except to my saying that General Austin did not hesitate to accept the office of Secretary of State, but to my mind you make but little out of the exception. General Austin did accept the position and made no objection, so I inferred that he did not hesitate and so stated. You said he accepted from a stern sense of duty. ·wen, if he acted from a stern sense of duty, how could he, as a patriot, hesitate? I take it, that General Austin always acted from a sense of duty, and why it should not be present to his mind at one time, as another, I cannot conceive. It was certainly no fault of mine, that Genl. Austin died in the service of his country, as you would seem to imply by your remarks on this point, in your letter; during the short time he filled the office of Secretary of State his duties were by no means arduous, for saving his general and private instructions to Colonel Wharton, our minister at Washington, and some ten or twelve brief communications to the same gentleman written between the middle of November, and the middle of December, 1836, his duties were light. You will admit that I had no agency in producing the cause which you alleged as the origin of this correspondence, and had you not been chosen an elector, I would have communicated to you any facts in regard to the relations between your uncle and myself as freely as though you had been able to elevate me to the highest office in the Government. I had no correspondence with any member of the Austin Convention, nor did I mingle with any of the affairs connected with the Presidency, until after the nomination at Baltimore, nevertheless, I was informed by my friends, that while in the Convention at Austin you had given your adhesion, as a sincere and devoted friend of mine, and upon these assurances you were by the convention nominated as an elector for the state; you know whether you were properly so represented to me, and I hope you were. Were it not for your boasted sincerity and simplicity of character, I might be induced to pass by an observation, which I find it my duty to present for your reflection. I had long understood that you and a portion of your family were, and had been unfriendly to me, and I could attribute it to
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