WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1842
139
the purpose of rendering offensive movements unpopular, (which I knew the war tax would do,) but he would not adopt my sug- gestions. I took, and 1naintainecl the ground, that nothing since the days of the Crusades was more absurd than offensive -,,var with Mexico. The President adopted this view of mine, and expressed it, at my special instance, to the Committee of Galves- ton, early in the spring, but abandoned it soon after. If he had continued to ·stand firmly on this ground, The Somerville Cam- paign and the Mier Expedition would never have been made. And of all kinds of war, this "willing war," or offensive war, by volunteers of Gen Houston, is and has generally been the very worst kind for Texas, and has cost us many good lives, and mil- lions of bad money, besides having enheartened Mexico by de- stroying the prestige of Texan prowess . . . . But General H. Had to attemvt to carry out his brags in his letter written to Santa Anna from Galveston, this year, (1842); so he inflicted these disastrous expeditions upon the country. I wash my hands of them entirely and altogether. A. J. P. S.- End of the Santa Fe, and beginning of the Mier Ex- peditions. 1 Anson Jones, Jl-lemoranda and Official Cor1·espondence, Rev11bl·ic of Texas, 185-187. ~R. D. Johnson was postmaster at Galveston at this time. In 1838, Houston had appointed him Notary Public for the Port of Galveston, and at a later time he received a good many votes for the position of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, but was not elected. See E.W. Winkler (ed.), Sec1·et Journals of the Senate, Re7>11blio of Texas, 1836-1845, 114, 175. 3 See Houston to Ashbel Smith, August 25, 1841. ~Daniel Webster, Secretary of State in the Cabinet of John Tyler; Webster had been appointed to the position by Harrison in 1841, and was 1·etained by Tyler. 5 Waddy Thompson was the United States Minister to Mexico in 1842, a successor to Powhatan Ellis. 0 Isaac Van Zandt. See Houston to the Texas Senate, July 20, 1842. 7 See Houston appoints Wharton and Hunt agents' to the United States, December 31, 1836.
To MEMUCAN HuNT 1
City of Houston, August 2d, 1842.
To the Honorable Memucan Hunt. Sir: I seize a moment to reply to your very long letter of the 30th ultimo handed to me this morning by Mr. Hardy. In that
Powered by FlippingBook