WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1831-1832
217
extreme. So long as the security of the citizen rests upon de- fined laws, although the punishment attached to their trans- gression may be very severe, still, if both law and punishment are clearly laid down, and publicly known, the law may be obeyed, andt he punishment avoided. But it will ever be found that men have an inherent love of liberty, and an inborn sense of the value of reputation, which never can be made to· yield to any authority. "There is a bright, undying thought in man, That bids his soul still upward look To Fame's proud cliff; And, longing, look In hopes to grave his name For after ages to admire, And wonder how he reached The dizzy, dangerous height, Or where he stood, or how." This is the spirit which animates and cheers men in pursuit of honorable achievements! Apprehensions seem to be entertained by members of this House, lest violence should some day be employed to abridge this honorable body in the enjoyment of its rights; and prece- dents have been referred to to show that the deliberations of a Legislature may be controlled by armed mobs! One gentleman seemed all alive to the prospect of these dangers: and gentle- men, in the progress of my case, have talked about the Govern- ment being overthrown! They have spoken of the designs of tyrants. They have conjured up the spectre of a Chief Magis- trate who may have his bullies and his myrmidons, and may employ them to carry measures in this House, by practices the most nefarious. Sir; I trust I shall never see that day arrive; and I hope that those who are much younger than I, may never witness its fearful reality. But while gentlemen seem so greatly to dread the tyranny of a single individual, and appear to con- sider it as a matter of course that it must be some Caesar, some Cromwell, or some Bonaparte, who is to overthrow our liberties, I must beg leave to dissent from that opinion. All history will show that no tyrant ever grasped the reins of power till they were put into his hands by corrupt and obsequious legislative bodies. If I apprehended the subversion of our liberties, I should look not to the Executive, but to the Legislative Depart- ment.
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