WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1860
119
get the vote of the United South it would not elect him? Can he get his own State? Doubtful; and if he could, can he get . Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania? Can he calculate on getting one single Northern State? If so, I cannot tell which one. My desire is to hold and husband all the strength I have if the time comes to meet the subject of Disunion. It may be required, but I hope not. As to my having any wish to be President, I can say before high Heaven, I have not a single wish or desire to be placed in that office. Can I endorse the administration of Mr. Buchanan after the expose of defalcations and corruptions for the. last three years? I cannot, and I am perfectly willing to remain with folded arms and leave their destiny in the hands of an allwise God who alone has wisdom to foresee and power to direct. How could I affiliate with Rhett, Yancy, Davis, Iverson, and others? Have I not warred against their principles for fourteen years, and in the very face of their great leader, Mr. Calhoun.? Can Mr. Breckin- ridge be separated from these men while he is. their repre- sentative? If you take the man without their principles, he has no foun- dation to stand upon. In these troublous times, our only ark of safety is the constitution and the Union. If we still sustain these, we have every thing to hope, and if we disregard them we have nothing but anarchy and destruction to expect, and these in their most distressing forms. In my conclusion, I can only say that I have lived since early life a Jackson Democrat, and as such I shall live as long as I am on the soil of freedom, which has been baptized so by the blood of better men than those who seek to inflict upon its vitals a wound no skill can ever cure. The Nations of the earth who hope for liberty would put on sack cloth, and none but tyrants would rejoice at such a calamity to the hopes of the world. There is nothing selfish in all this, for I have assured you of my feelings in relation to the Presidency. Nothing but the wisdom of Devine Providence can so dispose matters as to advance the wishes of my friends. I do not expect, or desire them to be ordered so as to involve me in cares beyond those which my countrymen have "imposed upon me. I shall, so far as possible, discharge the duties of my station, and not try to con- trol or direct the actions or opinions of any one beyond the sphere of my official action.
Powered by FlippingBook