Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/52

 they learned that his torture was the consequence of earnest and devoted love for Gen. Jackson, the then President of the Union. The trial closed with a party vote, instructing the Speaker, Hon. Andrew Stevenson, of Virginia, to reprimand the prisoner at the bar of the House. The reprimand was delivered so delicately and courteously, that all over the Union it was regarded as a signal triumph, and carried more the tone of approval than of reprimand.

The second method was the appointment of a committee to investigate the charge which the member from Ohio had made, that Houston was guilty of fraud, in an attempt to procure a contract for furnishing Indian rations. Houston, in conscious innocence, advocated this measure. The committee was appointed,—Stansberry, of Ohio, was appointed its chairman. Thus armed, he conducted a tedious and thorough investigation. But after examining every circumstance which could be adduced, the committee was compelled, finally, to report that they had not found the slightest evidence with which to support the charge.

The third method was by resolution for ever to exclude him from the lobby of the House, where as an Ex-Member of Congress and Ex-Governor of a State, he was privileged to go. The resolution was not adopted.

The fourth method was indictment by the Grand Jury of the District of Columbia. He was held to bail in a criminal process of $20,000. He stood the bail, which resulted in a fine of $500 and costs, but no attempt to enforce the sentence of the Court was ever made, and the last act but one of Gen. Jackson's administration was to remit the fine. Houston was triumphant over all his foes. Seldom has so malignant a persecution ever been waged against a man in public life. He had invited scrutiny. He showed no cowardice. His foes retired from the contest loaded with chagrin and contempt. He returned to his voluntary exile—a home in the distant wigwam of the old Indian chief. For a year he had endured the persecution of men of pretended civilization, and now, wherever he went, especially in Tennessee, he was received with enthusiastic demonstrations of regard. State pride asserted itself among Tennesseeans, to protect and honor a citizen who had passed through such cruel and undeserving persecutions. Though posts of honor offered, no emoluments tendered by his friends, or by Gen. Jackson particularly, could persuade him from once more returning to the forest. He resided, in all, nearly three years among the Cherokees. Of the manner in which the Indians were wronged. Gen. Houston once said: "During the period of my residence among the Indians in the Arkansas region, I had every facility for gaining a complete knowledge of the flagrant outrages practiced upon the poor red men, by the agents of the Government. I saw every year vast sums