WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 184,3
490
It has always been matter of regret with him that any diversity of opinion should exist, when a cooperation in sentiment and action would be promotive of the public good. But he cannot believe ·that by a compliance with the preamble and resolution of the Honorable Senate, the public good would be promoted or the character of the nation elevated if it \Vere even disconnected with its preamble which could have had but one object; and that as incompatible with the character of a grave deliberative Body as it is injurious to the Chief magistrate. Had a firm conviction rested upon the minds of the Senators who voted for the preamble and resolution that the state of facts presented did in truth exist, there would have been a manifest excuse for the proceeding; but, as they ar':l pleased to say, "if any such exist," it would at least have been "courteous" to the Executive and respectful to their own character as Senators to have informed themselves (which could have been done without trouble) whether the facts would have justified such a course. Had any Senator thought proper to make inquiry, it would have afforded the Executive or Secretary of State pleasure to have assured them that no such apprehensions need be entertained, and that no such negotiations were going on nor were any such in contemplation as rumor had spread abroad to the "great excitement" of a few noisy and factious discontents in the land. Had this course been pursued, it might have superceded the necessity of a covert attack upon the Executive; if it had not afforded an opportunity of setting themselves up as the exclusive champions of the peoples' rights or a pretext for pursuing such a course as might be deemed necessary to degrade the Executive in the eyes of his constituents and sink our national character abroad and embarrass his administration. The President desires that the Honorable Senate, in relation to the subject of the resolution as upon all other subjects, should be assured that he entertains for the feelings and rights of their constitutents the most lively concern, and that he will be careful so to demean himself in the discharge of his duties as that their rights shall not be compromitted-nor will he ever consent to the adoption of any policy which in his opinion can prejudice either. If from a lack of judgment he should at any time apprehend prejudice to the country and believe that he could have that judgment corrected by an appeal to the Senate, he will, from the recent manifestation, take much pleasure and derive much confidence from apprising them of the dilemma in which he may be placed,
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