Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 1.djvu/257

Rh for the acknowledgment of their independence and a friendly treaty with Mexico, on the condition that they should bind themselves never to become a part of the United States. It was believed that Mexico was instigated to demand this condition by Great Britain, who was also believed to be offering inducements to Texas to accept the condition by tendering favorable commercial privileges. There was, also, a rumor to the effect that Great Britain was endeavoring to acquire a protectorate over Texas. This rumor proved to be without evidence, but it served to draw attention to the danger of European interference in American affairs. It called forth meetings in the South, some of which passed resolutions looking to a convention of the Southern States to consider the question of a peaceful dissolution of the Union in the event of the refusal of Congress to annex Texas; other meetings in the South expressed strong opposition to the disunion movement and gave utterance to sentiments of warm attachment to the Union.

A meeting held in the Barnwell district of South Carolina passed resolutions advocating &quot;a convention of the Slave States&quot; in which &quot;the final issue shall be made up and the alternative distinctly presented to the Free States either to admit Texas to the Union, or to proceed peaceably and calmly to arrange the terms of a dissolution of the Union.&quot; Another convention at Beaufort, in the same State, resolved &quot;that we will dissolve this Union sooner than abandon Texas.&quot; Still another convention in the same State resolved, &quot;and we hold it to be better and more to the interest of the Southern and Southwestern portions of this confederacy to be out of the Union with Texas than in it without her. Similar resolutions were adopted in other portions of the South.

On the other hand, the idea of disunion was repelled with equal emphasis by other Southern States. Nashville, Tenn., and Richmond, Va., having been suggested as suitable places for holding the proposed convention,