Life and select literary remains of Sam Houston of Texas/Chapter 30
CHAPTER XXX.
It has been said by one already frequently quoted, "That Gen. Houston's judgment was pre-eminently calm and thoughtful; his very bursts of tempestuous passion (in early life) were premeditated. In intercourse with Houston running through more than a quarter of a century I never imagined there was more than one human being to whose judgment he deferred, and to which he postponed his own. That man v/as Andrew Jackson."Just before Jackson's death he visited the Hero of New Orleans at the Hermitage. The "Hero of San Jacinto" went to bid a last adieu to his earliest and most lasting personal and political friend. It was an affecting meeting. Houston's noble wife, who was present, described it as one of the most remarkable imaginable. Both were patriots, soldiers, leaders, statesmen. Both had perilled life in youth on the battle-field for their country. Jackson loved the Union, the United States; yet not even he ever loved the Union of the States with more intense affection than Houston.
The history of Sam Houston is alike the property of the American people at large, and of the people of Texas specially. The part which he bore in the liberation of an oppressed colony, in gathering ardent and invincible spirits about him, in leading them to victory, his skill as a General, his statesmanship as Congressman, President, Senator, and Governor, will ever form one of the brightest pages of American history.
Justly has it been remarked that American history will be incomplete without assigning the chief place to the most sagacious statesman which the Southwest has ever produced. Born of Scotch-Irish parentage, near the greatest of Virginia's physical marvels in Rockbridge County, the character-nursery of the McDowells, Moores, Tuckers, Letchers, and Stonewall Jacksons, with the blood of the McClungs and the Alexanders coursing in his veins, he gave early promise in his erratic boyhood, and wild life among uncivilized men, of the destiny which unerring wisdom had marked out for him. Thrown at an early age upon his own resources, content with a soldier's hard fare and a hero's fate, we find him, under the lead and following the fortunes of Andrew Jackson, distinguished in all battles, and wounded in one of the memorable contests between the forces of Jackson and the Indians in Alabama. From the soldier he passed to the statesman. Elected, almost by acclamation, District Attorney, Major-General, Member of Congress, and Governor of Tennessee, matrimonial infelicity determines him to surrender all his brilliant prospects of future distinction in Tennessee. Immediately he resigns the office of Governor, and goes into exile. On that resolution hung a future which is filled with some of the most remarkable events of modern times. A confidential correspondent of the President of the United States, he visits Texas, is elected a delegate of Anglo-Mexicans struggling for liberty and natural rights; is twice elected General of the small armies raised for defence and independence; is the heroic chief of the immortal battle of San Jacinto; is President of the young Republic for five years, discharging duty with success, and to the marked advancement of the nation; is Senator from Texas in the Congress of the United States from 1846 to 1859, and is Governor of the State at the most critical period of its history, at the opening of the most remarkable contest which has occurred in the later history of the world.
Gen. Sam Houston was one of the most remarkable men in the history of Anglo-Saxon civilization. That he had faults, and grave ones, no one will deny. But that his remarkable excellences of character completely overshadow the dark sides of his character is equally undeniable. He was opposed bitterly, and he resented as bitterly. Treated with injustice, he was unrelenting and merciless, until he made a public profession of Christianity, when his whole course of conduct underwent a change. An ardent friend in the United States of Andrew Jackson, counseled by the hero of New Orleans in his career as General in Texas, he shared the obloquy cast upon Jackson in the Union, and did not escape the effects of that obloquy as a General and President in Texas, as his chief antagonists in Texas had also been the political opponents of General Jackson in the United States. His opponents were patriotic and chivalrous men, anxious for the same ends for which he was willing to lay down his life, but seeking for these ends by more rapid and dashing methods. They all contributed to the independence of Texas, and should all be remembered with undying devotion by all true patriotic spirits of Texas. That the policy of Houston and his administrative ability was most successful, is his best vindication from all assaults of opponents. But let "the dead past bury its dead," The achievements of his life are his best eulogy.
1. He was a man of marked individuality. He possessed this trait in common with Washington and Jefferson, Jackson and Clay, Webster and Calhoun. He thought for himself, thought closely; exercised his reasoning powers, and formed clear, cool, and calm judgments. He studied books little, but men much. He analyzed thoroughly the philosophy of events, and linked measures with their sequences.
2. He maintained a lofty independence of spirit. He was willing to concede to others all he claimed for himself. Capacity for independent thought is the first quality of a commander. No leader of public opinion was ever successful in impressing his ideas upon others who did not maintain some originality of thought, which is but another name for independence of idea. Gen. Houston had such independence of spirit that he would have reached the highest point of success in any walk or profession of life.
3. He had tfoe gift of prophetic political sagacity. Calhoun had this gift in a remarkable degree. Other statesmen of America have exhibited it, to the wonder of their contemporaries. Houston possessed it so remarkably, that there is hardly an instance in which he made a political prediction that the event did not correspond with his prediction. It so happened in all matters pertaining to the Republic, and it so happened in the contest between the States resisting or advocating secession from the Union.
4. He possessed administrative ability fitted for the grandest governments and the deepest problems of political economy. He investigated details, and grouped them into masses. He thought nothing unworthy of notice connected with the success of a measure or a plan. The beginning and the end he connected with unerring links. He could wait patiently to see the workings of any scheme. He came, almost by intuition, to the high capacity of a great executive officer. Contrasting measures, means and ends, it may be safely declared, that no American executive officer ever surpassed Gen. Houston. [ His administration during both terms of the Presidency of the Republic was signalized by extraordinary ability in regulating finances, and in establishing peaceful relations with foreign countries and the Indian tribes. His Indian correspondence is a marvel of sagacity and genius. His letters to Santa Anna are remarkable for point, sarcasm, clear detail of facts, and unbounded patriotism.
5. He was a soldier. Fear never blanched the cheek of Sam Houston. Dread of danger never dismayed his courageous soul nor withheld him from a peril for a right or liberty. His courage was the courage of a predetermined thought; resolved to make a sacrifice only with the highest possibility of a grand advantage. Had Gen. Houston risked an engagement with Santa Anna near Goliad, or at a period earlier than he did at San Jacinto, numbers would have won the victory, and Texas would have been enslaved. In this Fabian policy of retreat he proved the truth of the old adage, that "discretion is the better part of valor." He had served under Jackson, and in the regular army of the United States as a lieutenant, sufficiently long to give him practice in military drill and the art of war. He had mingled with frontiersmen so long and intimately that he knew better than any other man of his times how to bring under control men not used to obedience to any will save their own. Whether fighting with Indians at Tohopeka, or with Mexicans at San Jacinto, Gen. Houston proved himself a hero as well as a soldier.
6. He was a statesman. He was not a learned lawyer. He exhibited no great fondness for the bar. But on the stump, in the legislative hall, or in the Senate Chamber, he delighted tp meet the "foeman worthy of his steel." In discussing affairs of high moment involving the welfare of a State, or looking to the perpetuity or rupture of the Federal Union, his ideas, drawn deep from his thoughtful brain, would take the courage of eagle's wings and soar to the loftiest heights of reason and law. His statesmanship settled the foundations of the Republic against all opposition. Of that opposition, Hon. Ashbel Smith thus speaks, in his "Reminiscences of the Texas Republic":
"There was in Texas a party composed of gentlemen of great ability, of former public services, of high ambition, of ardent imaginations, of lofty patriotism, opposed to the administrations of Sam Houston and of Anson Jones, with the unreasoning energy so often characteristic of party contests. They were out of office, which they coveted, and the success of the Houstonian policy already adverted to, crowned with peace, seemed to insure indefinite continuance in power of the Houston party, and indefinite exclusion of the leaders of the opposition. Among them were some of the bravest spirits that fought at San Jacinto, and who had borne full share in organizing the Government of the Republic. In the opposition, also, were adventurous spirits, whose day-dreams were of warlike expeditions; men as bold, as ardent, as Cortez or Pizarro, and whose fancies reveled in desperate battles, and in imaginary plunder of the halls of the Montezumas. The pacific policy of Houston, long and solid peace with Mexico, sounded a long farewell, 'the occupation gone' for these restless spirits. The contingencies of annexation offered chances of war. War came, but, alas! for their dreams, it was waged under other auspices, other leaders, other counsels, in none of which had they part."
Transferred from the arena of politics in the Lone Star Republic to the arena of the Republic of the United States, Gen. Houston took rank with the "giants of power" who honored with their presence, their speech and their opinions, the Senate of the United States of forty years ago. 7. He was distinguished for fortitude. His powers of endurance were severely taxed in his boyhood, owing to the misconceptions of his brothers. His fortitude was exhibited in the severe service of the Indian wars. It was shown in his patient submission to the unjust treatment of his opponents before and succeeding the battle of San Jacinto. It never forsook him during his political life, even to the hour of his ejection from the position of Governor of the State of Texas.
Great in adversity, great in prosperity, great out of office, great in office, as a soldier. General, Member of Congress, Governor of two States, President of a Republic, and United States Senator, he has placed his name near the apex of the unmouldering pillar of fame.