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WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1842
491
that shall take of them full recompense for oppression and cr~- elty. . Texians can and will be free. They would prefer death to degradation or the loss of their independence. Sam Houston.··: 1 Executive Record Boole, No. 40, p. 46, Texas State Library. Austin Citi, Gazette, March 30, 1842.
TO GENERAL EDWIN MOREHOUSE 1
Galveston, March 10, 1842.
To Brigadier General Morehouse : 2 Sir - You will hold the troops in readiness to march at a moment's warning. Troops are not to turn out unless by order of the authorities of the county. The con.stitution and laws shall be the rule of action; unless in case of great emergency. Under any circumstances, there must be some rule of action; and should martial laws be proclaimed, it will have rules to govern the action under it. The captains are subordinate to the colonels, and the colonels to the generals. Orders will emanate from the proper Depart- ment directed to them. The President is Commander-in-Chief by the constitution ; and from the President orders can be con- veyed to the lowest subaltern in regular order. But every officer is not to be the judge of the position which he is to occupy in the defence of the country. System and order must be preserved, or we will again have the scenes of the Alamo, Goliad, and Santa Fe renewed in Texas; which God, in His boundless mercy, avert, from the country. We have nothing to fear, if every man will do his duty and be obedient to the laws. Obedience to the laws, order, subordination and a proper respect to discipline will ensure to Texas a speedy riddance of our invaders, no matter what their force may be. Without these prerequisites to defence, we may anticipate every disaster. Sam Houston. , P. S. Tomorrow I will be up. Let no troops march until I arrive. 1 Exemttive Reco1·d Book, No. 40, p. 47, Texas State Library. 2 Edwin Morehouse was born in New York, but moved to Clarksville, Pike County, Missouri, while still a youth. He came to Texas in 1826, nnd in
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