WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1855
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country, or, perhaps, was brought in chains to the vessel which bore him here, is, in five years, to stand an equal with the proud- est man who walks on our soil, the man who has shed his blood to consecrate liberty and his country, is not the kind of arrange- ment that I go for. [Mr. Mallory asked whether Houston approved "so much of the creed attributed to the Know-Nothings as would make those who profess the Roman Catholic religion ineligible to office."] Mr. Houston. I would vote for no such law. [Mr. Mallory. I asked the gentleman whether he approved that or not-not whether he would vote for it.] Mr. Houston. No, sir; I could not approve of such a law. But the proscription which is charged on those to whom allusion has been made, is no more than formerly existed between Whigs and Democrats. When party discipline was kept up, if a Whig voted for a Democratic candidate he was ruled out of his party and branded as a deserter; and if a Democrat voted for a Whig he was disowned by his party. That species of political proscrip- tion will exist anywhere, according to the notions of people. I do not set up my opinion as the doctrine by which others are to be governed. I am governed by my own principles, and my own sentiments, and I have a right to vindicate them, and I am respon- sible for them to the world. When the Senator from Iowa sup- poses that I would cater for the Presidency of the United States, he does me great injustice. I would not cater for any office be- neath Heaven. But, sir, I know one thing; if it were to be forced upon me, I should make a great many changes in some small matters. [Laughter.] Mr. President, I am very sorry that my young friend from Iowa, for whom I entertain so much respect, should have acted as he has done. He certainly has gone beyond anything that I had imagined. He supposes that my object in addressing the Senate on this Indian subject was to connect it with the Nebraska and Kansas bill. I have not thought of that bill except that I alluded to the manner in which it was passed yesterday evening, when the Senate refused, rather discourteously, as I thought, to adjourn to enable a Senator to speak; but now I take back what I then said, for the Senate did afterward adjourn. I al- luded then to the manner in which the passage of the Nebraska bill was effected, but I have not thought of it in the speeches
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