WRITINGS OF SAM Hom,TON, 1861
264
of the people. I yield in the same spirit that actuated Andrew Jackson in paying the fine arbitrarily imposed upon him at New Orleans. I am determined that .those who would overthrow the law shall not learn the lesson from me. I still believe that secession will bring ruin and civil war. Yet, if the people will it, I can bea1; it with them. I would fain not be declared an alien to my native home in old Virginia, and to the scenes of my early toil and triumph in noble Tennessee. I would not of my own choice give up the banner beneath which I have fought, the Constitution which I have revered, or the Union which I have cherished as the glorious heritage bequeathed to me by my fathers. Sixty-seven years of freedom, the recollection of past triumphs, and past suffering, the memories of heroes whom I have seen and known, and whose venerated shades would haunt my footsteps were I to falter now, may, perhaps, have made me too devoted to the Constitution and to the Union, but be it so. Did I believe that liberty and the rights of the South demanded the sacrifice, I would not hesitate. I believe that far less concession than was made to form the .Constitution would now preserve it. Thus believing I cannot vote for secession. "I have hesitated to say anything on this topic, because I desire the people to act for themselves. My views are of record. Yet, it is, perhaps, but right that my old friends should know that the charge that I am for secession is false. If I err in holding on still to the skirts of my venerated old mother, Virginia, and the foster-mother which nourished me from boyhood, glorious Tennessee, my countrymen will forgive me, as they have forgiven me for many other things I have done. I am willing, even, to be called a submissionist for their sake." lThe Southern Intelligencer (Austin), February 20, 1861. The Intelli- gencer did not give the name of the person to whom this letter was writ- ten, nor did it g:ve the date of the letter. We arbitrarily adopt the date of publication.
MARCH, 1861
To MARTIN A. LEA 1
Austin, Texas, March 2, 1861. My Dear Martin, Today I wrote to Mr. Armstrong about going to Houston for a Boar of the Woburn breed, & a Cashmire Goat. These I bought on my own account, but if you wish, you
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