Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1867-02-02
Address or the Texas Delegation

To the Congress andpsopleefth United States!
We, having been chosen to repre-
sent the State of Texas in the Con-
gress of fthe United States, and not
having been admitted to seats, take
this mode Of presenting the follow
ing facts and views relating to her
history, present condition, and Fed.
oral relations:
Anterior to the revolution of
thirty five and six, Texas was
part of the State of Coahuila and
Texas, in the Republic of Mexico
By the intelligence and valor of its
citizens, prompted by an ardent love
of freedom, it established separate
nationality, which was recognized
by the United States and by the
leading nations of Europe, and
which it maintained against the
power of Mexico and the ravages of
savage tribes for ten years, exercis-
ing the powers externally and in
ternally of a perfect sovereignty,
being q nation among nations
Resting on the Gulf of Mexico for its
outlet to the commerce and inter-
course of the world, spreading out
over vast and fertile territory,
yielding rich harvests of all the
varied and valuable productions of
the temperate zone, she was an en-
pire within herself, self.sustaining,
and capable of the highest material
and intellectual development, with
all her interests and institutions
combined and harmonized under q
representative republic,
By annexation, in 1886, she sur
rendered her separate nationality to
become State in the United States
of America. 1t was done by the
almost unanimous voice Of her pe'o!
pie, without compulsion from any
quarter, without any necessity, i'm
pending or prospective, the alterna-
tive being'then presented to her of
annexation to the United States"
or "independence, acknowledged by
Mexico and guaranteed by Great
Britain and France" In that act
was presented an unselfishness, q
devotion to American unity, which
challenges comparison with the
memorable example Of Virginia and
other Southern colonies in the Rev
olution of '76.
Her entrance into the Federal
Union, while it caused agreat influx
of population, and fastened prosper
GUS development, entailed upon her
the political agitations common to
her sister States. Her remoteness
from the centre of political power
subjected her to many disadvantages,
among the most prominent of which
was the want ofadequate protection
against the continuous depredations
of savage tribes of Indians on her
frontier, by whom thousands of her
people-men, women, and children
have been murdered and taken
into captivity, and vast amounts Of
their property stolen from time to
time. These shocking barbarities
are now being perpetrated, and
within the last eighteen months
have caused the frontier to recede
from thirty to fifty miles along the
whole border.
This has often made it necessary
for the State to place military
force of its own on its frontier at
great expense, for which it has never
yet been entirely reimbursed.
In 1861 Texas in convention pass
ed the ordinance of secession, and
participated with other sister States
in the formation of the Southern
Confederacy. 1t was regarded as
certain that six or seven of the
Southern States wonld secede.-
Texas had either to follow or stand
still. To stand still was to be rent
in twain by civil war at home. The
State was sectionally divided upon
the question, and nothing but a
vote of the people, promptly taken,
and the acquiescence ofthe minority,
could then save her from the hor-
rors of a civil war, and make her
people unit on one side or the 9TH
er. Having thus made hor decision,
the mass of the people sustained the
cause of the South during the whole
time of the war. Whatever wrongs
and outrages may have occurred, as
among themselves, this unity, thus
produced, saved the State from a
hundred fold more than would have
occurred without it. Probably, tooit
saved the country from the desola-
ton of fire and sword that swept
over other States. 1t also left it
to the changed condition Of public
affairs, without the distraction of ir-
reconcilable feuds engendered be-
tween neighbors and families during
the struggle.
The causes which led to this great
civil war between the two sections
had taken deep root long before
Texas entered the Union. One class
Of thinkers believed that they saw