PAPERS OF MIRABEAU BuoNAPARTE LAMAR 317 [ wi] 11 be made to strengthen and retain the confidence reposed in [my dis]position to advance the happiness of the people and to [widen] and confirm the foundations of our national institutions.- I place a high trust, my fellow citizens, in the protection of the Grea,t Ruler of nations who has never yet deserted a people whose virtues may have entitled them to the blessings of freedoµi. Driven into the assertion of our rights and the defence of our lives by the tyranny and oppression of those with whom it was our misfortune to be associated in government, Providential interference in our behalf, from the beginning of the revolution up to the present period,- guiding us in the paths of victory,. an(d] sustaining us in the hour of difficulty when our own wisdom had failed us; has been so mani- fest and signal, tha,t I cannot but indulge the cheering belief that the Great Dispenser of all blessings will still continue to prosper us in our future career; will be with us in all our trials and strug- gles, and in the end enable us to rear such a political superstructure for the preservation of freedom as tyrrany cannot shake and time shall continually strengthen. Let then the warm oblations of the heart be freely offered to that Divine Being who hath thus far con- ducted us .to glory and prosperity through so many trying scenes; and whilst we would supplicate a continuance of His protecting goodness, let it be our constant study to demean ourselves individually and nationally in such manner as not to forfeit all cla,im to the munificence solicited by the selfishness of our motives, or the [f] olly of our measures. Nor should we in the fullness of prosperity for- get those gallant spirits, whose military skill and manly energies, under the guidance of Providence, achieved our Independence, and laid the corner stone of a young Republic wh [i] ch we fondly hope may yet excel those nations which ha,ve arr[i]ved at maturity, in the purity of her institutions and the stability [of her] freedom. · Whether the sons of the Revolution have sealed [their] devotion to liberty by the blood of martyrdom, or whether [they l still survive to participate in the fruits of their valor, it is eq [ually] our duty, in justice to our own feelings and as a bright exa[mple] to those who are to come after us, to cherish the memory o[f the) dead, a,nd to reward the virtues of the living; and by so d [oing] refute the slander of our foes, and enforce the solemn truth, [that] the gen- erous and brave who draw in defence of Texas may [rely] with safety on the honor· of her government. In the new sphere in which I shall soon be called to act, I [trust] I bring with me no feelings unbecoming the first officer of a [free] government. Nobler considerations than the gratifications of s[el]fish purposes and proscriptive passions must engage the Exec [u] tive attention. We have peace to procure; the public credit [to] estab- lish and the resources of our country to develope. T [hese] and similar, a,re the great concerns which should engross [the at]tention. of every department of government and call forth the highest energies of enlightened patriotism. But they are not to be attained, fellow citizens, without union amongst the people; and without reciprocal .confidence between the public depositories of power. If distrust and jealousy be allowed to take root in the different departments of
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