Anti-Texass Legion: Protest of some free men, states and presses against the Texass rebellion, against the laws of nature and of nations Page: 39 of 72
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W. SLADE.
was to prevent the evils arising from this state of things, that this
mission ought not, in his judgment to be allowed.
Notwithstanding our aggressions upon Mexico, (which he did not
advert to, but which were matters of history,) we were still, at least
professedly, at peace with her, under solemn treaties of amity and
commerce. By what rule, then, of national law or national honor
we were justified in interfering in the affairs of Texas, he could not
divine-Texas, a province in a state of open revolt, whose indepen-
dence Mexico had never recognized, but against which she was at
this time waging a most uncompromising war. Whence, then, the
sympathy and enthusiasm which had been excited on te- subject in
this country ? Whence the injustice and breach of national faith
against Mexico, which had engendered so much ill-blood and ill-feel-
ing against a government which was doing the most that she was
able to do, to establish free institutions of the same kind as our own ?
Whence the abandonment of the policy of non-interference, which
had been so studiously cultivated and adhered to by this government
in all the contests which had taken place on this continent ? Or
who could doubt that the continuance of negotiations between this
government and Mexico, in relation to the annexation of Texas,
would inevitably lead to war ? And Mr. L. alluded to the probabili
ty, in such an event, of interference on the part of Great Britain
--Speech in Congress, April 13, 1842.
WILLIAM SLADE.
Mr. S. had been greatly surprised at the nomination to Mexico of
a public man who had always zealously advocated the cause of Texian
independence. Gentlemen in the south did not appreciate the feeling
which pervaded this country in reference to this Texian question.
Throughout more than half the states of this union, it was watched
with the utmost jealousy, and excited the deepest feeling, because it
was well known that anxious efforts had long been going on to effect
the annexation of Texas to the United States, and it was as perfectly
understood that the entering wedge to the accomplishment of such a
design was never applied in the open light of day, but secretly, and,
for aught that appeared upon the surface, that wedge might not only
be entered, but driven up past all hope of retraction before the fact
was known at all. And there were those in this union who looked
the more sharply at all such measures from their apprehension as to
the connexion between the annexation of Texas and the extension of
slavery. Whether these persons were imprudent or not, in the course
they pursued-whether or not they adopted the best means to accom-
plish their objects, and whether their abstract positions were sound or
not, still they were perpetually on the watch-tower, looking with
eagle eyes at every movement bearing on the Texian question, and
but for their unsleeping vigilance, the so much desired union between
that country and this would have been effected long ago. Here Mr.
S. rlferred to the vast number of petitions which they had sent up
against the annexation. That number was not so great now, because
an impression had begun to prevail that the danger was now over.
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Anti-Texass Legion. Anti-Texass Legion: Protest of some free men, states and presses against the Texass rebellion, against the laws of nature and of nations, book, January 1, 1845; Albany. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth2356/m1/39/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.