Life and select literary remains of Sam Houston of Texas/Chapter 28
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Numerous anecdotes affecting public affairs and private individuals are related, of which Gen. Houston is the central figure. Many of them indicate the bitter satire, the caustic sarcasm which sometimes escaped him when a sense of wrong or injustice was apparent. A few of those only should find a place in this memoir.
Two of these are taken from Hon. Ashbel Smith's "Reminiscences of the Texas Republic." They are given in Col. Smith's own vigorous and classical language. It is illustrative of the times of the first administration of President Houston:
"San Antonio was much the largest, richest, most influential city of Texas of that period. It was remote from the seat of government. There was no intervening population between it and the Mexican frontier. For its protection, and that of the country, a considerable squadron of cavalry was stationed in that city. This squadron was, indeed, the only military of Texas kept mobilized that was ready to take the field. Major Western, who commanded this body of cavalry, had by some acts and significant innuendoes intimated that he cared very little for the one horse Government in the city of Houston. President Houston was apprehensive that an order to recall the Major, or to relieve him, might be disobeyed. It was announced publicly that a Minister would be appointed to represent Texas at the Court of St. James. Col. Wm. H. Patton was going to San Antonio on his own private business. President Houston, in a long and friendly conversation with Col. Patton, at length adverted as by accident to the proposed mission to England. He spoke of Major Western, lauded his polished manners, his courtly address, his diplomatic ability, said the Major strongly reminded him of Mr. Van Buren, asked Col. Patton what he thought of the appointment of Major Western for this mission. All this he begged Col. Patton to hold in strict confidence. Nothing was absolutely determined on. 'Col. Patton need not be surprised at anything.' The President, waiting till he heard of Col. Patton's safe arrival in San Antonio, sent through the War Department orders to Major Western to report in person at the seat of government. The Major presented himself in Houston, radiant and decorous as Titus at the head of the Roman Legions, organized for the conquest of Jerusalem. Time rolled on. The Major became visibly impatient, despite the gracious accord with which President Houston greeted him. At length he began to inquire very quietly who was to be appointed to England. He inquired of your speaker, who was a member of Houston's staff, but Ashbel Smith 'knew nothing of Cabinet matters; he was not a member of the Cabinet.' Finally instructions were being made out in the State Department, and Gen. J. Pinckney Henderson was making preparations to leave for London. The rumor leaked out. 'The Major would not believe it.' 'President Houston had better judgment of men.' 'What did Henderson know of diplomacy?' The appointment of Gen. Henderson became an established fact. The Major was disgusted. 'He would go back to San Antonio,' and so he did, but he found his successor there well established in command of the cavalry. Referring to this matter at the time, Gen. Houston said to your speaker that he would have no pronunciamentos of the Mexican fashion in Texas during his Presidency. During his second Presidency he had to confront and ward off the far more perilous danger of two pronunciamentos which were threatened, and which might have proved disastrous but for his consummate tact in charming them down. Recurring to the incident just related, Gen. Houston at a subsequent time provided comfortably for his disappointed old friend, the Major, by placing him at the head of the Indian Bureau."
While the subject of annexation was still unsettled. Col. Smith says further that: "An incident which then occurred is not without signification as to the opinions he then pondered over. He was leaving Washington on the Brazos for Eastern Texas one morning in February, 1845. He came into my room, booted, spurred, whip in hand. Said he: 'Saxe Weimar (the name of his saddle-horse) is at the door, saddled. I have come to leave Houston's last words with you. If the Congress of the United States shall not by the fourth of March pass some measure of annexation which Texas can with honor accede to, Houston will take the stump against annexation for all time to come.' When he wished to be emphatic he spoke of himself by name, Houston in the third person. Without another word, embracing after his fashion, he mounted, and left."
"At one period the war fever ran very high, and on one occasion a committee of gallant gentlemen waited on Houston, asking his advice and co-operation, and they requested him to address our fellow-citizens in this sense. He made a public speech, which he concluded with advice, as he had been desired to give it. This advice was in two words, 'Plant corn.'"
Many traditionary stories are current illustrative of his wit, his adroit cuts upon individuals offensive to him, and his opinions of men and measures; but their record will not serve to enhance his fame, and may embitter feelings which time has soothed, and time will let die. There is, however, one told by the late Col. James W, Scott, a member of his staff, and his devoted friend, which may be taken as a specimen of numerous others of similar character.
Living on the road to Austin, whither he and his staff had to pass for his inauguration the second time into the Presidency, was a man who was much embittered against Houston, although he had never seen him, and who had said that he would kill Gen. Houston if he should ever see him. The members of the staff were warned not to allow Gen. Houston to call or stop at this man's house,—a suitable stopping-place otherwise after a day's ride. Having traveled most of the day, and time for stopping nearly arrived, Gen. Houston and his party approached this man's house. Calling to his staff, the General said: "We have traveled far enough; here is a good stopping-place; let us see if we can not obtain quarters here for the night." The gentlemen of the staff remonstrated with him, telling him what they had heard of this man. "Well," said Houston, "this is the right place at which to stop. We will stop here." The staff knew that there could be no successful resistance to his will once formed, and they determined to await in perfect silence the issue. Riding up to the entrance of the house. Gen. Houston inquired of the man in front if he and his party could be entertained for the night. He was courteously answered in the affirmative; thereupon he and his staff proceeded to store their luggage on the portico, and send their horses to the stable. The staff superintended this business, while Gen. Houston seated himself on the portico. Observing some children, he called them up, commenced telling them some stories, and soon had them hanging around his chair, gazing wistfully into his face, seeking more stories. Shortly afterward the lady of the house made her appearance, and the owner of the place also gathered near, and when the staff returned from looking after the horses, they found, to their amazement and consternation, the whole household fascinated by Houston's conversation. Supper was announced, but just as the master of the house was about to serve his guests from the dish before him, Houston touched his arm, and said: "My friend, although I do not profess religion [at that time the General had not joined the church], still I always ask God's blessing when I partake of His bounty. Allow me to ask a blessing." "Certainly, sir," said the master of the house, who by this time was completely under the spell of Houston's magnetic presence, "ask a blessing." He asked the blessing, talked cheerfully while eating, telling agreeable incidents, quite captivating the man, his lady, and their children. Supper over, conversation ensued until it was near the usual bed-time, and the man suggested that "Rooms were ready, if the gentlemen were desirous of retiring." "Well," said Gen. Houston, "have you a Bible? It is always my habit to read a portion of Scripture before I retire." The lady of the house was only too glad to get something done which looked like religion in the house, and she soon procured a Bible. Houston read a brief, familiar passage, and made some appropriate comments thereon, then observed: "Having done all I do usually at home, we are ready to retire." He and his staff retired, without exchanging words. In the morning, at breakfast, he again asked a blessing. After breakfast the staff proceeded to get up the teams for travel, while Gen. Houston still conversed with the family. The horses ready, and before any settlement had been made, one of the staff stepped forward, and said, forgetting the injunction, "General, we are ready to start." The man looked up, startled, and inquired, "General! Who?" "General Houston," said the General, "Houston himself." "Are you General Houston?" said the amazed man. Without the slightest exhibition of concern, Houston replied, "I am, sir." "Well," said the entertainer, "I have always said I would kill you on sight; but, sir, any man that can talk to my wife and children as you have talked, ask such a blessing on the meals, read the Bible, and comment on it, as you have done, is always welcome to my house." "Well," says General Houston, "what must we pay you for your trouble and hospitality?" "Nothing, sir. You and your staff can call as often as you please. From this time on I shall be a Houston man." And Col. Scott said that man was an inflexible friend of Gen. Houston ever afterward.
"St. Louis, Mo., April 9, 1881."My Dear Sir: At the instance of our learned friend, the Rev. G. W. Samson, of New York, 'the pastor of Sam Houston' while a United States Senator, I sit down to write to you concerning our early association and correspondence, and the annexation of Texas.
"When, in 1816, I was appointed a cadet in the United States Military Academy, by request of Andrew Jackson, my guardian, Houston was a lieutenant in the First Infantry, and on duty in the Adjutant-General's office of the Southern Division, commanded by Maj.-Gen. Andrew Jackson, and of which Col. Robert Butler, my gallant cousin, was Adjutant-General. He resigned his commission March 1, 1818, was elected to Congress in 1823, and being then a Lieutenant of Artillery, on topographical service in Washington, I had the pleasure of again meeting my old friend. I soon discovered that he had lost none of his eccentricities. He made me accompany him to every hat store in Washington in search of a hat with 'a very narrow rim '; and, finally, to the Capitol, to select his seat in the House of Representatives.
"After having selected his seat, as he imagined, he turned to me, and remarked: 'Now, Butler, I am a Member of Congress, and I will show Mr. Calhoun that I have not forgotten his insult to me when a poor lieutenant.'
"When a lieutenant, he once went to Washington in charge of an Indian delegation, dressed, as was his wont, in Indian costume. For this Mr. Calhoun, then Secretary of War, reproved him, and he never forgot nor forgave him.
"You, sir, and your good friend Dr. Samson, know more than I do of his after and remarkable career—his election as Governor of Tennessee; his first and unfortunate marriage; his resignation and sojourn among the Cherokee Indians; and his advent to Texas. I will therefore conclude with a few remarks upon the 're-annexation of Texas,' as Robert J. Walker termed it, and Houston's connection therewith; and with reference to the advance of Gen. Taylor's army into Mexico, concerning which I, then a private citizen of Louisiana, exercised no little influence.
"You recollect President Van Buren's rejection of President Houston's proffer of the annexation of Texas to the United States for the alleged reason, 'We already have elements of strife enough, and when the fruit is ripe, it will fall into our lap'; but really from sectional motives, for which Robert J. Walker, the able champion of annexation, defeated his renomination to the Presidency by springing the 'two-thirds rule' upon him.
"Years passed away; Houstonr had been succeeded as President of Texas by Jones, and Van Buren as President of the United States by Harrison, and, at his death, by Tyler, when, in 1844, my old friend and West Point classmate, Andrew Jackson Donelson, was sent as chargé d'affaires to Texas, to negotiate a 'Treaty of Annexation.' Finding Houston violently opposed to it, and Jones consequently indisposed or indifferent, Donelson induced him to convene the Texan Congress, believing it and the people to be in favor of it.
"During the interval, Donelson came to me at my plantation in the parish of Iberville, Louisiana. He read to me his correspondence with the Texan Government, and its apparent indifference; of his visit to Houston, in the interior, and his indignation toward Van Buren, and consequent opposition to the proposed treaty; and, finally, remarked that Houston seemed to be under the influence of Elliott and Saligny, the English and French representatives near the Government of Texas, who were endeavoring to defeat annexation, and to negotiate treaties of commerce or alliance, 'offensive and defensive,' with the Governments of England and France.
"I therefore advised him to return at once to Texas, to appeal to the people, many of whom he knew, and to use every means in his power to counteract the efforts of Elliott and Saligny. He returned immediately to the seat of the Texas Government; and, a few days after his arrival, Capt. Elliott was holding forth at one end of the dinner-table of the hotel against annexation, in a loud voice, when Donelson, who sat at the other end, remarked, in an equally loud voice, 'Captain Elliott, I think you are making a fool of yourself.' That finished the cause of the gallant captain; for any one who knows a Texan can imagine the effect upon those present of Donelson's remark.
"In the meantime I went to the 'Hermitage,' at the request of my venerable friend and godfather, Andrew Jackson, to take a final and sad leave of him; and annexation and Houston were his constant theme. Soon after my return to my plantation, the papers announced that Gen. Houston would be in New Orleans on a certain day, on his way to the ' Hermitage,' to take leave of his dying friend. Knowing that he would reach that city the evening before the 'annexation meeting at the Arcade,' I wrote to him as follows, and my letter may be among his papers: 'My dear General, allow me to recall myself to your remembrance by informing you that I have just returned from a pilgrimage to the "Hermitage," to take a final and sad leave of our dear old friend; and his parting inquiry of me, in regard to annexation, was, "Edward, what will Houston do?" It is owing to my inability to answer that question that I now address you; and it can not be possible that a native of Virginia and a citizen of Tennessee can have so far forgotten what is due to himself and his country as to lend himself for an instant to the representatives of England and France.'
"That there might be no mistake, I gave the letter to Capt. Hart, who, the day following, assured me that he placed it in Gen. Houston's hands; and after several speeches had been made at the 'Arcade meeting' in favor of annexation, Gen. Houston was called for, when, after some prefatory remarks, he said: ' My friends, I have been accused of lending myself to England and France; but, I assure you, I have been only coquetting with them.' He proceeded to the 'Hermitage,' and returned through Alabama, making speeches on his way in favor of annexation; and it became a fixed fact.
"Toward the close of President Tyler's administration, Maj. Donelson was elected a delegate to the Democratic Convention at Baltimore from Tennessee, and I from Louisiana, when Gen. Jackson wrote to me, requesting me to go by the way of the 'Hermitage,' as he wished Maj. Donelson and myself to go on together. I could not attend the Convention, which repudiated Van Buren, and nominated Polk for President. During Maj. Donelson's visit to me, I inquired as to the General's object in wishing us to go together. He seemed surprised at the inquiry, and replied: 'Made sure that Mr. Van Buren's rejection of Texas had put an end to his pretensions, and he wished to direct our attention to Mr. Polk'; and when I inquired of him at parting, 'In case we can not nominate our friend Van Buren, what shall I do?' he replied: 'Throw your friend overboard; and go for your country.'
"Now, my dear sir, in view of the part which you see I took in the annexation of Texas, that which I took in causing the forward movement of Gen. Taylor's army into Mexico, forms a somewhat strange coincidence.
"When my brave and patriotic old friend Gen. Taylor, after the brilliant affairs of Palo Alto and Resaca la Palma, sat down for weeks at Matamoras, knowing his want of self-reliance and the desire of the Government that he should march upon Monterey, I wrote to him to that effect, and he responded: 'I have not heard from the Secretary of War for two months, and do not know the wishes and intentions of the Government in regard to the movements of this army. If an advance into Mexico is intended. Gen. Scott, who knows the wishes of the Government, is the proper person to command its army and to carry out its wishes.'
"Alarmed by the receipt of even a letter, and that after Gen. Scott's refusal of the command, from fear of 'a fire in his rear,' I wrote to Senator Cass, gave him an extract from Gen. Taylor's letter, and begged him to see the President and Secretary of War without delay, and have him properly advised and instructed.
"Gen. Cass replied: 'I have conferred with the President and Secretary of War, in conformity to your request, and without committing Gen. Taylor, who has the entire confidence of the Government; and Gen. Taylor has been fully advised of its wishes, and furnished with the necessary instructions.' The result you know.
"Faithfully and truly yours, E. G. M. Butler."
Not only in Texas, where he. was the idol of "the people," but in Washington and New York, the people clustered about Houston as a father, and hundreds were proud to have taken his hand, to have met his benign snnile, and to have received from him a word of heartfelt tenderness. Called in New York to take part, in the winter of 1853-4, in a course of public lectures for a benevolent object, inaugurated by J. T. Smith, Esq., in which several clever eminent gentlemen took part, Houston's calm dignity of manner, his profound good sense, and his overmastering spirit of patriotic earnestness, captivated his hearers. At church, in Washington, the aisles would be blocked by people pressing forward, at the close of the service, toward the pulpit, near which he always sat; the humblest hearer, as well as men of prominent positions, pressing to exchange greetings with the hero and statesman of his generation. In the vestibule the colored occupants of the gallery waited to welcome him, and were eager to receive his kind and genuine expressions of esteem. Those twelve years in Washington, interspersed with visits farther north, were full of incidents, and rich in sentiments uttered, which a volume would not contain. Most of all, it was what Houston did not do and say—especially amid the exciting scenes attending the assault on the Massachusetts Senator—the theme of excited comment in public and private, which brought out Houston's greatness. The remark of the old Greek sage, that " he had sometimes repented speaking, never keeping silent,"—the highest of all examples, that of "the Just One," condemned to death though faultless, who, when insulted, "yet opened not His mouth,"—these models of the most transcendent greatness thoughtful observers saw often realized in Sam Houston.