He  at  once  addressed  to  General  William  Hall,
speaker  of  the  senate  of  Tennessee,  a  letter  of
resignation  as  governor  that  deserves  to  be  quoted
here  in  full  because  many  of  its  expressions  so
well  illustrate  his  character. He  wrote  as  fol-
lows :  —


EARLY  PUBLIC  LIFE


37


"Sir:  It  has  become  my  duty  to  resign  the
office  of  chief  magistrate  of  the  State,  and  to  place
in  your  hand  the  authority  and  responsibility
which  on  such  an  event  devolves  on  you  by  the
provisions  of  the  constitution. In  dissolving  the
political  connection  which  has  so  long  and  in  such
a  variety  of  forms  existed  between  the  people  of
Tennessee  and  myself,  no  private  affliction  can
forbid  an  expression  of  the  grateful  recollections
so  eminently  due  to  the  kind  partialities  of  an
indulgent  public. From  my  earliest  youth,  what-
ever of  talent  was  committed  to  my  care,  has  been
honestly  cultivated  and  expended  for  the  common
good;  and  at  no  period  of  a  life  which  has  cer-
tainly been  marked  by  a  full  portion  of  interesting
events,  have  any  views  of  private  interest  or
private  ambition  been  permitted  to  mingle  in  the
higher  duties  of  public  trust. In  reviewing  the
past  I  can  only  regret  that  my  capacity  for  being
useful  was  so  unequal  to  the  devotion  of  my  heart,
and  it  is  one  of  the  few  consolations  of  my  life  that
even  had  I  been  blessed  with  ability  equal  to  my
zeal,  my  country's  generous  support  in  every
vicissitude  of  life  has  been  more  than  equal  to  them
both. That  veneration  for  public  opinion  by  which
I  have  measured  every  act  of  my  official  life,  has


38


SAM  HOUSTON


taught  me  to  hold  no  delegated  power  which  would
not  daily  be  renewed  by  my  constituents,  could
the  choice  be  daily  submitted  to  a  sensible  expres-
sion of  their  will. And  although  shielded  by  a
perfect  consciousness  of  undiminished  claim  to
the  confidence  and  support  of  my  fellow-citizens,
and  delicately  circumstanced  as  I  am  and  by  my
own  misfortunes  more  than  the  fault  or  contriv-
ance of  any  one,  overwhelmed  by  sudden  calami-
ties, it  is  certainly  due  to  myself  and  more  respectful
to  the  world,  that  I  retire  from  a  position  which,
in  the  public  judgment,  I  might  seem  to  occupy
by  questionable  authority. 