under General
Jackson in the Creek War, he had become a lawyer, and then Governor
of the State of Tennessee. Soon after his inauguration he had
married an accomplished young lady, to whom he one day intimated,
in jest, that she apparently cared more for a former lover than
she did for him. "You are correct," said she, earnestly, "I love
Mr. Nickerson's little finger better than I do your whole body."
Words ensued, and the next day Houston resigned his Governorship,
went into the Cherokee country, west of the Arkansas River, adopted
the Indian costume, and became an Indian trader. He was the best
customer supplied from his own whisky barrel, until one day, after
a prolonged debauch, he heard from a Texas Indian that the Mexicans
had taken up arms against their revolted province. A friend agreeing
to accompany him, he cast off his Indian attire, again dressing
like a white man, and never drank a drop of any intoxicating beverage
afterward. Arriving in Texas at a critical moment, his gallantry
was soon conspicuous, and in due time he was sent to Washington as
United States Senator. His strong points, however, were more
conspicuous on the field than in the Senate.

William H. Seward entered the Senate when General Taylor was
inaugurated as President, and soon became the directing spirit of
the Administration, although Colonel Bullit, who had been brought
from Louisiana to edit the _Republic_, President Taylor's recognized
organ, spoke of him only with supercilious contempt. Senator Foote
sought reputation by insulting him in public, and was himself
taunted by Mr. Calhoun with the inconsistent fact of intimacy with
him in private. The newly elected Senator from New York persisted
in maintaining amicable relations with his revilers, and quietly
controlled the immense patronage of his State, none of which was
shared by the friends of Vice-President Fillmore. He was not at
heart a reformer; he probably cared but little whether the negro
was a slave or a freeman; but he sought his own political advancement
by advocating in turn anti-Masonry and abolitionism, and by
politically coquetting with Archbishop Hughes, of the Roman Catholic
Church, and Henry Wilson, a leading Know-Nothing. Personally he
was honest, but he was always surrounded by intriguers and tricksters,
some of whose nests he would aid in feathering. The most unscrupulous
lobbyists that have ever haunted the Capitol were well known as
devoted adherents o