WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1847
539
possible dilemma in which she could be placed-degraded by the rejection of the treaty, dishonored in the eyes of other nations, repudiated after ardent expressions of the confidence and regard she reposed in the United States, suspected by England and France of insincerity and of versatility of character-she was thrown on her own resources again; and the United States then, for the first time, intimated that they had done all that could be done, or done what they intended to do. Now, this was not considered a very comfortable assurance to Texas. It was a withdrawal of a portion of the assurances which had been given to her previous to entering into the negotiations for annexation, after the treaty had failed. When Mr. Murphy, the charge d'affaires in Texas, sent a copy of his letter to Washington, Mr. Nelson said he had rather transcended his power; that the President had only certain con- stitutional powers which he could exercise, and they had been transcended ; and Texas was left in a position which, if she had been of a fickle character and unstable in her policy, would have driven her into the arms of France and England, which had been so much carped about. While he was on this branch of the subject, he would here, in his place, state some matters in relation to things which had been much discussed at large. Texas, to be sure, had great domestic misfortunes, but she was never recreant to the principles of liberty; and if she had stood alone from, and been disregarded and denounced by all the nations of the earth, she never would have been swerved from the principles of constitutional liberty. She never could have been driven from the principles ingrafted in the very nature of her constituency. She never thought of forming an alliance which could have dishonored her escutcheon. She never thought of owing allegiance to any country but one with which she could be incorporated on principles of equality. Texas never thought of making any proposition affecting any of the institutions she had taken to that country, or to impair her self respect, or the respect of other nations. England never pro- posed the subject of ~lavery or of abolition to Texas. England never made a suggestion to Texas which, if she had pursued or accepted, would have degraded her in the eyes of the purest patriot that ever lived. Nothing was ever proposed or done but what ought to take place between nations although the journals of the United States, on various occasions, had thought fit to
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