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WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 184,2
120
Subordination must and shall be established in the army of Texas, or every man who resists its establishment shall be dis- graced. The power belongs to the nation, and under the law it shall be exercised, and the penalty appropriate inflicted. You will read my order, or official letter of this same date to the troops as soon as you receive it, and I trust t_hat you will see that it is literally enforced and executed. There is a point, when once reached, where matters must be remedied, and at it we have arrived. Those who are to join you, will sustain you. You will, should you be able to arrest them, place in irons those men who stole the horses; try, and punish them as a court martial may think proper. We must sustain the nation, and that can only be done by maintaining the laws and punishing crime. You did wrong in holding a parley with Mr. Hoxey. Then was the time to have tested the principle; and if you could not enforce your authority, to have at once disch:!.rged, by a camp order, all those who resisted your authority or were guilty of mutiny. Lieutenant Colonel Clemens who belongs to Col. Washington's command, will be in command of the Post, or camp, while you will command the department. I presume Mr. Hoxey will be for another fuss. You will send him to me, and if he should re- fuse to come, you will forthwith send him and such others as will come within my order. If you should think proper, you will not for the present, publish that part of the order relating to the officers, but send them to Houston, to report to· the War Depart- ment. You will not proceed to organize battalions or regiments until further orders. You will report weekly to the Department. I fear, my dear friend, you have temporized too long. It is easier to break an egg than kill a serpent. If necessary, you must now kill the snake. It wont do to trifle, or all will be lost. They can never meet the disgrace which awaits those who are guilty of mutiny, if they return, or are sent to the U [nited] States. The moment Mr. Hoxey presented himself to "move'' in violation of your orders, you should have placed him in arrest; and if he had then been refractory, to have placed him in irons. It would have made all things easy, or at least, it would have evinced the fact that we had the right to do such things, and if the power was wanting, that such conduct was worthy of punishment; and that so soon as a force sufficient could be commanded, that it would be inflicted, or if they by mutiny made their escape to the United States, that they would bear with them the brand of infamous Cain on their foreheads.
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