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WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1854
467
advertise it for sale, if it is to be sold. Land in Texas can never be lower than it is at this time. Two hundred and fifty dollars will be 7½ % as I calculate it. My dear Miller, you must have made a mistake in calculating or charging 20 per cent on the sale. But I do not know what commission agents charge for the sale of lands. You never wrote me the letter I told you of for me to show Corcoran. I have had a long talk with him on your behalf, and he is kind to you in his feelings. I could not describe your business, for I did not know it. My best regards to your Sister & her family, and to your brothers. Don't fail to write me often. I am ever thine truly, Houston. Miller. 1 Mille1· Papers, Texas State Library. REMARKS CONCERNING A SPEECH TO BE MADE ON THE KANSAS· NEBRASI{A BILL, FEBRUARY 7, 1854 1 Mr. President, I propose, if an opportunity shall be afforded, to speak upon this bill myself. 2 I am as well prepared to vote upon it now as I shall be after I have addressed the Senate; but I wish to assign my reasons for my vote to the Senate, and they can judge whether they are sufficient, or insufficient to justify me in the course which I shall take. I have not conferred with any gentlemen in this body in relation to the postponement of the bill. I have no desire to postpone it for one moment longer than I think it is necessary to a fair discussion of it. I will not enter into any combination for the purpose of retarding its passage or delaying its progress; but, at the same time, I believe some importance has attached to it, not alone from the newspapers- for I do not go there for my information, and I do not care what they may say. I shall not heed their remarks, in regard to the course which I deem it proper to take. I shall take my course with reference to the importance of the subject itself, permitting no extraneous considerations to control my action. I do not perceive the necessity of urgency on this occasion. As newspapers have been referred to, I must say that the under- standing which I have derived from that source is, that a decided majority is in favor of the passage of the bill; and as there is no expectation that any important change will take place in the sense or opinions of the body, I think it is but fair that the
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