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WRITINGS OF 5AM: HOUSTON, 1855
of 1850, made speeches all over Mississippi in opposition to it, and was for having war at once. He advocated disunion doc- trines in the Nashville Convention, the most treasonable conven- tion ever assembled in the United States. Frank Pierce selected him for the War Department. An earnest of his capacity has been given to the people of Texas in the protection of our frontier, or rather in the want of protection. Since he was placed over the War Department has our frontier received that protection to which it is entitled? When I was President of Texas I was- charged with delinquency in not affording the necessary means for aid to our frontier; I was denounced for not furnishing the requisite force to keep the enemy in check west of the San Antonio. I implored the Texas Congress to give me the means for adequate protection of the frontiers. I was supplied with the pitiful sum of $500 to appropriate for such relief. I was denounced as alien to the safety of the West. They did not know how powerless I was. I did every thing in my power to afford relief, I have taken clothing from my own back to give to men who were going out on the frontier. (Cheers.) My policy at last prevailed, and when annexation was brought about, the country had for years been tranquil, and remained so for years after annexation. Now, look at the condition of our frontier! Eighty thousand dollars were appropriated by the last Congress. In the expenditure of a portion of that money, a number of Indians have been collected, and are flourishing in homes of their own, west of the Rio Grande, whilst others from the opposite side of the river, are destroying our citizens and their property. If you recollect, I made a peace with the Indians in 1842 and 1843, which lasted for several years after annexation, when the United States took them in charge and promised them annuities which were never given. Since that period when another rupture arose on our borders, I ad- vanced ten thousand dollars in goods on my own responsibility, for the benefit of the Indians, and it was one of the last acts of Congress to recompense me for the outlay, or I should have been utterly ruined. I could not have been ruined very badly, however, as I did not have much to ruin. (Laughter.) Four additional regiments are now proposed to be raised. I voted against it at the last Congress. I will vote for no standing army. I can see no benefit to our frontiers from the increased force; they are not of the character to afford protection to our citizens. They would be chiefly infantry, utterly inefficient for protecting the frontier. I have time and again asserted on the
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