296
WRITINGS OF SAl\•I HOUSTON, 1851
avail myself of any prejudice to attack South Carolina, is as gratuitous on the part of the gentleman as it is undesirable to me. I can assure him that if it were possible, I would be glad to see all objections to South Carolina and all complaints and prejudices which he may suppose to exist among other States, obviated, never to exist again. If he thinks that, under any circumstances, or from any earthly considerations, I am capable of enlisting a prejudice, or of arraying one part of the Union against another, he does as much injustice to me as he does to his own perception. I have before me a clause of the South Carolina constitution that seems to bear me out according to the reading I give it; and for the edification of the Senate, and for the information of the gentleman, I will read it, as it is published in the first volume of the statutes of South Carolina. It says in the amendment ratified December 19, 1810, that the fourth section of the first article of the constitution of the State be altered and amended to read as follows: "Every free white man of the age of twenty-one years, (paupers and non-commissioned officers of the Army of the United States excepted,) being a citizen of this State, and having resided therein two years previous to the day of election, and who has a freehold of sb.i.:y acres of land, or a town lot, of which he has been legally seized and possessed at least six months before such election, or, not having any such freeholder town lot, hath been resident in the election district in which he offers to give his vote before the election six months, shall have a right to vote for a member or members to serve in either branch of the Legislature, for the election district in which he held such property or residence." "Or residence" had escaped my attention, and hence the error originated. That is all the mighty thing that has produced this uproar this morning in the Senate. This is not the place for such a controversy. I am very sorry that anything I ever say or do out of the Senate should become a matter of investigation here. It is to be deplored. This body is appropriated to higher and more appropriate duties than rectifying the reputation of States: that depends on inherent qualities within themselves. I will bring no complaint against them for what they may say of Texas. They may call Texans, as· they have done, vagabonds, ruffians, and fugitives from justice, and I will never call the accusation in question in this body. If it is to be met, I will meet it elsewhere, and not convert the Senate into a tribunal to try
. i'
i :
. i I
; : • I
• ..
I
Powered by FlippingBook