WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1850
215
I have not risen to vindicate or to excuse myself to my con- stituents exclusively, nor to offer an apology for the course I may pursue in this body; but I have risen to vindicate myself in the discharge of the trust delegated to me. I have faith in my constituents; I know them; I have tried them; I have tested them from the beginning of their existence as a nation to the present time. I know that they are patriotic; I know that they desire the harmony of the people of the United States, and the perpetuity of this Union. And, sir, whatever course I may judge best calculated to attain those objects, and to promote those ends, I am satisfied it will be concurred in by them. I deny to honorable Senators the exclusive right of becoming, or avowing themselves, or acting as guardians of southern interests. I live very far south, sir. I feel as a southern man, and I feel and think as my constituents do, that to be a southern man is to be a Union man too. Sir, I was delighted the other day with a sentiment expressed in Texas, in the celebration of the national anniversary of the United States. On that day a sentiment was given which does the people honor. Sir, I was delighted to find, notwith- standing their excited condition, that the people there entertained sentiments that are becoming American hearts, and gave utter- ance to them in a manner becoming American heads. Sir, the sentiment was given: "Our brethren, from Maine to the Rio Grande; from the At- lantic to the Pacific; we salute them with our love." These are sentiments that emanate from hearts that I repre- sent; and I would be faithless if I did not respond in my conduct and in my vote to such sentiments as these. It was said when the Texas bill was before this body in intimate connection with the California bill, that Texas was to be sacrificed to free soil and to the North. I have no sympathies with free soil. I have sympathy with the North and the South alike. They are insep·arable for the national prosperity and glory, and for the honor of the American character. But, sir, how was Texas situated in this respect? She had come into the Union in con- formity with the Missouri compromise and its principles; and a portion-the first portion of slave territory granted since 1819 to free soil dominion was taken from Texas, and carried to the North by southern votes. Sir, she felt the influence of this; and it was her assent that brought her into the Union. The conditions were not of her own election. They were enforced upon her by the sympathies and attachments that were cherished in Texas
Powered by FlippingBook