Memoranda and official correspondence relating to the Republic of Texas, its history and annexation. Including a brief autobiography of the author Page: 78 of 657

                                
74

MEMORANDA.

[1850.

the country by the position of neutrality which the highest
considerations of public policy required me to assume and maintain.
I therefore never had occasion, any more than inclination,
to deceive any one, and left myself free, at all times, to carry
into effect the public will, and if the choice of alternatives
should be presented, to vote for the mode I might ultimately
prefer.
A party in the country have accused me of being opposed
to annexation,  basing the charge upon the assumed fact that the
members of my Cabinet and the other officers of the Government
were opposed to it, and reflected my sentiments. As for
the members of my Cabinet and the ministers sent abroad,
there may have been some diversity of sentiment, individually,
as was natural; and so far as the last class were concerned, I
did not think it good policy to send a violent friend of annexation
to Europe, any more than a violent friend of separate independence
to the United States. When my Cabinet was first
made up, the alternatives were not yet presented to the country;
and I did not ask or know what their opinions would be
upon an uncertain and unknown future event, any more than
they themselves did, or that I knew what my own would be.
The terms upon which annexation and independence would,
severally, be offered, if offered at all, were unknown, and consequently
no one could tell what opinion he would have upon a
matter he knew nothing about. But after the offers were made,
Mr. Allen, I believe, was the only iuember of my Cabinet who
preferred independence over annexation; and when I called
him to that station I was almost a stranger to him personally,
having never seen him bLt once or twvice, and knew nothinga,o
his opinions on this or scarcely any other subject. I appfeL
himi because he had the character of possessing great ability
and honesty.     * *  *  Col. William G. Cooke I understood
as having no very decided opinion either way *  : *   tlhough
both he and iMr. Allen were perfectly ready and willing to do
all in their power in carrying out the will of the people. '   
Judge Ochiltree, Dr. Ashbel Smith, and Col. Green were avowed
friends of annexation as proposed by the United States. The
subordinate oficers of the Government, as was natural enough,
were generally in favor of independence. But I did not think