WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1854
514
dependent upon me, think you I could be alien to them? Never -never. Well, sir, if I am now accidentally associated with Abo- litionists, in voting against this measure of repeal-if I vote with them, and with individual Senators with whom my relations have always been courteous _and polite personally, they well know that I feel no sympathy with their notions-that I think them fanatical-I do not esteem it a greater misfortune attendant upon me than I have witnessed before, in this Chamber, with other Senators from the South. In the passage of the Compromise bill of 1850, I saw associations of extremes quite as extraordinary as on this occasion. I almost thought that the extremes of the Abolitionists and Secession parties had become Siamese twins; they were so intimate that I could not help but remark it. [Mr. Seward. Who?] I need not mention who; I merely throw out the suggestion. I do _not inquire into the motive which induced the introduction of this bill into the Senate. I cast no reflections on gentlemen, either for its introduction or for its support; but I deprecate the conse- quences which will flow from it. I have conversed with several Senators, and I have never heard the first who would not admit that it was an unfortunate, and ill-advised measure. The vener- able and distinguished Senator from Michigan [Mr. Cass] the other day, in his speech, declared, in substance, that he thought it was an unfortunate circumstance that it had ever been intro- duced into the Senate, although it meets with his approbation when it is here. And now, when he who has been in the councils and transactions of this country for fifty years, who has witnessed all the vicissitudes and mutations through which the country has passed, who has been an actor in the most important scenes of the Union-when he does not recognize it as a healing and we,I- come measure, I ask Senators if I err in resisting it? They say it is here. It is here, and, if I had the power, I would kick it out. What, if a measure unwholesome or unwise is brought into the Senate, and it comes from the party of which I am a member, and its introduction is an error, is it not my duty to correct that error as far as I possibly can? Sir, I stand here for that general pur- pose. My constituents send me here for that purpose. But I will not admit for a moment that this meets the sanction of the Executive. All his antecedents are in the face of it. Su1Jport- ing him as I did, I must believe him consistent and truthful. He is upon the record as an opponent to agitation of any kind, whether in the Halls of Congress or anywhere else. He is pledged to keep down and resist agitation, as far as in his power, and
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