WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1854
515
that the institutions of the country shall sustain no "shock" during his Administration. If this bill passes, will there be no shock? Depend upon it, Mr. President, there will be a tremendous shock; it will convulse the country from Maine to the Rio Grande. The South has not asked for it. I, as the most Southern Senator upon this floor, do not desire it. If it is a boon that is offered to propitiate the South, I, as a Southern man, repudiate it. I reject it. I will have none of it. Mr. President, not in any spirit of unkindness-not entertain- ing unfriendly or ungentle feelings-I will allude here, by way of illustration to one of the most beautiful and captivating inci- dents in the Holy Bible-one that shows a forgetting, and kind, and amiable, and forgiving temper, which, even under a sense of deep injuries, was willing to embrace a brother and forget the past. I need not relate to this intelligent assembly the history of Esau and Jacob. The birthright and the mess of pottage are familiar to all. The two brothers separated in anger, after Jacob had acquired the blessing which should have been given to Esau, and Jacob fled to Laban, his mother's brother, in a distant coun- try, where he greatly prospered. Afterward, when he separated his flocks from those of his father-in-law, it became necessary for him to journey through the land of his brother Esau, who was then a man of influence, ·and power, and wealth. .As Jacob approached, he thought it was necessary to propitiate his brother for the wrong which he had done him, and he supposed he could not do that without some atonement, or some gift. He dispatched a portion of his family, some of his handmaidens, and children, and servants, with a drove of cattle, which he intended as an offering to his brother; and the sacred narrative says that when Esau heard that his brother was journeying to\'::ard his land, "Essau ran to meet him; and they embraced and kissed each other; and they wept." Now I do not see why the North and South, if they have been separated, might not embrace each other without any feeling of anger. But, after some colloquy had taken place between the brothers, Esau said: "What meanest thou by this drove which I met?" And Jacob said, "These are to find grace in the sight of my Lord." And Esau then made a reply worthy of a generous spirit. He said: "I have enough, ·my b?"Other; keep that thou hast unto thyself." So; if this is an offering to propitiate the South, the South may say, "I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thy- self." If this is the only offering tendered to the South, we will not ask it; we do not want it; the people will be angry if you
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