122
TEXAS ST.A.TE LIBRARY
you to name ·the first act that I have ever committed in favor of the measure, or the first one ommitted, which it was in my power to employ against it, without utter ruin to myself. What then becomes of your charge against me? Produce your evidence.-Do you hope to convict me by my owu confession ? You know as well as I do the necessity of my repudiating the past; and you cannot oppose my extorted acknowl• edgment to the long train of consistent conduct which has come under your own observation.-Actions speak louder than words; let me bt· judged by them,"- And now, Gentlemen, suppose Gen. Houston were to make such a speech as this to the British Minister in reply to his imputation-what answer could the Minister offer? He would be com- pelled to acknowledge the force and validity of the argument, and withdraw his charge. And if these facts and reasonings are sufficient to produce conviction, when urged by Gen. Houston himself; in what respect are weight and authority diminished by their being urged in his behalf by another. And now, Gentlemen, wlrnt are the conclusions to. be drawn from this conduct? No man enters into intrigues without some object, either public or private. What then was the object of Sam Houston in these disgraceful negociations with the British Minister and the Mexican Government? He is pleased to denominate these negociations by the gentle appellation of. "coquetry." What then was the object of this coquetry? What public. good did he propose to accomplish by it? Was the re-union of Texas and Mexico intended ? This he denies. Was the permanent Independence of the country the object? This he also denies. What then was his object? Like a criminal who rushes vainly against the bars of his priimn, Gen. Houston, now imprisoned in triple walls, by his intrigues, endeavors to escape by a. desperate plunge at the door of Annexation. But that door is barred against him with a fastning which we cannot rend.-What then was the object of hii-; gentle coquetry with Great Britain and Mexico. In the absence of all public reasons, we are left to conjecture that private ones. If he haf' received from the British Minii-;ter, or from the Mexican Government. any personal favors as the reward of his negociations with them, then is he a double traitor-first to his country, and then to thcm-anil merits a double execration. Rut on the other han<l, if he has receiwd from these quarters, assurances which liave not been redeemed, then is he in the miserable t-ondition of a disappointed traitor, who re- criminates for reven!!'e. Such, Gentlemen, has been the conduct of Gen. Houston on the ques- tion of Annexation. In aH the phases of his tortuous and elaborate perfidy, it is but an epitome of his life. The crowning act•-consist- ent only with himself-is the climax of audacity. Does he blush at the exposure of his treason? No. He makes a merit of his guilt-and turning to the people he has dishonore<l, as if in mockery of all human virtue, he demands the patriot's reward for the traitor's crime. y Ollf fp]lo"· C'itizPn, MTRAREAlT R. LAMAR.
Powered by FlippingBook