WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1843
382
All that I have said is, that if the power any where exists in the constitution to compel the militia into foreign service, I have never found it; and that if it is not given by express gra~t, it is exp,·essly reserved to the peovle by the Constitution. So that I have neither sheltered myself under an exploded doctrine; nor have I asserted anything at war with the spirit of the constitu- tion or its letter. If the authorship of the enclosed letter has been improperly ascribed to you, it terminates the whole matter. If it is not, I am at a loss to account, under all the circumstances, for the motives which could at this crisis induce you to give publicity to any unauthorized reflections upon the Executive or his course. Therefore, it is that I have to request of you, earnestly, in view of our past relations, that you may consider that I have been acting in good faith towards them in afforcling you an opportunity of rendering such reasons as will satisfy my mind that you have not been united with persons who are endeavoring to foment dissention in the country, embarrass the Executive in the dis- charge of his duties, and subvert our institutions as well as all civil rule and public order. Sam Houston [Rubric] To Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Rusk, Nacogdoches, Texas. [Addressed]: Free Sam Houston to Maj. Genl. Thos. J. Rusk Nacogdoches Texas Care of Adolphus Sterne Esq. postmaster Washington 13th May 1843. 1 Rusk Pape1·s, The University of Texas Library. See Houston to Thomas Jefferson Rusk, March 23, 1836.
To THOMAS M. BAGBY 1
Washington, 13th May 1843
My Dear Bagby, I thank you for your favor by last mail. I am happy to learn that you have some happiness, and particu- larly s·o, as public servants experience so little respite from anxiety and exertion. You speak of that miserable Col'el Moore. The poor soul will fall by his own poison, or rather he will be strangled with his own venom! If it were not that he injures my country I would not regard all his slanders. He like the bloated maggot, can only live in his own corruption. A healthy atmos- phere would destroy him at once! He is heaping up wrath
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