WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1863
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years later, took the field again against a powerful and well- organized party, and again the people flocked to his support, and by an overwhelming vote made him their Governor. Such power over men is unquestionably the most remarkable trait of his character. Therein lay the greatness of Sam Hous- ton. It was not in his virtue, for in the course of his life he had passed through what would have been degradation to other men; and from the couch of the debauchee he has risen to the throne of power, his faculties clear, keen, unimpaired, and his authority unquestioned. It was not in his generosity of heart, for a man who is as slow to forgive as was General Houston, is not a natural lover of his kind. But it was in the certain power of discovering the springs of human action, a thorough knowledge of human nature, and an ability to use this knowl- edge, an ability that few men possess. To write a history of the life of Sam Houston is not our part. His history is too well known to make it necessary. To picture his character is also a task that may well be left to the public at large, to whom he was as well known as to us. We pity the heart that could now conceive evil of him. His noble qualities will ever stand out clear before the people. So, let us shed tears to his memory, tears that are due to one who has filled so much of our affections. Let the whole people bury with·him whatever of unkindness they had for him. Let his monument be in the hearts of those who people the land to which his later years were devoted. Let his fame be sacredly cherished by Texans, as a debt not less to his distinguished services than to their own honor of which he was always so jealous, and so proud. E. H. Cushing. 1 From the Tri-Weekly Telegraph (Houston), July 29, 1863. Files of Texas newspapers for the summer of 1863 are incomplete, and this notice of Houston's death, by E. H. Cushing, is the only contemporary new$- paper appreciation that we have found.
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