WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1859
233
From the reflections which have been cast upon the character of Texas, I feel called upon to vindicate her reputation, and to stand up in the maintenance of her rights, and, as I conceive, her good character. I find it has become historic in the proceed- ings of the other House, and before the committee of investiga- tion, that reflections of the most unwarrantable character have been cast not only upon the general character of Texas, but upon her citizens at large. In the first place, I. find in the answer of Judge Watrous 3 before the committee, that he alleges these facts as the reason for. the clamor which he contended was raised against him. He has the effrontery to affect a tone of injured innocence, and says : "I should have much more respect for the manliness which should have disclosed the real cause of the assault. As to the 'divers citizens' whose rights had been im- properly invaded, they must, of course, be the defend- ants in the only two suits which I had tried. Can it for a moment be supposed that, in trying these two very ordinary suits, I could have been guilty of such enor- mous outrages as to call for or to justify the anomalous and this clandestine mode of procedure? The mystery is solved by the simple fact that the decision of one of the cases involved the construction of the statute of limitations, to which so many of the emigrants to Texas had looked as a sure and certain protection against those creditors whom they had left behind, and who were so unreasonable as to follow them into the country of their adoption, and commenced suits upon the liens which had been created upon the property to secure the payment of these debts. It was, indeed, a just subject of com- plaint that the statute of limitations was not declared to be a sponge to wipe out all the debts of the citizens of Texas. If I had put the construction on the statute required by the exigencies of the case and the popular cry; if I could have been driven from my position by any of the means resorted to ; if I had consented to sur- render my reason and my judgment, and to tamper with my conscience and my oath, these resolutions would never have been heard of; and I should have glided smoothly down the stream of popular favor; and have been enabled to taste the 'froth from. every dip of the oar.' " I find also in the Globe that a most zealous speech was made in advocacy of Judge Watrous by a gentleman from New Hamp- shire, [Mr. Tappan] and that, in debating the subject of impeach- ment when the resolutions were under discussion in the house,
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