Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/277

Rh 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.