WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 184,3
452
that has delayed the action of the present Executive. There was a treaty existing, when he went out of office, and would have been consummated, had it not been for the foul massacre of San Antonio. That crime is yet unatoned for. But if there is a judg- ment seat as there must be in heaven, perfidy like that must meet its reward. A hundred scalps at least have atoned for that viola- tion of faith, the massacre of their chiefs. But, my fellow-citizens, there is a point yet unexplained. It is very strange the Executive will not tell everything to the world, and give newspapers truth to substitute for the falsehoods with which they now teem. I would think every truth might furnish a foun [datio] n for twenty rumors; and this, it is to be hoped, would block the press. Through charity, therefore, I abstain. It is true that I have thought proper to keep certain things secret. I am not in the habit of slipping papers out, or slipping them in. I do not like the slippery movement that others think well of. Records stand, and will stand for posterity. I am always amen- able to Congress. Congress has always the power to call for documents, and is welcome to them. But I do not choose to promulgate them. We have the assurance of England that she will do everything in her power, and this without making any conditions. Abolition, thank God, has never been named in a British, nor a French or Texian document. What would be the use of publishing matters like these to the world? Such a course would put Santa Anna on his guard. ft might have produced a commotion in Mexico, and disinclined him from acceding to the very thing that Texas desired-peace. The day of heroes has passed in Texas ; we have had our share of them-more than in all the world beside. A short time since, we were to have had the city of Mexico served up for a breakfast. The Milam Guards were to have gone out a year ago, when it was a sheet of water from here to the Brazos. "Four hundred men could be mustered here at any time, in two hours, for the defence of Galveston, as was alleged by the editor of the Telegraph, and the Milam Guards could go o.ff west." The editor was a hero then. He gave a notice of four hours, and about twenty were mustered unarmed, in the Public Square, near the Court House. Great speeches were made at the Court House, but-nothing else. Volunteers came from the United States in March and April, 1842, and-ate up everything at the Island. All the support they had, was by individual contribution. And they had been required
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