\VRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1848
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may rather say, we have already disposed of by the gallantry of our troops and the wisdom of our statesmen. We should not be properly able to appreciate the truth and justice of our condition and of the present war, if we did not revert to the causes of the war, and the position in which we were placed, at the time of its commencement, in relation to the civilized world. I grant you, fellow-citizens, it is true in referring to those speeches, of which we hear so much in respect to this war, that, in part, it has grown up out of the annexation of Texas. But in that annexation the best of the bargain was yours, and you ought to be satisfied. I say the best of it was yours, not so much in the material you got- though, by the by, that was not bad-but in the extent and rich- ness of soil, in the variety and beauty of climate, and in the blessings of those institutions we possessed. We had nothing to learn of these institutions and principles in this annexation; we imbibed the mall [malady] with our mother's milk; we returned to you chastened, it is true, in the school of experience, and taught by the bitter lessons of adversity. The great politicians of this day have now put themselves in opposition to this war; and yet they were willing at its commencement to embark in it. They then said it was the duty of the President to fix the boundary of the newly acquired country, and now they deny that her boundary was that which she possessed before the annexation was made. That boundary, however, fellow-citizens, which they now deny to Texas, was hers, and belonged to her by right of conquest. We gained it not by rebellious force of power. We never rebelled against Mexico; but she it was who first violated our constitution; subverted our laws, by her injustice, tyranny, and oppression/ to vindicate our rights, which were the common rights of freemen. The object of Mexico, in her system of despotism and oppression exercised against us, was, if possible, to sweep us from the soil, to annihilate the whole race of us, and not to suffer one of the Saxon blood to leave the impress of his foot upon the soil which we inhabited. What did we do? We resisted this oppression; we asserted our lawful rights; we established for ourselves a pro- visional government; and we continued on in the hope that a better state of things, a better government, would be created in Mexico-that the other states would, like ourselves, assert their rights under the constitution which had been so shamefully vio- lated. We continued hoping that the Mexicans themselves would rally to support us, and redeem the country from despotism, vio- lence, and oppression. We went on in the enjoyment of our republican liberty-we endured till our hopes became fainter and
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