The Express.
London, England, 1855-08-16 00:00:00

LITERATUBB.

The Life of Sam Hosicess. New York.
It is curious to observe that while we in this coun-
try have almost (hay to express oar disapprobation
at the corder of public men, and the management or
public business, our brethren on the other side of the
Atlantic are gi:ing sent to similar complaint", and
texprresiog a similar anxiety with regard to the
general aspect of affairs. If we are found blaming
" the system," and lamenting that the right men do
sot set into the right place, or if they do scarcely
fulfil the expectations that were raised of them, the
American is blaming his system, and for precisely the
same reasons. In an address lying before us from
the General Committee of the Deenecracy of New
Hampshire, we read that " the people of the United
Butts cannot shut their eyes to the fact that, as
national conventions are at present organised
and conducted, no distinguished citizen of the
republic, who has gained the confidence of
the people, by. commanding ability displayed in a
long life of eminent and valuable public service, can
empire to the Presidency. National conventions role
ell such men off the line of promotion to that office."
The free action of the electoral system has been
!camped' by the devices originally constituted, per-
bap' to steady and simplify its working. Great dis-
satisfaction has been expressed at the result of the
election of 1862. A powerful party are anxious to go'
back to a freer system in the election that is to take
place next year. General Sam Houston is the
candidate they propose, and the above work, an
anonymous life of that individual, may be regarded
In the light of a party manifesto.
Of the book itself, cosaidered as a biography, we,
cannot say much. It is written throughout in a'
style of hszy bombast, through which the subject in
the minutest actions of his lite appears magnified to
the proportions of a hero. Houston is one of those
met, more numerous than we are apt to believe in
these prosaic time., whose life, from its varied phases,
possesses something of the interest of a romance. A
self-relying man, whose lot has been cast in strange
places, he has wrought out for himself a wild aad ad-
venturous career. A simple and authentic narrative
of that career would be found sufficiently attractive
though it might want the embellishments of syste•
'natio exaggeration.
Houston was born a few miles from Lexington, in
Virginia, on the god of March, 1793. His parents
were poor, but his ancestors we are assured may be
traced back to the Highland' of Scotland. Young
Sam does not appear to have owed much to early
education. " He is said (however) at that time to
have learned to read and write, and to have gained
some imperfect ideas of ciphering." When about 13
years old he lost his father. The family then
emigrated to the west, and settled on the backs of the
Tennessee. Sam took to reading Pope's Homer, and
working in the fields, but being at last compelled by
" fraternal tyranny" to go into a merchant's store,
ho decamped from behind the counter, and went and
took up his abode with the Red men of the prairie.
With these new comrades he lived several years,
returning eccesionally to the abodes of civilised
life, to purchase some little article of taste or utility
for his Indian friends. His liberality involved him in
pecuniary engagements. To relieve himself from
these, he returned to Tennessee, and opened a school,
in which he professed to teach " the children of the
pale-faces" the science of "common things." Haring
realised enough money to pay his debts, he shut up
his school, and in 1813 enlisted io the ranks.
" Most of our readers are doubtless familiar with

tionalise of the day ; and true to the oompanions of
his youth, he has always shown himself a friend to
the red' man, and a staunch defender of his interests.
That he is not an abolitionist we gather from the ex-
pressed opinion of his biographer, to the effect that
the negro has been elevated in the social scale by the
ictioo of slavery. Nevertheless "ho has been a do.
mocrat all his life," and " has stood forth among the
brightest, the greatest, and the best impersonations of
the spirit of American patriotism."
Such is General Sam Houston, a candidate for the
presidency of the United States. Of this biography
As a literary effort, as we have before intimated, we
cannot speak in high terms. But the book is well
worthy of perusal, for the light it throws upon the
present state and opinions of party in America. loto
the real nature and merits of the coming struggle it
is not necessary for us to enter here. We could wish,
however, that the writer of the work before us had
been more circumstantial and pectin in dealing with

this part of his subject. But u the book is written
for Amerieses, it may be sufficiently full for them, to
whom all the intrigues and manteuvres of party are
familiar; and therefore we will not preen such an ob-
jection against a useful and readable volume.