279
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1861
and counted, the result was solemnly declared by the Executive Proclamation on the 4th day of March. The duty of declaring the official result of the election on the question of secession, was not devolved by law upon the Execu- tive. But desiring to carry out the will of the people to the fullest extent, and believing such an official notification to the world at once necessary and proper, the Proclamation was issued. Since the 2nd day of March, the Executive has regarded Texas as independent of the United States. He has acquiesced in the will of the people. It was their privilege to take their destinies in their own hands. They have gone to the ballot box, and in the exe1~ise of their high privileges as freemen have determined to risk the perils of revolution. In this issue, all are alike involved. It is not only he who has led in the van of revolution, must reap its consequences; but upon the whole people now rests the burthens of this act.-The Executive has allowed no considera- tions of the past to prevent an earnest acquiescence in the people's will, nor does he believe that any citizen will fail to render to the same a cordial compliance or wish to reunite Texas once again to the Government of our fathers, other than by the same peace- ful means by which its separation has been effected. The Executive, in view of the position the people have de- termined to assume, cannot too earnestly press upon your atten- tion the importance of providing for the defence of the frontier, the support of the state government, the fostering of our home interests and the maintenance of the faith and credit of the State, by the full and speedy redemption of its liabilities. Regarding Texas as determined to assume the nationality with which she parted on entering the Union, the Executive has since the 2d day of March, avoided all official intercourse with the States yet remaining in the Union. He has deemed it his duty to decline issuing commissions to persons of these States, on the part of Texas, and also to avoid the usual reference to the United States in his official acts and authentication of the same. Con- sistent with the pledges given the people, he has thrown no obstacles in the way of the expression of their will, nor failed to carry out the same when expressed, but on the contrary, he has in every possible way endeavored to·secure to them the privilege of the free and fair exercise of their rights as freemen, and pro- testing against every attempt to impair those rights, has given the assurance of his determination to recognize their will alone as the guide of his action.
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