Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/552

 one common design of plunder; and a rivalry seemed to exist as to who should grasp the larger fortune in the land controversies of Texas.

To convey some idea of the fearful magnitude of the operations of this land company, I may state that it appears, from the action of the Senate of Texas on the subject, that they extended to twenty-four millions seven hundred and thirty-one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four acres of land, besides being implicated in the proceeds of other interests of immense value, to which I shall presently allude.

To give some idea of the confidence which appears to have animated this vast conspiracy, I may here introduce a letter in which Reynolds, one of the principal financial conductors, proposes to another member of the conspiracy to have still another judicial district created" in the glorious country their locations covered," and to secure the appointment of judge there. It seems that these parties were not satisfied with having enlisted the services of one federal judge to promote the ends of their conspiracy; they were anxious to perfect their organization by securing the appointment of still another judge in their interest, to share the labors of his honor, John Charles Watrous. I will read the brief but interesting disclosures made in the letter I have alluded to. Here it is:

"December 11, 1850. "":— You have seen the report recently published in the Republic of the glorious country our locations cover. I think you can gain it; and then get a law passed for a new United States district, and take the appointment, I would go on at the heel of the session, and log-roll for you if necessary. "Yours truly,

The members of the company seem to have a great aptitude for "log-rolling," and the disreputable appliances of the lobby. They must have considered themselves very potential in this respect, to judge from the frequent propositions of the kind. They had supreme confidence in themselves; and their continued success seems to have inspired the belief that there was naught too difficult or too high for spirits like theirs to dare.

As a further instance of the determined courage of these honest gentlemen, and their resolves to do or die, I am tempted here to give one other extract of a letter from Reynolds to Johnson, written at New York. It suggests, too, the desperate character of the enterprise for which the writer required men of "nerve" to adventure in the boat now floating down the stream of success, but which might at any time be dashed upon the rocks. He writes as follows :

", May 4, 1847. ":— We play for empire, and will see it to the end. If you find any of your moneyed friends who have the nerve to go into this boat with us, at this stage of our voyage, I will give them an interest on the most favorable terms. As to the value of the lands there can be no doubt. Does the Judge talk of coming North?

"Yours truly,

"" From the point to which I have now reached, in the narration of the facts as