WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1843
303
(ed.), B1·itish Diplomatic Correspondence Concerning the Republic of Texas, pp. 163-164, 213; also, The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, XVI, 198- 199, 326-327. ~As he was requested to do, Charles Elliot copied this sentence and the paragraph in which it occurred in Houston's letter to him, and sent it to Mr. Packenharn, the English Minister at Mexico, with the request that he do all he could for the Texas prisoners in Mexico. Mr. Packenham, in turn, sent the letter and the request on to Waddy Thompson, one of the United States representatives in Mexico. Among themselves the diplomats bungled their business in some way, and it was soon reported throughout Mexico and Texas that President Houston had repudiated the Texan prisoners who had gone on the Mier Expedition. This report was a sweet morsel to the President's enemies, and the abuse and slander against the Executive waxed hot and furious in the anti-administration newspapers of 1843-1844; every effort that Houston made to explain the matter was turned in some devious way as further argument against him, and so the controversy raged. The bit- terness against the President was perpetuated by Thomas Jefferson Green's Jo10-nal of the Tex·ian Expeclit'ion against Mier, etc. (1845), a very inter- esting record of Green's reminiscences of his experiences as a Mier prisoner, in the writing of which he was probably assisted by Branch T. Archer and David G. Burnet, two of Houston's bitterest enemies. The student of today is fortunate in having at hand, not only the anti-Houston materials to be found in the Texas newspapers of 1843-1844, Green's Journal, and the records of the bitter opposition of the Texan Congress against the President, but also Houston's own writings-his proclamations to the Texas people and to the world, his messages to Congress, his orders to various Texan officials and military men, and some of his private letters to trusted friends con- cerning the condition of Texas, and the circumstances under which he, as President of the Republic, had to act. (See these various documents in this and in succeeding volumes.) It is, therefore, now possible to form a more objective, and a truer estimate of Houston's actions in this matter of relief to the Mier prisoners. And it has come to be the consensus of opinion among unprejudiced, thoughtful students that whether Houston's effort to save the Mier prisoners and relieve their sufferings was the wisest that could have been devised, it was certainly a sincerely honest effort to do something, to use his influence through diplomatic channels, since he was helpless, because of lack of financial means, to send out military support. Most men under similar circumstances would have been paralized into utter inactivity. 3 This is a reference to the trade difficulties between China and the British Empire that led to the Opium War of 1840-1842, in which England was victorious. 4 Charles Elliot had been an officer of the British navy, who, with his cousin, Admiral John Elliot, was in command of the British naval forces that were in conflict with the Chinese Government in 1837-1841. In China Charles Elliot held the title "Master Attendant," and was actually the officer in command. After much controversy and some fighting, he adopted a plan of yielding to the Chinese Government--or seemingly to yield-in matters of small importance, in ·order to gain the main objective of the British ministry. But he was suddenly withdrawn from command in China, and was given the relatively unimportant position as chm·ge d'affnil-es to the Texas Republic. Another officer was sent to China with instructions to adopt plans almost identical with those developed by Captain Elliot, and
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