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devolve on any assembly of men to act upon subjects of more vital importance to their country and mankind. Since the commencement of legislation in Texas, as a separate and independent power, we find the proceedings of Congress but too frequently characterized by acts of selfishness and partiality. The public good has but too often been disregarded, and the na- tional interests left out of view; and thus, without establishing any general principle or system of legislation, temporary expediency has been substituted for a due consideration of the public good. Under this state of things it is but too true that the nation has been gradually declining. Instead of deriving facilities and ad- vantages from the lapse of time, its decline, since the year 1838, to its present point of depression has been regular and more rapid than perhaps that of any other country on the globe possessing the same natural advantages. From possessing a currency nearly at par, with a circulating medium but little more than half a million, and with a credit unparallelled for a country of its age, we find ourselves in a condition utterly destitute of credit, with- out a currency, without means and millions in debt. Instead of improving, from an increased emigration, the introduction of wealth and the improvement of our social condition, we discover that a want of confidence at home and distrust abroad are im- pediments which have to be countervailed before our prosperity can be advanced. Very few congressional enactments, it is believed, will be nec- essary, at least to arrest if not to produce a remedy for these evils and place Texas once more, in an attitude cheering to the patriot and creating confidence throughout the land. Our ex- ternal difficulties, if managed with propriety, are of less magni- tude than they have been regarded; and no country on the globe can boast natural advantages and facilities comparable to those of Texas. We possess every needful resource for competency, wealth and national independence. To develop these and convert them to the benefit of the nation will require but little legislation, and that course of policy adapted to this end should be pursued by the functionaries of the government. The chimera of a splendid government administered upon a magnificent scale, has passed off and left us all the realities of depression, national calamity and destitution. The lessons of prudence and economy which experience has inculcated should not be lost but rendered available, that some of the evils incurred may be remedied whilst others may be averted.
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