75
WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1854
various views and dispositions, of various characters, and having different objects to pursue were congregated, all not harmoniz- ing in disposition or uniting in design, many of them were neces- sarily disobliged in the administration of the duties devolving on an Executive officer. I speak, sir, in relation to duties which devolved upon me, not as an individual, but as a public officer, in the discharge of the functions assigned to me by the citizens of Texas when it was a Republic. I had been the object there of especial vituperation and slander, of defamation and misrepresen- tation; but I was not aware until recently of the extent to which these things had been carried. I had always, so far as my per- sonal action was concerned, disregarded them, and left my own conduct to give a refutation to the slanders, and leave the com- munity cognizant of my actions to decide upon them. I was willing that the matter should be confined to them alone and their sphere of action, and that my countrymen should be my tryers. But, sir, I find that, not satisfied with confining such things to the sphere in which I was, and to which the discharge of my duties was confined, my maligners have sought a more con- spicuous and important position for the slanders which they have put in circulation. I do not notice them that I care for them myself, but it is a duty which I owe to my posterity, as well as to my country, that I should meet and repel the slanders when they arrive at the gravity of recorded and official books-not that I should meet them upon the threshold, for these have been fester- ing until they are musty in the library of Congress. I may be asked why I have not noticed these slanders sooner. It is true, I had understood by hearsay that there were such books extant, but never until within the compass of a few weeks did I learn that they were assigned a place in the library of the Congress of the United States; and I will take this occasion to remark to the chairman of the Committee on the Library, that I am per- fectly satisfied he was not cognizant that such a book as I am about to notice was in the library, or he would at once have expelled it therefrom, and given it to some of the sewers of the city. He was not aware of it, I am sure. I do not intend to dignify it or its author with a motion gravely to expel the book from the library of Congress. I will leave it an object of con- tempt and indignation to the members of the body, and to the world, who may detest calumniators and defamers. I will first remark, sir, that in this book I find my own name recorded no less than one hundred and seventeen times, besides various references made to me as an individual, or as a public
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