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WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 184-3
I see by the " Santa Anna Telegraph," that its editor is still for war, and that he is not satisfied with the number of our prisoners in Mexico. He thinks there ought to be more in the power of Santa Anna. Nothing less than the destruction of Texas will satisfy the wretch. What means has the nation to go to war, or to carry it on with beyond our own borders? We can defend ourselves, but we cannot make war. The nation has resources to exist only; with all the prudence and economy that can be exercised-and how few individuals of the nation are in a state different from that of pinching necessity? Those who would go to the frontier would go with an eye to plunder, and success can never attend armies who war for plunder. Such principles would dissolve the best army in the world and disgrace the noblest cause. I am pained for the condition of the morals and politics of Texas! A fearful fatality awaits us if such miserable mal- contents as Moore and his Telegraph are allowed to lead public opinion or incite the people to mad schemes of contest. No General who had any reputation would venture to lead an army over the Rio Grande; for, if by prudence he were to gain a victory, it would cause the ruin of the army. Many would insist that each had won the victory, and they must have a new election for a " commander-in-chief." Each pretender would have his partizans. All could not be first, and those who had lost their favorite would leave the main body, or break off with their favorite leader. The army would be dissolved, and the men would roam for plunder, with their arms neglected and am- munition lost or injured, and so be surprised by the enemy and added to the sad catalogue of those now confined in loathsome prisons in Mexico. Heaven may save our country from such evils; but I assure you, my dear Hockley, they do seem to be pending over us as a nation: Experience of evil will not teach us wisdom. To hurry men from one act of indiscretion to another seems to be the sole object of the seditious monsters who would ruin a country which they had never assisted in emancipating. If just law could only be enforced upon them, what an awful responsibility they would encur. Whoever sets the laws of his country at defiance is deemed a traitor; and he who seeks to overthrow its liberties is equally deserving of punishment. For what are the poor idiots making such a fuss about the propositions of Santa Anna? I have nothing to do with him,
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