Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/590

 "with Mr. Hedgecoxe (the agent of Peters colony grant), and are arranging matters.'"

It further appears that the Hon. Caleb Gushing was employed as the attorney for this association, which is known to have numbered among its members men of the highest station and most powerful influence in the land; and that when elevated to the high office of Attorney-General of the United States, he gave an extra-judicial opinion in favor of the claim of the company, which will be found in the published opinions of the Attorney-Generals.

It was this former attorney for the association, with which Judge Watrous was connected, who was called to his aid when pressed by the investigation before the committee of the House, and who acted as his counsel and defender throughout that emergency. I mention this only to illustrate the ramifications and varieties of the influences brought to sustain Judge Watrous whenever occasion required, and the extent of which baffles imagination, and leaves us at a loss what to conjecture.

I will here bring to the notice of this honorable body a letter addressed by one of the managers of Peters colony grant to Judge Watrous after his elevation to the bench: ", January 15, 1847.

":—I am just in receipt of your letter of the 22d ultimo, and upon presenting it to the trustees of the company who manage its affairs, they instructed me to say to you that the transfer of their cause by you to Messrs. Johnson and Hale, meets their entire approbation. Relying upon their knowledge of your own ability to select for them, they have addressed a note to Messrs. J. and H., but if it should not reach them, please do us the favor to say to them that their selection is satisfactory, and that we hope they will investigate the matter thoroughly for trial. Our agent in the grant, upon whom the process will be served, is Mr. Henry O. Hedgecoxe, McGarrah's post-office, Texas—the county I do not know, as the grant has been divided within a year into three counties. If they require any information from us, we shall promptly give it to them. I am pleased to learn that you have received and accepted the appointment of judge of the Federal court of Texas. I do you but justice when 1 say that I believe, from the reputation you have among those whom I know to be competent to decide, that you deserved the appointment; and I am also satisfied that, if our case should come before you, we shall have both law and justice rendered us, so far as it is dependent on your decision.

"Please accept my best thanks for your attention and communication, and believe ine, very respectfully, etc.,

The fact is thus revealed that Judge Watrous had been counsel in this case before going on the bench, and that in assuming the judicial office, he had turned over the business he had been managing to Hale and Johnson, the attorneys he had imported into Texas to aid in the accomplishment of his purposes. The writer of this letter, one of the persons who had employed the judge in this case, congratulates him on his promotion to the bench, and says: