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56
THE WAR IN TEXAS.
.--
nity,
and his conduct in the Cbair on thile pre.
sent'occasion.
(Signed) JAMES SPITTAL, L. P.
Let us now hear the sentiments of a few
more of our own public and influential characters,
who have raised their voices against the
interference of the United States in the
contest between Mexico and the insurgents of
Texas.
The following is an extract from a Speech
of the Hun. WILLIAM B. REED, in the House
of Kepresentatives of the State of Pennsylvania,
June 11th, 1836. He takes a more just and
comprehensive view of the subject than many
others had done before him.
6 In the south-west there is a community struggling
into independent existence, in whose behalf aU the
generous sympathies of this country are excited.
He referred to Texas.) If the swords of the
Texians should win for them an existence independent
of Mexico, it must necessarily be so precarious, that
application for admission into our Union would
follow as a measure of necessary self-defence. One
of the complaints made by the Texians is, that the
Mexican government will not permit the introduction
of slaves; and one of the first fruits of independence
and secure liberty (unnatural as is the paradox)
will be the extension of slavery, and both the domestic
and foreign slave trade, over the limits of a territory
large enough to form five states as large as Pennsylvanma.
Such being the result, what becomes of any
real or imaginary balance between the South and the
North, the slaveholding and non-slaveholding intereats.
Five or more slaveholding states, with their
additional representation, thoroughly imbued with
southern feeling, thoroughly attached to what the
South Carolina resotlutions, now before us, call "the
patriarchal institution of domestic slavery," added to
the Union, and where is the security of the North
and of the interests of free labor?-These are questions
worth considering-the more so, as the war
fever which is now burning in the veins of this
community, and exhibiting itself in all the usual unreflecting
expressions of sympathy and resentment,
has' disturbed the judgment of the nation, and
distorted every notion of right and wrong. Let the
Texians win independence as they can. That is their
affair, not ours. But let no statesman that loves his
country, think of admitting such an increment of
slaveholding population into this Union. He (Mr.
It.) could not but fear that there was a deep laid
plan to admit Texas into the Union, with a view to
an increase of slaveholding representation in Congress,
and while he viewed it, in connexion with the growing
indifference perceptible in some quarters, he
could not but feel melancholy forebodings.
Mr. Reed said, he had referred to this subject of
Texas incidentally, as forming one of those unpropitious
omens to which. he. had alluded. That he
might not be supposed to do injustice to the South,
or to exaggerate the apprehended danger of the
North, he would read to the House, as a partial
expression of feeling on this question, extracts from
influential Southern papers, which hefound in a very
able series of essays on the subject of Texas, recently
published in Philadelphia."
Even the Hon. B. M'Duffie, late Governor
of South Carolina, entertained very different
views from the great mass of the slaveholders,
and opposed the idea of countenancing the in
Jurgents
by the official sanction of our govern.
ment. The following is an extract from his
Message to the Legislature of the State, in
1836.-"Entertaining
these opinions, I have looked with
very deep concern, not unmingled with regret, upon
the occurrendes which have taken place during the
present year, in various parts of the United States,
relative to the civil war which is still in progress,
between the Republic of Mexico and owe of her revolted
Provinces.
It is true that no country can be responsible for
the sympathies of its citizens; but I am nevertheless
utterly at a loss to perceive what title either of the
parties to this controversy can have to the sympathies
of the American people. If it be allegd thlat tbe
insurgents of Texas are emigrants from the United
States, it is obvious to reply, that by their voluntary
expatriation-under whatever circumstances of adventure,
of speculation, of honor, or of infamy, they
have forfeited all claim to our fraternal regard. If
it be even true that they have left a land of freedom
for a land of despotism, they have done it with their
eyes open, and deserve their destiny. There is but
too much reason to believe that many of them have
goce as mere adventurers, speculating upon the
chances of establishing an independent government
in Texas, and of eizing that immense and fertile
domain by the title of the sword. But be this as it
may, when they became citizens of Mexico, they
became subject to the constitution and laws of that
country; and whatever changes the Mexican people
may have since made in that Constitution and these
laws, they are matters with which foreign States can
have no concern, and of which they have no right to
take cognizance. I trust, therefore, that the State
of South Carolina will give no countenance, direct
or indirect, open or concealed, to any acts which may
compromit the neutrality of the United States, or
bring into question their plighted faith. Justicestern
and unbending justice-in our intercourse with
other States, would be paramount to all the considerations
of mere expediency, even if it were possible
that these could be separated. But they cannot.Justice
is the highest expediency, and I am sure
South Carolina is the last state in the Union that
would knowingly violate this sacred canon of political
morality.
If any consideration could add to the intrinsic
weight of these high inducements to abstain from
any species of interference with the domestic
affairs of a neighboring and friendly State, it would
be the tremendous retribution to which we are so
peculiarly exposed ou our South Western frontier,
from measures of retaliation.
Should Mexico declare war ainst the United
States, and aided by some reat European power,
hoist the standard of servile insurrection in Louisiana
and the neighboring States; how deep would be our
self-reproaches in reflecting that these atrocious proceedings,
received even a colorable apology from our
example, or from the unlawful conduct of our own
citizens!
There is one question, connected with this controversy,
of a definite character, upon which it mav be
proper that you should express an opinion. You
are, doubtless, aware that the people of Texas, by
an almost unanimous vote, have expresed their desire
to be admitted into our Confederacy, and
application will probably be made to Congress for
that purpose. In my opini, Congress ought not
even to entertain such a ion in the present
state of the controversy. If we admit Texas into