Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/548

 affairs of Texas. One strong reason of the remonstrance, on the part of his constituents, was, that the nation sought to be annexed to our own had its origin in violence and fraud; an impression by no means weakened by the impulses given by the late and present administrations to push on this senseless and wicked war with Mexico. They had seen the territory of that republic invaded by the act of the executive of this government, without any action of congress; and they had seen conspirators coming here, and contriving and concerting their plans of operations with members of our own government! Amidst all these demonstrations, they had heard the bold and unblushing pretense that the people of Texas were struggling for freedom, and that the wrongs inflicted upon them by Mexico had driven them into insurrection, and forced them to fight for liberty!

There had been recent evidence afforded the country as to the real origin of the insurrection. A citizen of Virginia, (Dr. Mayo,) who for years had held offices under the late administration, had just issued a pamphlet in this city, giving a copy of a letter by himself, in December, 1830, to the President of the United States, in which he declared that, in February, 1830, the person now called President Houston did in this city disclose to himself, the author of this letter, all his designs as to this then state of the republic of Mexico — Texas. What that letter contained as to the disclosure of a scheme to be executed, was now a matter of history. It disclosed the particulars of a conversation which detailed the plan of the conspiracy, since consummated, to rob Mexico of the province of Texas.

Mr. A. then inquired what were the pretenses upon which the disseverment of Texas from Mexico were justified. As early as 1824, the legislature of the republic of Mexico, to its eternal honor, passed an act for the emancipation of slaves, and the abolition of slavery; and the only real ground of rebellion was that very decree; the only object of the insurrection, the revival of the detested system of slavery; and she had adopted a constitution denying to her legislature even the power of ever emancipating her slaves!

Mr. Adams did not wish to refer the memorials to the committee on foreign affairs, because it was not properly constituted. Its chairman, (Mr. Howard,) was himself a slaveholder, and, it was feared, entertained a widely different opinion as to the morality of slavery from that held by the mass of the memorialists; and that a majority of the committee were in favor of annexing Texas to this government. It was conformable with the parliamentary rule to appoint a majority of the committee in favor of the prayer of the memorialists. This seemed to him as one of the incidents of freedom of petition itself. Six out of nine of the committee on foreign affairs were slaveholders; and he took it for granted that every member of the house who was a slaveholder, was ready for the annexation of Texas; and its accomplishment was sought, not for the acquisition of so much new territory, but as a new buttress to the tottering institution of slavery.

After a brief interruption by southern members, Mr. A. proceeded:

He said discussion must come; though it might for the present be delayed,