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THE AUSTIN PAPERS
wing of that Temple of Liberty where, in '76, those principles were pro- claimed which have ever since been a beacon-light to the benighted and enslaved of all nations. The spirit of '76 was there. That spirit, and hearts of the vast multitude, told them what to do. No cold or selfish influence of policy or of party cast its chilling breath over that meeting. You ask me what can be done in favor of Texas? Ask your heart, my friend and fellow-citizen, (for such you ·are in feeling, although an invisi- ble line separates our domicils- ask the noble spirit of your and my fathers- ask every freeman, every philanthropist on earth- ask every man who is not a politician, and who acts from the warm and honest impulses of a patriotic heart, and you will receive a satisfactory answer. A war of extermination is raging in Texas-a war of barbarism and of despotic principles, waged by the mongrel Spanish-Indian and Negro race, against civilization and the Anglo-American race. For fifteen years I have been laboring like a slave to Americanize Texas--to form a nucleus around which my native countrymen could col- lect and grow into a solid body that would forever be a barrier of safety to the southwestern frontier, and especially to the outlet of the western world-the mouth of the Mississippi-and which would be a beacon-light to the Mexicans in their search after liberty. But the Anglo-American foundation, this nucleus of republicanism, is to be broken up, and its place supplied by a population of Indians, Mexicans, and renegadocs, all mixed together, and all the natural enemies of white men and civilization. What I have been the means of effecting towards the Americanism of Texas, is of more real service to the protection of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri, than the expenditure of thirty millions of dollars on the fortifi- cations of that frontier; yes, more than a standing army of 10,000 men there would be; and yet it is to be broken up, because the people of Texas have too much of the spirit of their fathers to lay down beneath the feet of military despotism, and debase and damn their blood and their education; it is to be broken up, because it will not do for the United States govern- ment to interfere with a usurper, a base, unprincipled, bloody monster, who sets the laws of civilization and 9f humanity at defiance, who deso- lates Texas under the bloody flag of a pirate, and whose avowed intention is to excite the Indians and negroes, and crimson the waters of the Missis- sippi, and make it the eastern boundary of Mexico, (for such an intention has been avowed.) No. This monster cannot be interfered with, because a treaty was made with the federal republic of Mexico, which republic no longer exists. Oh! spirit of our fathers, where are you? Just and omnipotent God, where is thy influence? Where is the fatherly care and prote<'.tion of a wise
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