387
WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1853
prepared to say. I think Texas' is the best judge of this matter; so that the United States would incur an additional reproach upon herself, if she were, by this law, to take it out of the hands of Texas to adjust her own affairs. Texas knows what her lia- bilities are; she knows all the circumstances surrounding them, under which they grew up, under which they dragged along, and by which they were managed. She knows, too, the influences and the means of their acquisition. But she is not acquainted with the means and influences that surround this Capitol, and which grow every day. I know it is perilous, eminently perilous, to oppose an influence so ovenvhelming as that of the claimants here. I have stood in perilous positions before, but when I felt badly nobody knew it. I feel well on this occasion, and proud that I have a colleague who has realized all that experience could teach or suffering inflict. Personally, to those who are the Texas creditors, I have no objection. I look upon them as I look upon other speculators. I look upon them as I do on men who go into the marl<et every day-men who wish to make, in their estimation, honest gains, and who would not have their consciences smitten if they made one hundred per cent. every day. That would not involve their honor, but it would, in their estimation, sustain the honor of those on whom they make the one hundred per cent. I want no more sympathizers with Texas. I do not want them to appeal in behalf of Texas, to rescue her honor. Her honor, her safety, her existence, her liberty, her independence, were once involved, and I did not see, in her direst need, and when clouds enveloped her in darkness, the face of one of those men who now claim to be her benefactors or her sympathizers. It was not until the last enemy had marked her soil-it was not until our star had risen in the east, and until it was attaining something like its meridian splendor, that the speculators were attracted by the hopes of gain. Then, in that proud day, they were willing to unite their destiny with her; but to grope their way in darkness, to peril their lives in conflict, to confront and grapple with the enemy, not one was there. Let them not talk of Texas' honor, Texas' renown, and Texas' escutcheon cleared. She cleared them herself, sir. It was not a speculation; it was a real transaction; and she will keep it clear. It is her best guardian under the aegis of the Constitution. I desire justice and liberality to all who aided Texas; and no matter how they ·have acquired their demands, give them an earnest for everything they have, and
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