The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 21, July 1917 - April, 1918 Page: 87
434 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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British Correspondence Concerning Texas
be taken to be one half of the whole vote of the Country; for nearly
14,000 persons had voted at the Presidential election in 1844. And
yet it seemed strange that the Annexationists did not put forward
their whole strength on such an occasion, if it were only to
establish that vast preponderance in favour of it which has been
so much insisted upon here and in the United States.
It was natural to think that persons in favour of the Measure
would take some interest or pride in recording a viva voce Vote
in that sense; and it was equally reasonable to suppose all things
remembered, that it's opponents would abstain from writing down
their names against the absorption of the Country in the North
American Confederacy; An opposition which they had been loudly
told would only serve to shew the insignificance of their number.
The taking of the Vote, viva voce, contrary to the fundamental
rule in their system, is of itself a subject of attentive reflection.
Such a course was intended to stifle adverse opinion; And Your
Lordship will not be surprised to learn that persons against An-
nexation generally abstained from recording their refusal to sac-
rifice independence to the plots and exigencies of dominant par-
ties in the United States. Texas was already in the Military oc--
cupation of a force at the disposal of those parties, and the friends
of independence, abandoned by their leaders, were naturally com-
pletely discouraged.
There can be no doubt that the great majority of the vote ac-
tually taken was on the side of Annexation, but in my mind it's
shortness of what is known to be the full vote of the Country
affords some fair index of the extent of opposite opinion; a party
quieter than the successful, but certainly not less weighty in point
of respectability and good sense.
The President adverted to the Mass Meetings in favour of An-
nexation held in all parts of the Country some months before the
assembly of the body at Austin. They had left no doubt in his
mind of the feeling and will of an immense majority of the people.
It is to be remarked, however, that what are called Mass Meetings
are usually assemblies of persons of one way of crying out, and
there is a proneness on such occasions to exaggerate numbers, and
intensity of feeling, and every circumstance connected with them.
The general tendency of the people of this part of the world
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 21, July 1917 - April, 1918, periodical, 1918; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101073/m1/93/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.