British Shoot Themselves In Foot With Betrayal

The British foreign secretary broke his promise to the trusting envoy from Texas on Sept. 30, 1839, by refusing to recognize the Lone Star Republic.

The fact that the former Mexican province had remained independent for three years did not impress Lord Palmerston, who stubbornly stuck to the wait-and-see attitude he adopted four months after the Battle of San Jacinto. As far as the custodian of the British Empire was concerned, Texas had the life expectancy of a mayfly.

Though only 29 years old, James Pinckney Henderson was President Sam Houston