Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/263

Rh 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