Sam Houston's Exile

The St. Loai Denioorat poblishad sume weeks since a private letter of l'resideut Jackson to General Sam Elouston, datcd Washington, I). C, .Jan. _'!, 189, preserved by an old Texan, aformer friend of' Houston'p, whioh has inore than a personal hiitory attached to it. Preiidont Jackson recalls his delightM meeting with his friend one year bef'ore, wlien, as governor of Tennessee, he was"aboutto be united to a beautiful young lady of aeconjplished manners and of rcspcctable connections." As to his sudden detcrinination to " settlc with the Indians and becotue a savage," he exclainis: " Surely it is a dream," and he hints that though now addresed at the Cherokee Ageney, Territory of Arkansas, his intention is to found in Texas a Southwestern Kmpiro ; revivini; thus a scheme of of her men in i times. The GHobe-Domocrat alludei to Houston's aot, whioh clled out this letter frotn his nlil friend, as " one of the most singular and utterly unexplained acts ever connected with General Houston or any otlier great historio] diameter. " As the true explanation since his deatH boen made known by bis nido to those ppecially intrusteil with the preparation of his nieuioirs, the publieation of whieh is perhaps not indefinitcly postponod, justiec to truth and to Houston ¦ meuiory as :i model of true loyalty sccius to deuiand the following statement of the proofs of that loyalty : V" partor of Senator flouston from 1845 lo 1861, intímate with all his private thoughta as well as his jtublic lito, the wiiter, wheo requested to contribute to the prupo.scil nifuiiiir, was made acquaintnl with the fait of bis maniate -wouicl : keener and more laating (han that of tbe poisoned [odian arrow wbote featering hc um'iI aometimea to show lus friend, The attcstatlOD of hia loyalty in all other relalinii-, haard uiten trom bisown lips, and read in nnmiatakabta acts, ia in perfect nOord with the aullicntio luctu ol' liistory which any reader eau verify even in brief' fencyclopflsdia notloea. There i bol i ar ! ticle of cvidenco in any prtwrved record which ndioatea a taint ol disloyalty in any relntioo. Hum in Virginia in 1793, lelt an pruhan in boyhood. S:tm Houstnn went with his mot her In Tenm'sscc, whoto bo upportcd her hy bis nwn imliislry, thus early Iciirning fnmily loyalty. In 1S1:1, at ihe a' of' iwiiny, he enlistcd umlei' General J nekten in the ('reek war, and for his repeafted deeds of galUntry he so gaincd the eataem of Jaekson that bc pirgad kim to reniuiu permanently in ihc arnty. ticsignuig, however, and stuilying law in Nasbville, he rose from office t office, and in Isüii, at the ageofthitfy, b ir elomcd to congronB, ainl inen agaio in I sl'T was elouted Korernor "I TcnneMice. lp to ibis linie rWuton was uiiinarricd. I 'uivcr.-ally kdffiwed, and urged by asnoeiatw U fofw an alliance wbiob w -emcil essential to bis statimi, a yonng lady óf beauty and aecomplishments wib oommended to bini by tamilyinflüonoje. Hia piopoaal ni' mamare was iicceplcil.anii late in ÏS'JH the maniate ceionniny wa performed with umiMial pump. 'l'be ncx day lloiistnn reswoed bis oitíce,eros.sed th Miaaiaaippi into Arkansaw, and J)cccnibc 11, 1828, nil f'nim the ageney of bis oh Cherokee aoquaintaDoe tbe letter to l'res dentjaokson wbicheaUed forth hia lettero January 21, 1S29. No one ol' Huston' i' inipaiiions kin'w till his death tbc eau of hit new course, whicb his bMt friends like Jackson, rcarded as partial insaoity no one but his widow could reveal it, an she only tlnoajíli a sense of conjugal an( (Jhrisiian duty. That eause was the highes I test of loyaliy ot 'whieli any man could b capable. ( )d tbe cvr uf marriagc, Uovornor Hous ton observed a tremor in the voico and i the hand of his bride, when the vow o undividcd attachruent waa pronouncef wbitb couvinced liim that some secret hac not been revealed to hitp. Before retirin he frankly told her of his suspicion, aske i a frank contession and pledged her that i should not work her injury. His frank ness and tirmness led totheconfes.-ion tha ber affections had been gi ven and pledged t another before their meeting, and that filia duty had prompted her aeceptance of bi prolfer. llouston retired lo bis own col next day resijinoil his position, allowed th( entire fáult to appear to be his, permittei and encouraged her application for a di voice on thepleaof desertion, and the brid was married to tbe man of ber former al fection. Many irregularities were, o course, charged on the man who bad really sacriticed everything to save one who hac erred only in mistaken duty ; but no charg of domestic infidelity could be true in man who denied it to the e.-timaMe lad who afierwards beeame his wife. The suggestion of ambitious designs naturally asumed as true by Jackson, was disproved by facts known to history. On year aftcr that letter was written llousto was thechosen representaliveof the Chcro kees at Washington. It was on a visit to Texas a year pr two later that llouston wa drawn into Texan affairs. The largo Con necticut colony induccd to go into Texas in 1820 had been, in violationof Santa Anna' promisos, in ls:!0 incorporated into the neighboring Mexican province of Coahuili and thus subjected to Mexican law am government. These Americana in Texas with loyal intent, thcreupon organizcJ i di.-uinct province, and they clectcd Hous (un as tbcir delégate to the eonvention tha had been ealled to revise tlic Mcxieaii Hl stiiution, whicb in (824 had borrowci largely from tbatofthe United 8tatcs. The colonists had increaied in nuniher to 20, DUO win ii llouston becamc tbcir delégate The crafiy Santa Anna, alter repcated ef forti for pcaee, did not begin hostilitie until is;;."). Though superior in ability llouston did uot become cuuimander-inchicf till tbe post was resigned by Colono .S. F. Austin, tbc son of lbo lirst oolooisl in the autumn of 1835. Houston's clemency to S;uiia Anna after tlie massacres he had perpetraied was loyalty lotbe rules oí war. During tbc eight yoars, Iroiu ls.37 to 1845, olTtixan iinlepcndenee, Houston was faithful to cvery obligation oí" lite. It was durinj: this pcriod tbat bc obtained a divorce l'rom the legislature of tbe state of which be was prendent, nnl married one of the most accompli.-bcd and devout of Christian romeo, who, with ¦ larc famiry of children, survives him. When, at last, anocxation could be effected ñatead of' aiming at independent empire, Houston promoted to the utmost the anncxatioo of the state of which hc had been the fathor. In Washington, as senator from I.Í45 to 1861, no tiuer guteaman khan 8am llouton lat in tho capítol. In sooial relations no sign ofvice appt-arcd, lor lie was oftlie Roman stamp, po bonored reoentíy by The Tribune as a typ of the repabltcap leaders of Franco. Thuugh unable to bring his liiinily lo tlic cipital, tliey werc always in liis thoufe'ht. I Ie spont Suaday li'ternoon in writing to them ; and lie ever spoku in all oowpiuiy of' the fact that to bis wife he was BOWted lor his chief' honor and happiness. From lus coming to Washington his seit was never vacan! in the place of worship ; he of'ten ref'erred to a di-coun-e on the words " Better is he that ruleth hi.s own spirit than he that taketh a city," as the rtligious crisis of his life ; he rose above tho two-fbld conviction which reistrains most public nien from a public profession of Christiao faith, namely; the suspicion of hypocrisy and of sectarianism, and was baptised when at the very hight of his political expectations. When secession and the war following it oame, Sim Ilouaton was almost alone in opposing it, in open wurds and in direct acts. When in varied companies the remark was dropped that Lincoln would not l e peac('ülly inaugurated, Houaton firmly said : "The uian that attempts to prevent it chalí walk over inv dead body I " True to his word, when on that day of inauguration videttcs were at every street corner where the procession was to pass, close up to the left gide of' the carriape íd which Lincoln fat with Huchanan on hiR right, tho tall form of Honston, mounted and armed, was een throughout the whole route, pressing so closely up to the wheels that no man could have passed between. Such a record should set aside any suspicion that Houston was nU in every reation a model of' loyalty. Iietiring to the bosoui of hifi faniily he lived two years in i'i't another political exile ; hut adored in liin faniily, and not " an alien from the eouimonwealth of the redeemed." Nr.w York, Noy. S, 188U.