William Carey Crane

“ Sir, while people are seeking to civilize and Christianize men on the banks of the Ganges, or the Jordan, or the Brahmapootra, why should not the same philanthropic influence be extended through society, and be exerted in behalf of the American Indians.? Is not the soul of an American Indian, in the prairie, worth as much as the soul of a man on the Ganges, or in Jerusalem? Surely it is. Then let the American Government step forward; let it plant the standard of regeneration and civilization among the Indians, and it will command the co-operation of the citizens in their philanthropic efforts. ”

“ I appeal to the nation. I ask not the defeat of sectionalism by sectionalism, but by nationality. These men who talk of a united South, know well that it begets a united North. Talk of frightening the North into measures by threats of dissolving the Union! It is child's play and folly. It is all the Black Republican leaders want. American blood, North nor South, has not yet become so ignoble as to be chilled by threats. Strife begets strife, threat begets threat, and taunt begets taunt, and these disunionists know it. American blood brooks no such restraints as these men would put upon it. ”

“ Sir, it is a sickly sentimentality that was implanted in me when I was young, and it has grown up with me. The Indian has a sense of justice, truth, and honor, that should find a responsive chord in every heart. If the Indians on the frontier are barbarous, or if they are cannibals and eat each other, who are to blame for it? They are robbed of the means of sustenance; and with hundreds and thousands of them starving on the frontier, hunger may prompt to such acts to prevent their perishing. We shall never become cannibals in connection with the Indians, but we do worse than that. ”

“ Sir, the man who bears my country's flag, the man who represents her in a foreign country, the man to whose discretion and integrity the honor of the country is confided, should be a man of spotless character, of pure and exalted chivalry, of refined and delicate sensibilities, particularly when he has occasion to defer to that sex to whom every hero, every soldier, and every statesman is most honored in rendering the homage of his heart. ”

“ Sir, I have had to wade through difficulties and through scenes of anguish and peril with a gallant people—none have ever been tested to the same extent— without resources, new, unhoused, surrounded by all the inconveniences and peril of a wilderness, surrounded by savage tribes, with the feelings of nations alien to us. Sir, we have had these to pass through; and loyal to one section of the country, I was loyal to all. When Texas was annexed to the United States, it was not to the Southern Confederacy, nor in anticipation of one; she was annexed to the Union ”

“ Who are those that are most clamorous against the injustice of Texas, and the wrongs which they have sustained from her? Are they men who have peculiar claims upon the sympathy of this body? Are they men who have peculiar claims upon the confidence of Texas? Are they men who blended their destiny with hers in her hours of trial? Are they men who marched with her armies upon their marches? Are they men who upon her vigils of peril watched with her? Are they men who toiled or starved for her? No, sir. They have sprung up, like dragon's teeth, around this Capitol within a few years ”

“ The South, sir, are a spirited people, and how they could have submitted, for more than a third of a century, to this indignity, this wrong, this act of oppression, which has ground them down in their prosperity and development, and never have said a word about it until this auspicious moment arrived, and that, too, when political subjects have been agitated at the North and South—that it should have been reserved for the action of the present Congress, after all others had glided by without complaint, rebuke, remonstrance, or suggestion of appeal, is a most extraordinary thing. ”

“ Is the language of such individuals to be set down to the charge of the North as meriting the reprobation and condemnation of the whole community? and are they, for that reason, to be declared aliens and to be ostracised? Can we control the expressions of persons in the North? There is no constitutional prohibition, that I know of, against the expression of opinion; every man has a right to express his opinions in this country; and, much as I may be at variance with gentlemen in regard to their views, I do not consider the expression of them an act of treason to the South. ”

“ Little could it have been imagined that a young republic, with nothing like half of its present population, could summon resolution to proclaim at the top of its voice, to all the potentates of the other hemisphere, in substance: "You may manage your affairs as you choose there, but you shall not carry your system or systems of government to the world of the West. With stout hearts and strong minds, and, above all, relying upon God's favor, we will prevent the establishment of any new European alliances in this hemisphere, or perish in the effort." ”

“ I trust her vengeance will slumber; that cool reason and devoted patriotism will triumph over all the petty passions of humanity, and that she will be governed by influences which elevate man above all that is sordid and hateful. They have no perverted ambition to gratify, but they have a sense of what is right, and I hope, in the adjudication of this grave offense, when they make the actors amenable to the violated honor and dignity of the State, they will not make examples of more of them than is needful, but I am fearful that, in view of the great offense, examples may be multiplied. ”

“ They are, certainly, not responsible for their opinions; and I am unwilling that any irresponsible persons, however high and imposing their standing may be, should decide upon rights appertaining to a State. I object to any decision which may be attempted by any powers less than the constitutional powers of this Government. It is a matter of regret to believe, for one moment, that an attempt has been made, and is now directed by the head of this nation, in opposition to the rights of Texas, and for the purpose of impeding her claims to justice. ”

“ Sir, I believe the honorable chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs has withdrawn that portion of the amendment relating to the appointment of three commissioners to treat with the Indians. But, Mr. President, if we wish to do good to the Indians, we have it in our power; if we wish to destroy them, we can starve them out. If we intend to save them, we can do it by appealing to their best feelings. There is one pathway to an Indian's heart. If you show him that comforts and benefits are to result to his wife and children, you may command him absolutely, and he yields implicitly. ”

“ We gave national existence to Texas, that she might become a part of this great Confederacy. I there gave renewed evidence of my devotion to the Union, and to the institutions of the United States. Sir, there a spark flashed upon the world, the consequence of which has created a revolution that is still onward, and will continue to affect this whole globe. Until time shall merge in the ocean of eternity, its effects will not be arrested. It has opened a world, and we came forward and were incorporated into this Union. ”

“ No bright genius ever elicited it; no brilliant conception ever discovered it until this session had progressed for some time, when the great principle of non-intervention at once sprang up to illumine the world, to be regarded as one which, at some future day, would be a universally-recognized principle. Sir, I recognize the principles of self-government, but I do it in sovereignty. A people in tutelage can not exercise sovereignty, but States can. A people who are in a territorial existence which is fitting them to become States, exercise what may be called a quasi sovereignty. ”

“ Yet here a high functionary of the Government, the head of a gallant army, whose heart ought to have been filled with admiration of valorous deeds, and ready to award the tribute that is due to unconquerable courage, stigmatizes the men of Texas as inefficient and unreliable in time of peril. Experience had never enabled him to judge of them, and was this, then, no manifestation of prejudice? Why, sir, two hundred and fifty rangers, if he had called them into service, would have repulsed any attempt that might have been made to cross the Rio Grande. ”

“ Behold Cuba, with her 20,000 lazy troops, eating the substance of the people and ready at the beck of their masters to inflict some new oppression upon a helpless people; and yet, without a standing army, no State could maintain itself and keep down its servile population.
It is but natural that we all should desire the defeat of the Black Republican candidates. As Southern men, the fact that their party is based upon the one idea of opposition to our institutions, is enough to demand our efforts against them; but we have a broader, a more national cause of opposition to them. ”

“ Lincoln, he should be elected, we have no excuse for dissolving the Union. The Union is worth more than Mr. Lincoln, and if the battle is to be fought for the Constitution, let us fight it in the Union and for the sake of the Union. With a majority of the people in favor of the Constitution, shall we desert the Government and leave it in the hands of the minority?' A new obligation will be imposed upon us, to guard the Constitution and to see that no infraction of it is attempted or permitted. ”

“ So long as the Union lasts, the masses need not fear them—when it falls, aristocracy will rear its head.
Whenever an encroachment is made upon our constitutional rights, I am ready to peril my life to resist it; but let us first use constitutional means. Let us resist, as our fathers did, with right on our side. They exhausted all legal means of remedy first. When submission to tyranny or revolution was all that was left them, they tried revolution. It was the same in Texas. The people fought to uphold the Constitution of 1824. ”

“ President, it is thought that it is immoral in Texas—that it is not a clever thing in her not to pay her debts. Now, I should like to ascertain by what standard of morality we are to arrive at the adjustment of her debts? Is it that standard of morality that pays a man not only what he has given, but a hundred per cent, in addition to that? Or is it the standard it is proposed to establish here, that when a man has given three cents for a dollar, he is to get a hundred cents? Is it that rule by which we are to judge of the morality of Texas, and the advantage of her creditors? ”

“ If these are the gentlemen that are to hold the lives and property, and the security of our citizens in charge, I want them to be men of some discretion, some wisdom, some little experience, not those who have just burst from the shell, or juveniles from the Military Academy, without ever having seen an Indian, and knowing nothing of their disposition. Send men of age and discretion, who have some sympathy for the whites, if they have no respect for the Indians. Then, sir, you may dispense with a great deal of the force which you now have, or ought to have, to make the army efficient. ”

“ Such a sentiment has been enunciated by the author of the Southern league; but how much regard is to be paid to his sanity, or how much respect to his patriotism or his opinions? Sir, what shall be thought when a man profanely derides the memory of our glorious ancestors who established this Union, and consecrated it by their wisdom and by their loyalty and by their devotion to human happiness, and who had the prospective glory of a nation of freemen before them. The idea that an American tongue should be wagged to detract from their high renown and manifest wisdom is sacrilege. ”

“ Well, sir, how can Texas expect peace; how can she expect protection to her citizens?' Not from your army. It has never given her protection; it is incompetent to give protection; and it is a reproach to the country. I will not say anything personally unkind of the officers who command, for they are gentlemen; but I say they know nothing about the Indians, and I shall prove it. Texas deserves protection, and she can have it if a rational effort be made to give it to her, but not by your troops. ”

“ They have no passions to flatter; they have no political aspirations; they cherish nothing but a holy loyalty for their country and its Constitution; and when these men are called to action, and look around upon the elements which they are to oppose, it will be as wise, if it were possible, for a sane man to throw himself in the way of the furious tornado, as for public men to oppose them. They will not do it. They will stand aloof, hugging security with a consciousness of happiness and the future well-being of the human race. ”

“ Look at the men who are crying out disunion, and then ask yourselves whether they are the men you would choose to create a new government? Do they combine that wisdom, prudence, and patriotism which would inspire you with confidence and lead you to trust the destinies of a nation in their hands? Where are the proofs of their patriotism? Point to one of them, leading this secession movement, who has ever raised his arm or bared his bosom to the foe, in defense of the honor of his country, save Jefferson Davis ”

“ It is a tyranny that chains the mind, and renders the freedom of limbs a reproach to the possessor. What woman would not feel for a husband—she whose anxious care, whose deep solicitude, has pursued him when tossed on the billows of the ocean, when borne before the fury of the storm, when struggling in the battle breeze? Is she not to be permitted to feel for that husband? I pity the Government that can forbid such feelings, and its Senators who forget their duty to themselves. ”

“ And, sir, when the Executive taunts Texas, and says that there is no danger of any practical interference on her part, he is wrong; Texas is loyal and devoted, but she is sensitive too. She always appreciates her adversaries, she loves her friends, and when duty bids her take her stand she never counts her enemies. The army of the United States, marched there to enforce a wrong upon her, would be weak and powerless. She will not submit to wrong; she asks for nothing but what is right. ”

“ Sir, he has assumed the responsibility of defaming the character of men, who, to say the least of them, had never given the least occasion for such an imputation as this—men who would have rallied to his standard in a moment if he had given the least intimation to them—men who would have periled everything in defense of their territory—men who, in recollection of former deeds, would have offered up their hearts' blood in vindication of the honor of the flag of that Union with which they had become incorporated, and to which the bright lustre of their own lone star had been added. ”

“ England will no longer fear the power of the mighty nation which twice has humbled her, and whose giant arm would, so long as we are united, be stretched forth to protect the weakest State, or the most obscure citizen. The State that secedes, when pressed by insidious arts of abolition emissaries, supported by foreign powers, when cursed by internal disorders and insurrections, can lay no claim to that national flag, which when now unfurled, ensures the respect of all nations and strikes terror to the hearts of those who would invade our rights. ”

“ Imprisonment is eternal infamy to an Indian. A prairie Indian would rather die a thousand deaths than submit to the disgrace of imprisonment. You may wound and mutilate him as you please, you may crush every limb in the body of a prairie Indian, and if he can make no other resistance, he will spit defiance at you when you come within his reach. This chief, meditating upon his deep disgrace, knowing that he was irreparably dishonored, unless he could wash out his stains with blood, resolved that night that he would either die a freeman or rescue himself from dishonor. ”

“ Those who march with martial display upon the Indians, find them to-night at one point at dark; they may see the smoke of their fires; and at dawn tomorrow they will be fifty or seventy miles away, with their caravans, and every child and woman, not even a dog being left behind. What army that you could send of three thousand men, or any other number, could effect anything by making war upon the Indians? Why, sir, it would be like the redoubtable exploit of the celebrated King of France, who, "with forty thousand men marched up a hill, and then marched down again." ”

“ Lincoln administers the Government in accordance with the Constitution, our rights must be respected. If he does not, the Constitution has provided a remedy.
No tyrant or usurper can ever invade our rights so long as we are united. Let Mr. Lincoln attempt it, and his party will scatter like chaff before the storm of popular indignation which will burst forth from one end of the country to the other. Secession or revolution will not be justified until legal and constitutional means of redress have been tried, and I can not believe that the time will ever come when these will prove inadequate. ”

“ Our functionaries there, whether civil or military, are bound to protect the Indians equally with the whites. I want to see the officers impressed fully with the importance of their responsibilities. I want to see them as ready to maintain the dignity and character of the United States, and preserve, unsullied, its integrity, as I do its arms and its chivalry. It is as much their duty to do so; and there is a chivalry always in protecting the weak against the strong, the defenseless against the aggressor. ”

“ I ask honorable Senators to pause here. I beg them to consider to what this question of appeal from Judge Watrous' court has reduced itself. I ask, has Judge Watrous proved himself the man of truth and honor, that his word should not be permitted to be questioned? Is he the man whose statement should not be gainsaid? Is he the man to be continued in a position where his statements are to govern and override all contradiction? ”