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WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1851
must have been done. And when I alluded to it, it was without information further than that which results from analogy to other things. [A paragraph is here quoted from Senator Foote.] This merely corroborated what I then stated. It establishes it beyond all controversy. It will be remembered that in 1847 I was denounced for voting for the Missouri compromise line. In October, 1849, the Mississippi Convention occurred, and the Nashville Convention grew out of it. At the adjourned meeting of the Nashville Convention the ultimatum laid down by that body was that very identical line which had been repudiated by the whole South. That line they made the ultimatum for all difficulties then existing. Their motto was, "Thirty-six thirty or fight." I had been denounced for supporting and voting for that line, and the whole South had repudiated it. In 1850, the Nashville Convention laid it down as the only ground of com- promise that could be acceded to by the South. I only )wish to show the consistency with which I adhered to it until it was repudiated. Even afterwards, when the compromise was brought up, I introduced a resolution for the purpose of asserting the claim of the South to extending the line of 36° 30' to:the Pacific. That is what I wish to do. Certain gentlemen did not seem to consider me so ultra when I voted for the Missouri compromise in favor of the South, as when I voted for it when it favored the North. I voted for it upon principle. But after I did vote for it it was repudiated by the South and thus rendered void. I well remember another thing in which I differed from the honorable Senator from Mississippi. However much I may defer to his intelligence, wisdom, statesmanship, and pat-riotism, yet I have been unfortunate in dissenting from various schemes of his. I was directly opposed to the Southern Address. I did not sign that address. My colleague [Mr. Rusk] did not sign it. I believe we were the only Southern Senators who did :not sign that address. I believed that that Address was fraught with mischief; and when I saw the consequent action that grew out of it-when I saw the Mississippi Convention and the Nashville Convention-I became more satisfied with my own course in not signing it. I did not denounce those gentlemen who did sign it, but I wish to show that I have been consistent throughout in reference to the compromise and to the rights of the South. I have been unwilling to sacrifice those rights. My associations and all my interests are in the South. If I do not own millions of broad acres, all that I do own is in the South; yet I am not
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