Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/275

Rh 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,