391
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1844
I trust, Sir, that your sojourn among us will be in all respects, as agreeable to yourself as it will be I am sure, entirely acceptable to the Government and people of this Republic. This address was in reply to a speech from A. J. Donelson on being presented to Houston by Anson Jones, Secretary of State. Donelson said: "Sir: In appearing before you as the Charge d'Affaires of the United 'Telegraph, and Texas Reu£ste1·, December 18, 1844. States, I feel that I can scarcely add anything to the warm expressions of good will and friendship contained in the letter of credence which I had the honor to present, and which are so cordially felt by the President of the United States for the President and the people of this Republic. Assurances of these feelings were eloquently conveyed to you by my pre- decessor, General Howard, whose untimely death, deplored by his own country as a national loss, was equally regretted here among your estimable citizens many of whom knew him in his native land and could testify to his moral worth. "In taking the place of such a citizen, I cannot conceal the emotions of sadness produced in my own bosom-recollecting, as I must, that under the circumstnces like the present, it was his painful lot, also, to recur to the similar fate that had befallen his predecessor, and to lament that the hopes of the United States to improve the relations of the respective countries, by the good offices of a resident minister here, had often been disappointed. But I derive consolation from the 1·eflection that these dis- pensations of Divine Providence may contain a salutary chastening for those who survive in the service of the two Republics, and that rightly understood, they may not be ineffectual in their influence on the prosperity of each. They have prepared the two governments for a more thorough consideration of their mutual interests. They have given time for a more perfect development of those causes which are at work in their internal structure, as well as external relations, to harmonize their progress, if not to unite their destiny, in the great effort to increase the securities of freedom, at the same time that the principle of sovereignty in the people is strengthened. In this point of view there is occasion for gratitude to the Giver of all good even when we lament the strokes of His Providence which blast over our personal efforts and force us to see that diplomatic agency is, at best, but a frail reliance in promoting the prosperity of nations. "Suffer me, Mr. President, in turning from this melancholy retrospect, to assure you again that the President of the United States in confiding to me the office of Charge d'Affaires, has been actuated by the most ardent desire to continue with Texas the good offices which are called for by a deep interest in her welfare, and by the anxious hope that nothing will ever occur to weaken the chain which holds the interests of the two Republi('s together. To keep this chain bright and strong, is not only his object, but I may safely say, it is that of the people of the United States, who claim, in their kindred and descendants here, an identity of interests of patriotism, and devotedness to the success of free institutions. "To the satisfaction springing from the discharge of duties thus directed, could any more be added, it would be that of meeting here so many of
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