The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 1, July 1897 - April, 1898 Page: 80
334 p. : ill., ports., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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80 Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
no means in my power towards its completion. As it now stands,
I regard our relation to it in this light:
We are to merge our national existence in that of the United
States, whenever the measure may take place. Then it seems to
me that we should have something to say as to the terms of the
union. By Mr. Brown's resolutions,* the terms are dictated and the
conditions absolute. They are of a character not to have been ex-
pected by any one who regarded annexation as a compact between
two nations, where each had substantial and acknowledged sov-
ereignty and independence. Texas is required to surrender her
sovereignty and merge her independence. In the surrender of her
rights, or any portion of them, she should have the privilege of
assisting in the adjustment of the conditions; and they should be
so defined and understood as that no discontent or misapprehen-
sion could thereafter arise as to her true situation. To arrive at a
point so desirable, it appears to me that negotiations, conducted by
commissioners on the part of each government, should take place.
To me, the necessity is most obvious; for the reason that Texas
may, in after times, when she recurs to the circumstances and con-
sequences of the measure, be satisfied that the terms on which she
had been received were in part, at least, of her own devising, and
that she, from some strong impulse, had not acted without due
.deliberation, and a full discussion of the terms, by persons whose
minds had been called to act upon the subject, under the most
,calm and considerate motives.
Commissioners appointed by the two governments could accom-
plish all this, and define and settle by negotiation and agreement
what might hereafter arise calculated to disturb the future har-
.mony of the United States, and perhaps injure Texas.
The amendments to Mr. Brown's resolutions appear to me to
afford the only means to obviate the objections to their provisions.
Their terms seem to me, to say the least of them, to be rigid; be-
cause they require of us to pay a tribute, or bonus, to the United
States, for leave to surrender our sovereignty and national inde-
pendence-and this, too, in a most summary manner. We are
required to "cede" to the United States "all public edifices, fortifica-
lions, barracks, ports, harbors, and navy, and navy-yards, docks,
* The House resolutions for annexation in their final form were based on
those offered by Milton Brown, of Tennessee. See Benton's Abridgment of
,the Debates of Congress, Vol. XV, p. 196.-G. P. G.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 1, July 1897 - April, 1898, periodical, 1897/1898; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101009/m1/97/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.