WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1842
141
We have been together much in life-we have been intimate. You have possessed my full confidence-in the campaign of 1836, and whenever circumstances have thrown us together since that time. I cherish kindly the feelings which grew up between us: I held them in much repute; and I had confidently hoped that our association would have continued until the expiration of my official service. A matter of law has lawfully separated us in our official relations; but it has produced no estrangement of that respect which I have cherished, nor do I intend ever to permit prejudice to obscure one of your many qualities which I have found to admire. In six troubles we were together, and in the seventh I had hoped that you would have been with me. I sincerely wish you a full measure of happiness; because that must embrace everything. Sam Houston [Rubric] [Endorsed] : At the request of the President I handed the within letter to Col. Hockley-he read about two pages, and declined to 1·ead further-remarking that the statement of facts upon which the argument is predicated, was incorrect; and there- fore he did not choose to pursue the argument any further; together with some other remarks not necessary here to repeat. G. vV. Terrell Sept. 3rd. 1842. 'This copy is made from the original document in Mrs. Madge W. Hearne's Ct,llection of Houston Materials; an exact copy is to be found in the "Sam Houston Private Executive Record Book," pp. 218-222. This book is the property of Mr. Franklin Williams, Houston, Texas. Hockley's resignation of the position of Secretary of War was the cause of Houston's letter. Hockley's letter is as follows: Department of War and Marine, 1st September, 18 1 12. To His Excellency Sam Houston, President of the Republic of Texas Sir When the Chief Magistrate of a Nation suffers prejudice to usurp the exercise of reason and exclude the benefit of the experience of neighboring and friendly nations. When the history of the World in its practice and policy, cherishes an arm of national defence fraught with all that ensures national safety, supports national honor, and retains in its service, the brave, the generous, and the patriot When the Chief Magistrate of a Nation brands them with the epithet of pirates and holds them as an incumbrance instead of an honorable, chivalric and great arm of national defence. When he publically asserts, that arm shall sink and rot before he would raise a finger for its preservation. When he peremptorily and publicly
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