Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/242



election of James Buchanan as President was an indication that the party to whose true interests Houston had given his patriotic devotion, were not gifted with his clear vision of interests impending in the future. He accepted the situation; wasted no energies in complaints; was sustained by conscious integrity of motive and correctness of judgment; and his " last days " were his "best" in the counsels of the Senate. Though assuming no prominence he watched occasions when duty called for action, and he quietly but faithfully employed them. This character of Houston shone out all the more conspicuous, because deep religious conviction, as well as patriotic fidelity, ruled him; and that, though the people of his own State listened no more to the counsel of age, but to the rash counsels of the young. The succession of Rehoboam to Solomon is but a type for ages and nations.

The meeting of the 35th Congress, December 7, 1857, just after the new Presidential election, found the veteran hero of Texas promptly in his seat in the Senate, where more than ever he was greeted with respect and reverence by his comrades, and by the people of Washington. The first session, beginning December 7, 1857, lasted till June 14, 1858; the second opened December 6, 1858, and closed March 4, 1859, which was the expiration of Houston's term. On the nth February, 1858, Houston presented resolutions of his State as to the impeachment of Judge Watrous. On the 16th February he proposed an act establishing a Protectorate by the U. S. Government over Mexico and Central America; urging, as oft before, that the people needed to be defended against the intrigues of political leaders, who oppressed them. On the 17th March, when a petition from Utah came to the Senate, and some from policy would suppress it, the commanding voice of Houston was heard from his seat: " Let us have it read."

Early in March, 1858, the news came that he had been superseded in the Senate, by vote of the Legislature of Texas. Houston made no allusion to it, except as references to it by other Senators compelled his notice. On the 19th March he used the following language: