WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1850
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hope will ever be regarded by the people, and that they will cherish it in all the relations of life. It is [by] the cultivation of such feel- ings as are here inculcated that this Union is to be perpetuated, that jarring interests are to be reconciled, and millions yet unborn are to enjoy the happiness of institutions which it is our duty to transmit to them unimpaired. Then, sir, it says: "All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberations and action of the constituted authorities, are de- structive to this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extra- ordinary force, to put in the place of the delegated will of a nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the · community; and, according to the alternate · triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongrous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans, digested by common councils, and modified by mutual interests." This applies with peculiar force to obstructions attempted to be imposed by individuals, or by authority of the free State, in opposing the constitutional rights of the' South in the reclama- tion of their property which has sought refuge among them, and which the Constitution demands should be surrendered. It ought to be remembered that the South are as sensitive to their rights in the reclamation of their property as the North can be when they suppose they are acting conscientiously in obstructing those rights. Sir, if I had the power-I mean the moral, social, political power-I would enforce these admonitions, not only upon the American Senate, but upon the American people, and upon all mankind who regard the civil institutions of society by which individual rights are guaranteed, and I would admonish them not to be careless of the high destiny which has been assigned to them; and if the influences are used here that can be used, then all agitations will subside, the people will be restored to tranquility, the laws administered, and our country march on in the great highway to prosperity which has been pointed out to us by the sages of other times. Sir, we find a beautiful and harmonious concert in the feelings that have distinguished the illustrious men of past times upon this subject. From Washington and Madison-and you may go to
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