501
PAPERS OF l\fiRABEAU BuoNAPARTE LA UR
lightful sight I quite a borealis ! which reflecting mighty flakes of blaz- ing glory upon our national character could not fail to be niost thrill- ing to the bosom to every true patriot! T et I do not like to display national splendor at the peril which the display might involve. I am pleased with' the display itself but not with the danger. Sir, when the scene breaks- when the phantasmagora is over, Gen. Santa Anna will return to l\fexico to fit out another expedition against us, whilst his e~cellency will return perhaps to his garret to cogitate new devices to entrap his quondam friend. All this might do very well were it not for one obtrusive reflection, the one the frogs made when pelted to death, viz. that thouo-h it was sport to them, it was death to us. l\Ir. Pre ident, we have every thing to gain by holding on to our prisoner, and everything to lose by sending him to Washington City; there is one other point upon w~ I will touch, and then dismiss the matter without further tax on the time and patience of thi body. We are told by honorable gentlemen, that the. release of Santa Anna would be a brilliant act of unparalleled magnanimity; and to witness the president of eight millions of people so humbled by Gen. Houston's valor a to supplicate at the foot stool of a foreign court, would be an exhibition so sublime, that it would. deluge the universe with glory! If vanity -again should be found to lurk in this matter, it would be wrong to reproach it, if it be true as Cicero say that it is' the infirm- ity of noble minds; but still the idea occurs to me, that it would be rather a misdirected magnanimity, which would turn loose upon the world another "Ate, hot from hell;" such is the magnanimity now proposed. Santa Anna, the SLAYER OF- OUR FRIENDS A1 D BRETHREN-THE PIRATE-THE ROBBER-THE l\1UR- DERER-THE ALL-HORRIBLE DEMO IN HU fAN SHAPE, wh-ose march through the world is to be traced by the BLOODY TRAIL he leaves behind, is to be screened from justice, is to be turned loose again like a hell hound upon his race, for the all-glorious purpose of exhibiting hi conqueror in the exquisite attitude of a rnagnanirnous hero. Spirits of Bowie and Travis, and Bonham, and all ye gallant martyrs of Goliad and Bexar, what think ye of this? To see thy murderer figuring at the capital of thy native country, per- adventure with his conqueror by his side, pleading with the president of a powerful republic to reinstate the tyrant and blood-stained assas- sin upon the ruined liberty of l\Iexico, that he may witl1 most gracious condescension acknowledo-e the independence of our oountry; and this is the magnanimity which is to reflect the sun hine of eternal glory upon Texas! 0, sir, from such glory as this I ask you to aid me in hielding our adopted land. I am willing to '' strew flowers into the conqueror's path, or to bow my own forehead at the foot stool, or to toil in the harness of despotic power, or to do anything else that will save our national escutcheon from this meditated honor. The hand that signs the liberation of Santa Anna before the acknowledgement of our independence, will fix upon the reputation of Texas a STAIN more to be dreaded than the branding iron of guilt and shame. After the delivery of the speech, the previous question was then called for. 17 FINIS. "The committee report failed of adoption by a vote of eight to four, Winkler, E.W. (Ed.), The Secret Journals of the Benate,-23.
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