The republic. (Macon, Ga.) 1844-1845, April 02, 1845, Image 2
page of that
with refutalion of those
imputations; and effulgent, 100, with
proof that it is the North which has gored
the South deeply, ungenerously, and un
justly, in reference to this whole subject
of slavery: that it is the North which has
sighalized herself by setting the example
of playing, with a bold hand, the game
of not being content with part, bat of
claiming and seizing the whole, to herself.
The faithful records of history verily ah
I say.
For, sir, the territory northwest of the
Ohio river, and out of which have been
formed the three Stales of Ohio, Indiana,
and Illinois, once belonged to the Slate ol
Virginia. As part and parcel of that an
cient Commonwealth, it was the property
and domain, not only of a slaveholding
people, but of a people whose wealth
consisted largely in slaves, and whose
agricultural system and habits, growing
out of the possession ol slaves, had, for a
great while, been such as to render their
aid indispensable in the clearing and cul
tivation of land, and in the general econ
omy of farming. W ell, sir, what did \ ir
ginia do ? What did that great Southern,
agricultural and slaveholding community
do with her Northwestern Territory ?
with that vast expanse of fertile and well
watered lands which would not only have
formed a rich provision for her children
through many generations, but the reten
tion ol which by her would have secur
ed forever to herself and the South, ay,
to the slaveholding section of the Con
federacy, an overwhelming preponder
ance, an impregnable ascendency in Fed
eral affairs. What, I ask, did Virginia
do with this, her vast Western domain ?
Why, sir, towards the close of the war of
Independence, she ceded it in free gift,
without money, and without price, to the
old Congress for the payment of the Re
volutionary debt and for the common use
of all the States. In her articles of ces
sion. she took care to stipulate for the for
mation of new of Ihe territory
she had thus given away, and for the ad
mission of those States into the Union.
But, sir, it occurred not to her confiding
and patriotic nature to insert one word in
reference to allowing die introduction and
ownership of slaves. Not one word, sir,
did she think to pul into her deed of ces
sion for the purpose of securing to her
own sons and daughters, in their migra
tions to the rich regions with which she
was parting, the inestimable privilege of
carrying along with them their household
goods, their indispensable property, the
faithful servants whom they both loved
and needed, the modes ol file and domes
tic organization to which they were born
and bred, and which had become in
wrought among the very necessities ol
their nature. Sir, she thought not of sti
pulating for this inestimable privilege in
behalf of her sons and daughters, because
she dreamed not that any would ever
think of taking it away from them, fur,
does this conduct on the part of Virginia
look like sectional selfishness to the gen
tleman from Oiiio? Does it look to him
like having more at heart the protection
and extension of the institutions of slave
ry than the spread and developement of
the population, power, and grandeur of
our country ?
I leave these questions, Mr. Chairman,
lo be answered l»v the gentleman to him
self, in his calmer and juster mood, and
invite him, in the mean while, to view
along with me the other side, the Northern
side oi the picture of this greatly impor
tant transaction. And what does he there
behold? Nathan Dane, of Massachu
setts, (a man whom the eloquence of Dan
iel Webster has at a recent date almost
apotheosized tor the deed.) lie there be
holds, sir, Nbthan Dai:e, of Massachu
setts, standing in the midst of the old
Continental Congress, holding up exulting
ly the scroll whereon was written the or
•d-inauce oi 17»7 for the organization and
government of the Northwestern Territo
ry—that Territory which Virginia had
just ceded so generously and confidingly.
\\ hat is there in that ordinance at which
Nathan Dane and his northern associates
la that Congress so much exulted, and
which their Northern successors to this
day dehght so much to laud and migni-
V • W hat great paint was carried by it
lor the North : \\ hat foundations were
laid deep and broad in it fur securing per
petually Northern supremacy arid rimnh
<»rn inferiority? What new lever of tre
mendous power, planted on the soil so
lately V irginia’s, was now secured in
JSortucrn htinds forever ?
A single short clause in the sixth arti
cle «»f the compact which the ordinance
creates between the original Slates of the
Confederacy and the people of said terri
tory and the Slates to be formed out of it,
unfolds all.
J* l here shall be neither slavery nor in
voluntary servitude in the said territo
ry.”
ileee we see standing out in bold relief
the selfish sectional advantage which the
North was prompt to lake of the magui
.. was
tire North,
. mid in the most en
... l'es, sir, that short clause i
..men i have quoted from the famed Or
dinance of ’67, acted, and was intended
to act, decisively on die balance ol power
between the North and South. It caused,
and was intended to cause, the permanent
preponderance to shift from the Southern
to the Northern side, and to settle down
there for ever. Such was the sure and
necessary effect of the inhibition contain
ed in that clause, as our national limits !
then stood : for the Mississippi river was
then our western boundary. Behold here,
then, sir, what the South lost on one side
by a 100 confiding generosity, and what
the North gained on the other by a long
sighted, calculating, sectional policy.
Why, sir, but for a great and unforeseen
event, which happened afterwards, this
transaction would have fixed for ever the
doom of the South as a people, too weak
to make even a struggle against their own
perpetual subjugation under the yoke of
the sectional power of the North.
Permit me, Mr. Chairman, to close
this review of the case of the Northwes
tern Territory by a single question: —
With wl.al face can the North after hav
ing in such a case, and under such cir
cumstances, seized upon all for herself in
the Northwest—with what face can she
now inveigh against the South as being
sectional and selfish, in seeking to have
all in the S »ulhwest ? I rejoice in the fact
that we are surrounded here by so many
gentlemen from the non-slaveholding
States who scorn to join in such invective,
or to give it the slightest countenance by
speech or vote. Their course and their
feelings do infinite honor to themselves
and those whom they represent, and fur
nish a cheering augury of the future desti
nies of the country, an l o‘ her speedy
triumph in the great question now press
ing upon us for decision.
But, Mr. Chairman, there are yet other
great facts and grave considerations per
taining In the sectional relations between
(the North and South, which render the
half-and-half compromise proposed by the
gentleman from New York, (Mr. Robin
son,) ands» zealously espoused by the
gentleman from Ohio, (Mr. Brinkerho A)
in the highest degree unjust, unfair, offen
sive, and inadmissible. We have had
one compromise already—the Missouri
compromise—to which the South submit
ted, making a virtue of necessity. By
that compromise the South is still willing
to stand, both from a principle of honor
.and from the continuance of that necessi
ty which originaPy forced it upon her.
The necessity to which I refer is that which
grows out of the inability of the South, as
t le weaker section of the country, to car
ry any measure however dear or impor
tant to her, without yielding to such terms
and conditions as the North, being the
stronger section, may deem fit to impose.
The adjustment of tire celebrated Missou
ri controversy was, in fact, a compromise
in little else than the name and the thin
outer integument of tlie tiling. It was,
substantially, a great victory, achieved by
tlie North and a coercive obtaimnent by
her of the grand object for which she hail
embarked in a most fearful and unscrupu
lous struggle. The object of that strug
gle was, at bottom, nothing more nor less
than a vast expansion of the prohibitory
principle of the ordinance of ’B7, over
territory extending from the Mississippi to
the Rocky, Mountains, which did not be-
long to us when the ordinance was adopt
ed, but which had been afterwards ac
quired. The enforcement of that princi
ple upon the Northwest Territory, in the
manner I have already detailed, was amply
sufficient, so long as tlie Mississippi re
mained our western boundary, for all
those ends of perpetual Northern sway
and masterdom which Northern policy
anil politicians aimed at. But all their
calculations, founded on the success of
this masterly stroke of sectional states
manship, were frustrated and overthrown
when, instead of the Mississippi river, the
Rocky Mountains became, by the treaty
ot Louisiana, our acknowledged western
boundary. The North had now to go to
work anew ter securing her oid and in
veterately cherished object of Northern
pon-slaveholding ascendency in the Un
ion. And she seized upon trie application
of Missouri tor admission into the Union
as the occasion of making the grand effort
for this object. And she succeeded effec
tually. Yes, sir! After a struggle, in
which she caused the very foundations of
tlie Comleracy to tremble under the shock
ot maddened sectional conflict, she suc
ceeded, at last, ia her main object. By
tlie cheap, conciliatory device' of con
senting to let in Missouri as a solitary ex
ception to the restrictive principle about,
to beestablished, sire succeeded complete
ly'in causing the darkly ominous anti-
Southern line of prohibition of slavery to
he solemnly drawn by law ag rinst all that
huge extent of territory ceded bv France
to the United .States, which lies north of
thirty-six degrees anil thirty minutes of
north latitude ; —territory sufficient to ’
form some dozen Missouri*, if'the maps be
lie it not : and from which one new. non
fllaveholdjng State now stands readv to'
come in, a« the forerunner of the long train
that is destined to follow.
ross one-sidedncss in favor ol the
' this celebrated arrangement —
* *uri compromise—does not, how
; develop itself until we turn to j
ant event which had then bat
jccurrcd, affecting deeply the
ide of the line of the cotnpro
dlude to the Florida treaty,
become ours as pait of Loui
■ the cession made by France
Yd. In 13 L 9, our Government
to the treaty of Florida, by
rive up Texas to Spain in ex
the FieriJas and the Spanish
claims on the Pacific above the
.ond parallel of latitude. The
. was thus bereaved of an immense
scope of territory, stretching from the
Sabin to tlie Dei Norte, a loss which was
but very little counterbalanced, in point ot
sectional p lilical strength, by the ac
quirement of Florida. This great cur
tailment of the South by the act of the
treaty making power, taken in connection
with the heavy anti-Southern interdict
under which the Missouri compromise
soon afterwards in 1820, laid all the coun
try (except the State of Missouri) lying
above the parallel of thirty-six degrees
and thirty minutes north latitude, was a
death-blow to whatever hopes of a future
equi-polleuee in the Union the South had
been entitled to found on the acquisition
of Louisiana. Yes, sir, these twoevents,
the loss of Texas and tlie Missouri re
striction put together, restored with a
vengeance the certainty of Northern pre
dominance at the permanent future state
of things; a certainty which the North
first obtained for herself bv tlie aforesaid
prohibitory ordinance of 1787 ; but which
she afterwards, however, seemed for a
period to have lost forever, in consequence
of our vast territorial expansion under
the treaty of Louisiana.
Well, sir, it so happens that now, in tlie
great whirlpool of human events, things
have come around in such a manner that
we have lint to stretch out a friendly, in
viting hand, and Texas grasps it at once,
and is ours again. In this state of things,
what do we behold? Why, sir, certain
good friends of Texas in this House and
elsewhere, certain hearty well-wishers to
her immediate union with our country,
those friends and well-wishers being gen
tlemen, too, belonging to that very non,.
! slaveholding section which has so vastly
strengthened itself by taking all northwest
oi the Ohio by' means of the ordinance of
’B7, and all west of the Upper Mississippi,
(the State of Missouri excepted,) by
, means of the Missouri Comprou isc—
why, these friends and well-wishers of
Texas and our country take a most extra
ordinary stand. r J'hey take the stand of
making the reception of Texas depen
dant on what, sir? Why, upon their be
, ing permitted, after having thus always
been in the habit of seizing and seeming
to themselves even more than the lion’s
i share in all our more northerly domains —
to come down now, for the first time that
such a pretension was ever heard ol'—to
| come down now, 1 say, sir, upon our
Southern plains, and to have an equal di
vision of them with tlie people of the South,
or to speak more accurately, to have a re
striction w hich shall exclude the Southern
people from one-half of them. This is
magnanimity, sir; this is fairness and
justice, in the eyes of the gentleman from
Ohio, and the other espousers on this floor
of the half-and-half project presented by
the gentleman from New York, (Mr. Ro
binson.) But I must assure them, sir,
that to us of the South, and to all impar
tial minds, it appears in a very different,
and not a very fl ittering, light.
Sir, will gentlemen never he content
with their advantages of sectional strength
over the South ? Why, sir, the North
western Ordinance first, and the Missouri
Compromise afterwards, placed the non
slaveholding interest in an impregnable
permanent ascendency. There was some
thing noble, perhaps, although aggressive
and unscrupulous, in the spirit and per
severance with which that interest has
sought political superiority. But that
superiority being placed beyond the reach
of contingencies by the operation of the
two causes j i*t mentioned, and being now
about to be still further heightened by the
expansion of our popu'ation anil Govern
ment to the Pacific, what decent apology
is left to the North for pushing down even
into our Southern climes her anti-South
ern game of aggression anil restriction ?
Sir, we cannot permit you to come there
with your Missouri restrictions and North
western prohibitions. You have chosen
your own limit, and it has Been submitted
to by the South, and sanctified with the
name of compromise. Thirty-six de
grees and thirty minutes of north latitude
is a barrier which you must never pass,
nor attempt to pass. Yea, more, sir. You
must never make the being allowed to
pass it a sine qua non of your assent to the
enlargement of the Union on its Southern
side. So to insist upon it would be dan
gerous in the extreme. Jt would drive us
at once to consider how potent the prin
ciple of hatred to our institutions had be-
come, when it was strong enough to pre
vent a grand and beneficent national mea
sure, because that measure would inci
dentally lead to the expansion of those
institutions. It would drive us further to
reflect what a narrow line of distinction
separates tlie principle of rejecting a great
measure under the influence of such ha
tred, from the principle of adopting a
great measure under the same influence ;
and it would drive us, moreover, to ex
pect a speedy transition from the one to
tlie other, unless prevented by a resort to
die most extrema measures on our part,
ft is impossible, sir, to over-estimate the
fearful magnitude of the consequences!
that would flow from such a demonstra
tion of hostility to the South and her in
stitutions, as would be given by n jecting
.Texas on the ground of the refusal of the
South so permit the black line of restric
tion to bedrawu through her midst. And,
sir, it has now become very’ obvious that
Texas will be rejected, if rejected at all,
upon that ground. Let me implore gen
tlemen to pause and ponder over the
whole matter afresh, before they lake the
irrevocable and portentous step of giving
such demonstration.
Me. Chappell next adverted to the con
stitutional question which had been raised,
as to the proposed mode annexation,
which, he said, he would touch very
briefly, both because it bad been so fully
and conclusively discussed l>y gentlemen
who had gone before him in the debate,
and because, really, be did not see much
necessity for argument to sustain the plain
letter of the Constitution—" Congress
may admit new States into the Luion.”
The resolutions on your table, sir, are not
the final and consummating act of ad
mission, they are merely an overture or
invitation to l'exus to come into the Un
ion on certain terms ; and should Texas
accede to those terms and accept that in
vitation, the effect of what is proposed to
! be now done will be to bind Congress ab
solutely to receive Texas into the Union
as a State, upon her conforming to the
Constitution of tire United States. The
question, then, which the case presents,
is, as to the constitutional competency ot
Congress to make a binding overture or
| invitation of this sort to a foreign State or
people. It is tube remarked,'.sir, that
even those who deny this competency to
Congress, admit, nevertheless, that the
thing itself, or what is fully tantamount to
it, may be done by another department of
the Government —the treaty-making pow
er. That power, they say, may acquire
for the United States foreign territory, and
may enter into stipulations in the treaty
of cession for the admission of such terri
tory and its inhabitants into the Union as
a State —which stipulations would be ob
ligatory on Congress, anil compel it in
! good faith to exercise its power of admis
sion. This process has the advantage of
being supported by two precedents, name
ly, the cases of Louisiana and Florida;
in both which cases the treaty-making
i power laid Congress under express obli
gation to admit into the Union, Stales to
be formed out of foreign territory annex
ation to the United States.
Well, sir, I pretend not to call in ques
tion the constitutionality of this claim on
the part of the treaty-making power to
control and bind Congress in the ex
jercise of its power of admitting new
States. I concede, sir, that it is com
petent to the treaty-making power to act
with a constitutional compulsion on Con
gress for the admission of new States
formed out of territory once ibreign. But
surely Congress is not obliged to wait for
this compulsion. Surely it may, of its
own accord, and with the assent of a for
eign State, admit it into the Union without
the previous mandate of the trealy-mak
j ing power. The words are general
j and without qualification, that Congress
may admit new States. And it seems to
me, sir, that the strained and inadmissible
| construction is on the side of those who
contend for the necessity of the interven
! lion of the treaty-making power in order
to authorize Congress to exercise its pow
er of admission, rather than on tlie side of
those who contend that Congress may ex
ercise it without that intervention as well
as with it. What is requisite to the ad
mission of anew State ? Evidently,
j nothing but its own assent and that of
Congress. And what kind of logic is that
which, without one word in lire Constitu
tion on which to base itself, insists on a
! third requisite, namely, the previous as
sent or intervention of the treaty-making
: power ?
Then as to tlie precise question pre
sented in this case, namely, the eonstitu
j tiunality and binding effect of an overture
tor admission made by Congress and ac
cepted by a foreign State, I would re
mark, that the power of Congress to ad
mit a foreign State with its own assent,
necessarily draws along as an incident
the power of asking its assent, and of
making an overture or proposing terms of
admission. This power of proposing or
inviting is certainly a more easy and na
tural, not to say neccessary, offspring ol
the specific power to admit new States,
which belongs to Congress, than of the
general power to make treaties, which
belongs to the President and Senate. It
requires, indeed, a considerable stretch •!'
construction to hold, in the face of the
grant of the power to Congress to admit
new States, that the President and Sen
ate have the right to make treaties, render
| ing it constitutionally binding on Con
gress to admit n®\v States. This, I say,
requires a considerable, though I would •
by no means say an unwarrantable,
stretch of construction. But it is certain- j
ly a matter of wonder that those who rea
dily reconcile themselves to this stretch
can find any difficulty in deriving to Con
gress the incidental power of making an
overture or invitation from its specifically
granted and unqualified power to perform
; the principal act, to wit—that of admis
sion.
Mr. C. next alluded to what had been
said by gentlemen touching the manner
in which the proposed annexation would
affect our rational honor. He said some
gentlemen seemed to think that a due at
; tention to our national honor required that
we should take care by our conduct to
court the approbation of European sover
eigns and their subjects. He appealed
togentleuien who hail shown so much
sensibility to tiio national honor, and to
the light in which we should appear be
fore Europe anil the world, whether they
had duly considered the standard of na
tional honor and rectitude to which they
were disposed to appeal. A great deal
had been said as to how this measure ot
annexation was likely to lie regarded in
Europe and throughout Christendom gen
erally. But were Europe and Christen
dom to set up otic rule for themselves and
another torus. What was the political
morality which reigned there? How did
Europe, and how.did the world act in re
gard to the annexation and separation of
territories? How were such changes.
viewed, in fact, by all Governments ex- <
cept our own ? slost truly bad it been ■
said that towns, and provinces, and na
tions, were considered but as so many i
articles of trafic, to be exchanged and j
disposed of by monarebs at their will.
Were they not every day treated as this
patrimonies ?—as appanages, to make up
the marriage settlement of princes and j
princesses? Were not both people and
soil, and all the goods they might possess,
treated as mere chattels ? And yet, tor- I
sooth, we were to be all scruple and sen- j
sitiveness how European kings and their
subjects might view the conduct of our
Government. He would ask gentlemen j
who were fastidious on this subject, ;
whether a very high standard of Euro- j
pean morality bad been indicated on the j
occasion of the partition of Poland ? That !
event —the stigma of tire age, and an ever
lasting blot on human nature itself—j
"made” (to use the words oi' an eloquent j
writer) ‘mot as much noise in England as !
a Westminister election.” The entire
company of European powers laid down i
before such a spectacle in silent acquies- .
cence. European opinion as to the An- j
nexation of Texas! Why Mr. C. con
tended that the sale and exchange of
whole colonics was an every day practice
lof European Cabinets, and bad been,
from time immemorial. Let gentlemen
look at a more recent instance : let them
1 turn their eyes to the quiet transfer of the
kingdom and people of Norway to the 1
crown of Sweden, by the Emperor of!
Russia, as a compensantion for the loss :
of Finland, which Russia had lierselfj
taken from Sweden. And how did France j
get Louisiana from Spain ? Was it not j
to provide a marriage settlement for the
king of Spain’s son-in-law ? It did seem
to him that gentlemen, in their zeal against j
Texas, had quite lost sight of all tlie lights j
of history, especially when they talked of
appealing to those standards of political
morality that had always prevailed among
the Courts ol the Old World. What?
Were European Kings and Cabinets to
denounce a free Republican country for;
contracting a voluntary union with anoth
er free Republic, while they themselves
might traffic away kingdoms, and traus-,
ter their people like so many flocks and
herds, without a whisper ofeensure being
beard ! But let us on this side tlie Atlan- j
tie so much as speak ol the union oi two!
rising empires in the New World, and in!
a moment ail the privileged orders, and
all the organs of despotism, cried aloud j
at the atrocity, and pronounced it a poli
tical felony. Strange, indeed, that Aine- ;
ricati Representatives would not look this !
matter in the face according to truth and
fact, but would submit their country’s
honor to the very pure and lofty judgment
of European Cabinets.
To Mr. C. it seemed that the people
of this country must be the keepers of j
their own honor ; but if we must look
across the Atlantic for instructions as to
what was due to international morality,
he for one should lie rather inclined to take j
as liis rule precisely the opposite of what!
such judges might prescribe.
Thai which was now proposed, was the
free and votuntary union of two indepen
dent Republics, who, according to the law j
of nations, had a right to dispose of them- !
i selves ns they pleased. Was this going!
to tarnish the national honor? Would
gentlemen of large and liberal minds— j
would American representatives and le
gislators— sloop to join the cry ol Euro-;
pean despots and their slaves and minions,
land denounce their own country ? Mr.
1 C. appealed to them with confidence, ami
was well persuaded that, on a calm re
view of the whole ease, they would yet
take their own proper stand in behalf of
their native country belb.e the world.
This was a question that should lie looked i
at apart from any reference to the views of
the powers of the Old World. We must
make it an American question, and we
must decide it on American principles—
on the principles of virtue, of honor, and
of sound political morality. On this side
of the Atlantic, whose voice ought to be
heard and regarded ? Certainly not that!
of Queen Victoria and her ministers and |
subjects, to the exclusion of heeding our I
own enlightened and independent Ame
rican views of our rights, interests, and :
obligations, and mission in the world.
Mr. C. proceeded to say that there were j
some gentlemen—who, however, were of !
that class that seem to rejoice over all the
difficulties they can bring up in the way j
of annexation—that laid no small empha- j
sis at this late day on the wrong that would !
be done to Mexico by this measure ot an
nexation. Did gentlemen mean to take
the position that Texas was at this day
the property of Mexico? Did they hold
that, by the law of nations and tlie ac-!
knowledgment of the United States, Tex
as was still a province ot Mexico? Mr.
C. declared upon his word that it seemed
to him there had been a great abundance
of declamation on this topic of Mexican
rights. But what were her rights? Was
Texas hers ? Mr. C.’s time would not
allow him to argue this question at large,
but he appealed to all gentlemen who
knew the history of our transactions in
relation to both countries whether we had
not, by our own public acts, solemnly ad
mitted that Texas was a province of Mex
ico no longer. She has become a sover
eign and independent Slate by the rights
of successful war and revolution. The
utter inability of Mexico to resubjugate
her, or even to keep up a respectable show
of war for that pur|>ose, has been palpa
ble to the whole world for nearly nine
years. Asa consequence of this state of
things, Mexico has, under the law of na
tions, lost all right of reconquest, and
would herself be guilty of a wrong if she
attempted it, or attempted in any manner
to interfere with the exercise of perfect
independence and self-disposal by Texas.
Mexico having thus lost Texas, having |
lost the very right of recovering her by
forcible means of any kind, and being ut
terly devoid of the ability lo reduce her
again to subjection, it is obvious that no
question of Mexican rights is really involv
ed in the measure of annexation. j\[ ex _
iro will neither be a loser by the success
of that measure, nor a gainer by its failure.
For all her chances of ever again posses
sing Texas are gone, and gone forever in
any and every event. And so will those
now presented to the United States soon
pass away if not seized and improved
with the'greatest promptitude. Let us be
guilty of the folly, I had almost said the
I criminality, ol one more rejection of
Texas, and, in all probability, she will
; quickly be as much beyond our reach, as
she is acknowledged to be beyond that of
Mexico. Hence, sir, the extreme impor
tance of laying hold at once of the pres
jent fleeting opportunity.
Mr. Chappell was going on to urge the
imperative necessity of prompt and de
; cisive action, when he was brought to a
i dose by the expiration of his allotted
hour.
THE REPUBLIC.
II EL W. STRONG, Editor* ~
MACON, APRIL a, 1846.
< OTI ox AI ARKBT.
Our market is rather more quiet than
it was in the first few days of last week.
Prices, however, are steady and the anx
iety to purchase continues. We quote
extremes to-day 3T a 5; principal sales 4^.
THE PRESIDENTS OP TEXAS.
The Democratic Review of March, con
tains a spirited and graphic sketch of the
“ Presidents of Texas.” It is written by
one evidently familiar with the private
and public characters of the distinguish
ed individuals who have presided over
the destinies of the young Republic.
The word disti/iL'itished, however, can only
be applied with much significance to but
two names that have lillcd the measure
of their country’s glory, by giving to it
nulioiiahlij and rank among the indepen
dent sovereignties of the earth. Those
two are the Ex-Presidents Houston and
Lamar.
'Tlie lirst of these distinguished men,
without the courage utul force of character
n cess.try to accomplish great things, has
j most pre-eminently the talent to appro
priate mat, cucumslancrs and events, to his
own advantage. 'Thus, for example, the
; buttle of Fan Jacinto, which ought forever
|to have disgraced anil sunk him in the
estimation of the brave and patriotic, has
igiven him a lame as enduring as the re
collections of that splendid victory, made
! him President of one Republic, and may
eventually elevate him to the Executive
chair of another. The prolific wheel of
the inconstant and eccentric Goddess has
evolved stranger events than even this.
Be that as it may, the concurrent teslimo
-1 ny of every creditable historian who has
written the history of Texas, supported
: by the evidence of those heroic braves by
i whose undaunted courage and more than
Roman daring, the country is indebted for
its liberties, establish the tact that General
! Houston was actually compelled to light
! the battle ot’ Baa Jacinto by the indignant
j soldiery. Braver spirits repose not in
the pass of Thermopyhe, than were to bo
hound on that memorable day in the ranks
of the “forlorn hope” of Texas. Hous
ton bad already, by bis supineness, cow
ardice, or stupidity, sacrificed ihe chival
rous Fannin, the heroic Travis and
Crockett, and the brave anil unfortunate
Ward, together with the gallant men who
tell with them, before he could be inilu
t ceil to rally to the rescue of his bleeding
country. Even then, alter the army bad
been recruited, %nd he was enabled to
take the field with an imposing force, he
lay lor some days within reach ol one di
vision of the Mexican army, eight hundred
strong under Gen. Sesrna, without stri
king a blow. And at length after hearing
of the fate of Col. Fannin, be “broke up
camp” and retreated as if panic stricken,
with an effective force of sixteen hurtdred
men, before the approaching Mexican.—
It was then that his soldiers lost confi
dence in him, and hundreds disgusted
with bis want of courage anil decision,
abandoned him, until at length after re
treating across the Buffalo Bayou he found
the army reduced to some seven hundred
lighting men. ~
lu this condition Santa Anna overlook
him. Houston still insisted upon retreat
ing across the Babine, remembering th°
old saw that, “in a multitude ol counsel
lors there is safety.” But, happily fur
Texas, the subordinates were greater and
braver than their chief. The authority
of the commander was merged and toi
gotten in the heroism of the soldiery.
They resolved to fight! For the first time
in the history of Anglo-American war tare,
we saw an army, in the place of being
led, actually hading their commander t*>
the field. ,
Houston was dragged to victory. An
by Sherman, Wells, Lamar, Franklin,
Carnes, Smith, and their brave coin pa
triots, the Mexican host were swept timn
“the soil indignant with a hurricane o
Death. .
So much for Houston’s military fame.
To tlie heroic men —to the common
soldiers of that little army by whoso un
surpassed gallantry the victoryjwas ac a
veil, Houston is indebted for bis P a:,t a
present fame. ,
Not so with his distinguished coteu p
rary, General Lamar. f , •
The sworn enemy to tyrants, he e __
country to become a soldier ol t cr / ,
He entered the army as a voluntee
fought himself into command. ue
the Chevalier Bayard ot the ~
lotion. By bis courage m tjie
aided in avenging the disaster'.
Antonio and Goliad, in demo i=' S
armv of Santa Anna, and cslabh.' ,
independence ol his adopted a