WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1850
236
Senate, that I disapprove of certain measures and believe others better; and if I am voted down, I will submit. I wish to throw no firebrand into the community. I wish not to dictate nor give complexion to public sentiment at home. If it is excited I will seek to allay it; but I will never seek to tell the people you have wrongs inflicted upon you, and "disunion is the only means of preserving the Union itself." Whilst I am of the South, whilst I was born in the South, and have lived in the South, whilst I have loved and served the South, and have been faithful to the South, because my treasures are there-not the treasures of wealth, for I have it not, but the treasures of my heart-whilst it is my home, and my family, my household gods, are there in the affections of my home, I will stick to the South. But the South alone would be a trifle, it would be of little worth if we had not a Union to bind the whole in one great fraternity. Sir, the Union is like the tire to the wheel; it gives strength, it unites the tires to the felloes, the spokes, and the hubs, and they are all kept compact and secure, to bear a weight and pressure upon them. Thus, sir, I regard the Union. I regard it all as embraced within one circle. I hope I have not tried to serve one section, forgetting that its salvation depended upon others. The unity is one; that cannot be severed without destroy- ing the whole. I need not dilate upon that which is too painful to contemplate. I will not, I cannot for a moment believe that the excitement which has been produced will not soon die away, and the glorious lustre of our Union become brighter and brighter with increasing time. 1 Cong1·cssional Globe, Appendix, XXII, Part 2, 1849-1850, pp. 1548-1549. Houston made these remarks during a discussion relative to an alleged design to establish a Southern confederacy.
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To SAM HousToN, JR. 1
Washington, 23rd Aug. 1850. My Dear Son, I have just written to your Dear Ma, and sent kisses to you, and your dear little sisters. And now, my noble boy, I send by you, kisses to your Grand Ma, your own Ma, and your sweet little sisters. I want to hear how beautifully you may present the kisses of affection, which Pa sends to your care! The Ball I would send to you if I had a chance, but I have none! To day your little cousin, Buck Houston, called upon me, and sends his love to you, and all the dear little ones. He is a
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