WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1843
491
and solicit their advice. Until such an emergency does arise, however, he will feel himself authorised to exercise his appro- priate functions under the constitution and hold himself respon- sible to its provisions and to the opinion of his constituents. The executive has always acted under the conviction that he was the immediate representative head of the nation. The suffrage which elevated him to his station is as direct as that which elects the members of the Honorable Senate, and he feels that he is directly and immediately connected with the interests of every citizen in the Republic. And as he is chosen by national suffrage and not by local or sectional, he feels that a superadded obligation is devolved upon him; and were he to prove recreant to his trust or adopt for his guide any system which would be calculated to embarrass the action or prejudice the character of a coordinate department of the government, he would feel sensible that he had proved faithless to the trust confided to him by his fellow citizens and that he had incurred the reprehension of all good men. Should he ever be so unfortunate as to incur the suspicion of the just, or so unwise as to compromise the interests of his country, he would feel that his abandonment by all good men, and his degradation in public esteem were but his just reward. He claims identity only with Texas. It is his home; and with that home are connected the hopes of his family. To countervail this, he can conceive of no inducement that could render him alien to his country. He owes it no malignity of feeling. With its rise, progress, and destiny, his actions, his character, and his hopes are all inseparably connected. Were he to pursue any course which would impair its honor, or abandon his fidelity to its true interests, he would necessarily stamp his memory with indelible disgrace, and leave his family no heritage but dishonor. Sam Houston 1 "Messages of the Presidents," Congressional Papers, Eighth Congress; also Executive Record Book, No. 40, pp. 281-286, Tl.'xas State Library. The Moniing Sta,·, January 9, 1844. Telegraph a.nd Texas Register, January 10, 1844. 2 See The Journals of the Senate of the Rep11blic of Texas, 8th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 18, for this preamble and resolution. Briefly, the resolution pro- vides: "That the President be requested to recall the said special messenger, [a secret messenger sent by the President to the Government of the United States] and delay his departure, until the matters communicatd through him, shall have been made known to the Congress, nnd such action shall be had thereon, as shall be deemed advisable." The vote on the resolution stood six ayes to six noes; whereupon John Greer, President (pro ft•111.) of the
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