184
WRITINGS OF 5AM: HOUSTON, 1855
the authors of these resolutions, he did not recognize them as having any claims upon him. He was accused of betraying Texas. Time has sanctified his vote on the Oregon bill, and then there was the Nebraska bill, he was condemned for that. He regretted that he had been prophetic in regard to that bill. Six hundred miles of Indian territory intervened between Texas and Iowa; but now by the passage of the Nebraska bill, the "underground railroad" comes up to the Texas line. He was also condemned for sustaining the Indians. The Indians have few friends and he knew the reason why. They cannot vote. If they could vote these men would soon make·use of them and have them up the top of the pole. We would utterly fail in an attempt to give a report of the cas- tigation which Gen. Houston gave those who had denounced him. Nor is our report of his speech, in general, any more than a brief outline of an effort which enchained the minds of a delighted audience for over an hour and a half. His eloquent and prophetic allusions to our State and the Union, as he drew his remarks to a close and the solemn and impressive manner in which he de- livered them, was a full answer to those of his enemies who had impugned his motives. 1 The Texas Republica.n, June 23, 1855; The State Gazette, June 9, 1855; The Texas State Tintes, June 9, 1855. Houston and Rusk met in friendly debate, each man speaking for more than two hours, according to the state- ments made by the above sources. These sources are practically identical in wording, and give mere synopses of both Houston's and Rusk's speeches. No complete texts of the speeches have been found.
JUNE-DECEMBER, 1855
A REVIEW OF THE SAN JACINTO CAMPAIGN IN A SPEECH AT SAN JACINTO, JUNE 9, 1855 1 He [General Houston] set out by thanking the community for the invitation to address them on the present occasion, and giving an excuse for not being present on the 21st of April at the anni- versary celebration of the battle of San Jacinto, by stating that he never· received their letter of invitation, until the 22nd day of April, being one day after the celebration, and strongly inti- mating that there had been some conspiracy somewhere, by which the Jetter was retarded to prevent his being present on that occa- sion, and assuring them that nothing would have given him more pleasure than to have been with them on that occasion.
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