WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1858
112
an amendment reported by the Committee on Territories to insert at the end of the bill the following proviso: Provided, That the person, or persons appointed or employed on the part of Texas to be paid by the said State; Provided, furthermore, That no persons shall be appointed or employed on this service by the United States, but such as are required to make the necessary observations and surveys to ascertain such lines and erect suitable monuments thereon, and make return of the same. The amendment passed.
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To MRS. HousToN 1
Washington, 19th May, 1858. My Dear Love. I wrote you yesterday and expressed the pleasure I felt, on the receipt of your letter the previous night. You cannot complain that of trifles, I do not keep you duly advised. I would be more happy if it were in my power to render my letters more interesting than I am sure they must be to you. 'Tis now passed the middle of May, and fire would be very agreeable, for the morning is unpleasantly cool. Great quantities of hail have fallen not far from here, and I presume it must be owing to the fact that the atmosphere is so cool. I have not taken off my flannels, nor do I suppose I will do so until I start home, if then! Things here, so far as the administration is concerned, look sad enough. It was thought that Pierce's administration was so poor and low, that none could go beneath it. Now, Dear, I am sorry to believe that the present Administration will burrow beneath it. Pierce's had the advantage of two wise and patriotic mem- bers in it-Marcy and Guthrie. Mr. B's [Buchanan's] has not a wise man in it. In the present Administration there are three, ·but I think four of its members will be candidates for President, and persons swear to me that Mr. B. is a candidate for reelection. To this I am incredulous, but the old saying is very significant, that "an old fool is the worst of fools." I predict that the present Administration will go out of place quite as low _as any one that has passed to oblivion. But my Dearest, these are matters about which we should not fret! We cannot avert them, and the Indian maxim, that trouble comes soon enough, when a man finds it out himself, is a pretty good one. In your letters you have not had time to allude to my sugges- tions about the influence of the Red Lands on your disease. 2 I do not intend to take any steps in relation to the subject without a full conference with you. The East generally, has always been
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