434.
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 184,5
envy presupposes that by the prostration of one man, another may rise to fill his place. My glory and my reward have been the approbation of my countrymen. I have borne the responsi- bilities of office, and I possess the confidence and esteem of my former consfitutents. That is the foundation of malignity and aspersion against my character. It has drawn upon me the eyes of those slanderous individuals, whose breath is harmless though malignant. They know not the feelings or the motives that prompt the heart to generous action. If I possessed less of the esteem and love of my fellow countrymen than I do, or occupied the degrading position which many of my assailants do, I would not be considered as worthy of a place in a new book or a news- paper slander. No: I would be permitted to pass unheeded and unnoticed to oblivion. I would not have been hunted down as I have been, had I degraded by my acts the station that I occupied. I might have missed the proud distinction of being abused in the books and newspapers of the present day. Their authors have made me an object of peculiar favor in this respect, and I am proud of the distinction. They will never .achieve the character of patriots, for patriotism consists in rendering one's country either useful or glorious service. It has never been my habit to denounce patriots who boldly marched forward in their country's cause and manfully defended her soil against the assaults of her enemies. For my country's honor and her reputation, though I would have been sustained by truth, I abstained from the exposure of those who had filled high stations abusing the relations in which they were placed to the community and disregarding the moral obligations of life. These men have now been permitted to pass into obscurity, unassailed by me. If it became my duty to advert to their official. acts in the discharge of my duties I did so without personalities; nor do I deem them worthy now of review. I leave their char- acters with you, my countrymen. You may decide upon their individual as well as their official merit. Your intelligence en- ables you to comprehend their official action, and I will not torture [you] with a recapitulation of their individual merits. But it has been acknowledged by the assailants of my reputation that a majority of the voters of T'exas, were particeps criminis with me in the debaucheries which are imputed. Therefore if I were an accuser, it might be said that I was selecting a partial jury to determine upon my merits. They have charged you with joining me in revels of intoxication and wallowing in the streets
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