Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/164



press of the United States teemed with calumnies against the Texan people and their intrepid leader. The appeal for recognition and interposition was received, and read with surprise and mortification by the press. But this paper so clearly unfolded the merits of the Texan struggle as to receive profound attention from the Cabinets of Washington, London, and Paris. Powerful and widely circulated. American papers had impressed their prejudices and their intelligence upon the leading journals of England and France. The people of Texas were regarded as a band of outlaws. Beyond a tardy recognition of independence other nations hardly ventured. Their ministers scarcely uttered a word of encouragement or sympathy to the agents of Texas in Europe, The appeal indicated a high veneration for justice, lofty regard for national honor, a distinct recognition of the claims of humanity and Christian principle, not inferior to all the characteristics of civil liberty which marked the progress and the intercourse of the leading governments of the world. It is said that Peel and Guizot, on reading this appeal, declared that it would have done credit to the bravest nation and most enlightened statesmen of the race. The archives of Texas show that, immediately afterward, an honorable rivalry sprung up in the English and French Cabinets for the cultivation of friendly relations with Texas. The ministers of those nations accredited to the Texan Government received instructions to embrace every opportunity for winning the regard and friendship of the Republic, hence every effort was put forth by vigilant ministers and keen-sighted diplomatists to gain for their sovereigns the control of the commerce and political fortunes of Texas. To prevent the final union of Texas with the United States became a matter of vast consequence to England and France, and, as an independent power, no barriers could prevent her ultimate advancement. But the tendency of affairs toward annexation with the United States was watched with vigilance and alarm. Diplomatic, commercial,