[The following letter from General Houston to Major A. J. Donelson, United States chargé d'affaires in Texas, is reprinted from the Texas Banner (published at Huntsville) of May 26, 1849. It appeared also in Niles' Register, vol. 75, and was later published in the National Intelligencer.—G. P. G.]
Huntsville, Texas,9th April, 1845.
My Dear Major: In accordance with my promise on yesterday, I will now communicate to you some of my views on the question of annexation. I regret that my time will not allow me to go as fully into an examination of the subject as would be desirable, where so much of interest to both countries is involved in the measure. The overture is now made by the United States to Texas; and by an act of the Congress of the former, conditions are proposed by which the latter may be admitted as a part of the Union. I will not discuss the policy of the measure, but allude only to the manner of its consummation.
I am in favor of annexation, if it can take place on terms mutually beneficial to both countries. I have on all occasions evinced the most anxious solicitude touching the matter, and have withheld no means in my power towards its completion. As it now stands, I regard our relation to it in this light:
We are to merge our national existence in that of the United States, whenever the measure may take place. Then it seems to me that we should have something to say as to the terms of the union. By Mr. Brown's resolutions, 1the terms are dictated and the conditions absolute. They are of a character not to have been expected by any one who regarded annexation as a compact between two nations, where each had substantial and acknowledged sovereignty and independence. Texas is required to surrender her sovereignty and merge her independence. In the surrender of her rights, or any portion of them, she should have the privilege of assisting in the adjustment of the conditions; and they should be so defined and understood as that no discontent or misapprehension could thereafter arise as to her true situation. To arrive at a point so desirable, it appears to me that negotiations, conducted by commissioners on the part of each government, should take place. To me, the necessity is most obvious; for the reason that Texas may, in after times, when she recurs to the circumstances and consequences of the measure, be satisfied that the terms on which she had been received were in part, at least, of her own devising, and that she, from some strong impulse, had not acted without due deliberation, and a full discussion of the terms, by persons whose minds had been called to act upon the subject, under the most calm and considerate motives.
Commissioners appointed by the two governments could accomplish all this, and define and settle by negotiation and agreement what might hereafter arise calculated to disturb the future harmony of the United States, and perhaps injure Texas.
The amendments to Mr. Brown's resolutions appear to me to afford the only means to obviate the objections to their provisions. Their terms seem to me, to say the least of them, to be rigid; because they require of us to pay a tribute, or bonus, to the United States, for leave to surrender our sovereignty and national independence—and this, too, in a most summary manner. We are required to “cede” to the United States “all public edifices, fortifications, barracks, ports, harbors, and navy, and navy-yards, docks, magazines, arms, armaments, and other property and means pertaining to the public defence belonging to the said Republic of Texas.” It ought to have been considered that these enumerated means and property have occasioned a large portion of our national debt, and remains to be paid for by Texas. They have probably cost this nation not less than one million of dollars; and to admit that they are now worth only half that sum, would fix their value at a half million, which would be of great service in organizing a new government or governments, and in cleaning out rivers and improving our facilities for transporting produce to market by means of roads.
If Texas shall be required to surrender her property, without receiving any remuneration for the same, it can only be regarded in the light of a payment or tribute for our admission into the Union. If the resolutions of Mr. Brown are to form the basis of our admission, this objection can not be removed, but must remain as a rebuke to us, in future days, for our hasty and inconsiderate action.
By assuming the amendment as a basis, many objections can be obviated; and by negotiation, terms less exceptionable may be adopted. If the President of the United States should appoint commissioners, and they should be met by corresponding commissioners on the part of Texas, they could come to an agreement upon such terms as would be honorable and just to both parties. The terms thus agreed upon could then be submitted to the people of Texas in their popular capacity, and their votes taken thereupon, at the September election for members of our Congress. If they were approved by their voice, then our Congress could act upon the expression given by the people, and wait for the action of the government of the United States. If that government should accord in the action of this, then Texas could more safely proceed to frame a constitution adapted to her circumstances. The reasons for this course, to my mind, are important, and, I may add, indispensable, in our present condition.
The conditions prescribed in Mr. Brown's resolutions leave us no alternative, and I am satisfied would not have been adopted by the Congress of the United States, apart from the amendment. By the amendment, the President of the United States was allowed an alternative as to the mode of presenting the subject to the government and people of Texas for their consideration and action. But as the alternative chosen might very materially affect the interests of Texas, it is to be hoped and expected that its government will be consulted as to which should be adopted. By the action proposed in the plan of Mr. Brown's resolutions, Texas is denied all option as to the mode of annexation, and is driven into servile submission, and is required to pay a price for her humiliation. If Texas were to accept the conditions as they are now presented to the government of Texas by the government of the United States, it would derange her present form of government, and shake her institutions to their foundation, if her constitution should not be accepted by the Congress of the United States; and my own opinion is, that our admission by Congress would be very doubtful if we were to act upon the first and second sections of the resolutions, without reference to the third.
If the work of annexation is to be consummated, my great desire is to see it done in a manner that may not only be harmonious at present, but so that each party may hereafter, on a review of the whole matter, have nothing to regret or to reproach itself with.
It seems to me, also, that the conditions as to the time to which the action of Texas is limited is too short to enable her to give the subject all the consideration which its importance demands. The Congress of the United States will, doubtless, not adjourn its next regular session before the month of July, 1846. Then it will have ample time to extend the period for the action of Texas until her government and people could carry out their action upon the plan which I propose, and the same that was contemplated by the amendment. If the original resolutions are insisted upon as the basis and the only one, I entertain the most serious doubts as to our ever being admitted, or forming a part of the American Union. Texas has so long been a suppliant, that I am fearful the government of the United States has presumed upon what they suppose to be our necessities, and therefore have been induced to lay such hard conditions upon us. Heretofore the difficulties have all existed on the part of the United States, as to our admission into the Union; nor do I yet regard them as all obviated. If I am right in this, it would be too perilous for Texas to act upon the basis proposed, and subject herself to have the constitution which she might at present submit rejected by the Congress of the United States. It would not only be destructive to the future prospects and welfare of Texas, but convulse the Union to a far greater extent than ever did the tariff or “Missouri question.”
The wish of every American statesman should be to preserve the concord and union of the States; and the desire of every Texan, to cede such rights and privileges to the Union as would be just and proper. We should, however, retain all which would be necessary to us as an equal member of the Confederacy, and part with none which we should require in our new position with a hope of regaining them at a future day. Should we entertain such a hope it might prove fallacious, and be productive of serious and lasting discord. Texas, if annexed, will become a part of the United States in opposition to the wishes of a large portion of the people of the Union, and encounter a strong political opposition. If they are vanquished, they will retain a strong prejudice against the cause or object of their defeat. The party favorable to the admission of Texas may or may not long retain power in the Union. While they retain power, Texas might do well; but if it once passed into the hands of the Opposition, she would in all probability fare equally bad.
For these reasons, I wish that whatever rights Texas has or might be entitled to, should be defined, and understood, and retained by her on her admission to the Union; and this can only be done through the action of the commissioners indicated by the amendment, and without which I feel fully satisfied the bill would not have become a law.
The “consent of the existing government” of Texas, referred to in one portion of the act—and that recognizes some option in our Executive as to the mode by which the affair (so far, at least, as Texas is concerned) should be conducted—is necessary to give validity to the measure. If any commotion should arise in Texas, or a disregard of the constitutional authority, in consequence of the basis proposed not being accepted, I should deem it most unfortunate for the fame and quiet of the President of the United States, by thus furnishing a ground for his enemies to charge him with producing the evil resulting from withholding the choice of the alternatives contained in the law from the Executive of this country.
You may find some who will express the wish or intention even to resort to revolution to secure annexation, without knowing one of the conditions imposed, or anything more than that “it is something about annexation.” If by any irregular mode, or by exciting sedition in the country, the expression of the popular voice could be had, and should be unanimous in favor of the measure, it would be good cause for the Congress of the United States and the President to resist any such action.
They would surely not be willing to inflict such a scandal upon the present enlightened age as the encouragement or sanction of such a course would be.
Another may, by some persons, be suggested to you, and that is—if the President has chosen his position, in declining the proposition as presented, to drive him from his position, and appeal to the people. Of such suggestions, I pray you beware; for I can conceive of no course or curse so fruitful of evils to free government, and subversive of all rule among men, as this would be. It would soon produce its effects, even in the U. States. The President might desire to execute the law; but if occasion prompted, seditionists would quote the act of Texas as a warrant and example for their resistance to the federal authorities.
Nevertheless, there are individuals in Texas who would willingly adopt any course, or pursue any measure, which they might believe to be adverse to my opinions, or that would prostrate the present administration. They would do this, though it should destroy the country. They are men who wish to live upon the means of the government, without labor, and feast and riot upon the substance of the people. Without merit, such men are like vermin in the dead carcass: they can live only in corruption.
Now, my dear friend, for the sake of human liberty,—for the sake of the future tranquillity of the United States—and for the prosperity of Texas, whose interests, prosperity and happiness are near to my heart, and cherished by me above every political consideration, I conjure you to use your influence in having presented to this government the alternative suggested by the amendment to Mr. Brown's bill, so that commissioners can act in conjunetion upon the points which it may be proper to arrange between the two countries, before it is too late, and while there is a remedy. The newspaper press, with, I believe, the organ of the government of the United States, expect the alternative amendment to be presented to Texas, that she may exercise some choice as to the conditions of her entry into the Union.
I can not say what would be proper for the commissioners to agree upon. But I would suggest that Texas, if admitted into the Union, should enjoy full equality and community with the other States of the Confederacy; that the United States should receive and pay Texas a liberal price for the public property which has been acquired for national purposes, and that the amount should be paid to the State of Texas, so soon as it should be organized and admitted as a State.
That Texas should retain her public lands, and if the United States should hereafter vary her boundary or limits, as at present defined, by contracting or reducing them, that in that case they should indemnify the citizens of Texas, by payment for any lands which they may hold, by locations under the laws of Texas, in the territory abandoned by the United States, at the minimum price of the government lands at this time in the United States.
That the government of the United States may at any time purchase the vacant lands of Texas, at a price to be stipulated by the commissioners; and in the event of their purchasing our lands, that they should not (without the consent of the State of Texas) sell to, or permit to settle within the present limits of Texas, any nation, people, or tribe of Indians.
That Texas should pay the national debt.
That the United States should remunerate the citizens of Texas, whose lands fell within the United States in running the boundary lines, in the same manner, and with the same liberality, that Texas did those of the United States, or that they (the United States) pay them for their lands, which had been located on valid titles, issued by the government of Mexico, and at a time when it was believed the limits of Texas would embrace the locations previous to running the line.
And I would recommend that an article be inserted in the agreement, stipulating, expressly, that Texas should not form a part of the Union until her Constitution is accepted by the Congress of the United States.
I candidly conceive that these stipulations are necessary and proper to secure Texas and her citizens, as well as to enable the United States to maintain peace with all the Indians on our borders.
I have thus hastily written you a long letter, subject to frequent interruptions. You may therefore find my meaning, in some things, obscure. I have not even glanced at the general policy of the measure of annexation, but have given my views as to the mode of its execution, and what appears to me necessary to be done by the parties. I must confess that I have not been free from embarrassment on the subject. I have felt so deeply for my venerated and highly valued friend, the Sage of the Hermitage, that nothing but a most sacred regard for my adopted country could have induced me again to thus express my opinions on this subject. The feelings of Gen. Jackson are so much absorbed in the subject of annexation, arising from his views of the importance of the measure to the United States, that he has, very naturally, not been fully able to regard Texas as forming a separate community, and with interests not entirely identical with those of that government. Nevertheless, I know and feel that Gen. Jackson believes that Texas, annexed on any terms, would be equally benefited with the United States, and thereby perpetuate free institutions, and extend the sphere of representative government. Annexation would be certainly beneficial to the United States. On the part of Texas, it is an experiment, which I pray God, if it takes place, may result in enduring happiness and prosperity to a united community.
I am, truly your friend, SAM HOUSTON. Maj. A. J. Donelson, &c., &c.
How to cite:
Houston, Sam, "THE ANNEXATION OF TEXAS ", Volume 001, Number 2, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, Page 79 - 86. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v001/n2/article_3.html
[Accessed Mon Dec 1 18:09:31 CST 2008]
