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WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 184,3
I hope the government of the United States will make honorable reparation for the wrongs done by its officers. It would be con- sonant with their magnanimity of character. Our troops have been disarmed one hundred miles within our territory. And this was done by a regular officer in the United States service. Yet they denounce us as bandits and· pirates. The United States will send convoys, if necessary, says their General, to the Rio Grande. What should we say if England were to do this? What would England say if the United States were to do so in Canada, or the United States, if England were to do it in New York?-They would say, it is an act of daring hostility and disregard of privi- lege. But England has done nothing for us: and why? Because she obtained the first advances from Santa Anna for peace, and it was under Houston's administration, and there must be a snake in.it. It becomes us to exercise understanding and reflection. Let us view all the great powers as they demean themselves toward us. If France, if England, or any other nation, interfere with our rights, we will appeal to the civilized world.-And the irritability of the United States editors will suggest that something must be done. Texas cannot war either against ancestry, or against seventeen millions of people. But we will maintain our just atti- tude by a moral appeal to the nations, sustained by unity at home: and the moral sense of the world will give success to our appeal whenever it shall be preferred. In justice to the anxiety of those who are present, I would be glad to say to you that there are no dangers more than ordinary to be apprehended. It is the beginning of the end. What the end will be, is known only to heaven. If we merit the watchful care of that God who has guarded us and guided us with a pillar of cloud by day, and fire by night, from the beginning of our revolution to the present day, doubt not he will continue with us to the end. And you, my fellow-citizens, and those who are to come after you, when we shall have passed away from the stage of action, will not be incapable of appreciating our exer.tions: the tooth of envy will become blunt, and its venom harmless: malice will cease to cast its slime: and calumny, with all the votaries of faction will be consigned to oblivion. I pray God, that upon my country every benefit of prudence and wisdom may be bestowed, and trust that posterity, regarding
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