WR1TiNcs OF SAM H<?USTON, 1861
292
The Executive is aware that the power was still vested in him to call out the militia of the State and maintain the Executive authority; but believing that the calamities of civil war would be greater than the endurance of this usurpation for a time, he resolved to make no violent effort to overthrow it. The Execu- tive office therefore remains in possession of the Governor created by the Convention. . The Executive still claims to be the Governor elected by the people. Though the Executive has been deposed by the act of the Con- vention, he still maintains that all the authority confided to him by the people still remains in his hands. He has faithfully carried out the will of the people, whenever expressed. He asks no better defence for the course he has pursued in resisting the usurpations of the Convention; than is to be found in the call under which its members were elected. Whatever of its "action has been sub- mitted to the people" and .ratified by them at the ballot box, he has regarded and obeyed. That which has not been submitted to them, he has in the name of the people, and as the Executive of their choice, refused to obey. For this he has been deposed and dispossessed of his office and the Great Seal of State. Gentlemen of the Legislature, you are called upon in the name of the Constitution and the people whom you represent, to exer- cise the powers delegated to you by your constituents, to inter- pose in behalf of their rights, and to avert these evils. Not only are their liberties in danger, but taxation and debt will be the inevitable consequences of what has been done. It remains for you to avert the consequences. The Executive has already been driven from the peaceful exercise of his functions. After you, he has no appeal, except to the people. To appeal to the Courts would be in vain, for the highest tribunal in the State is already committed to this Convention. · The Executive can therefore but await your action and that of the people. If driven, at last, to the retirement, in defiance of the Constitution of the State, he still will not desert his country; but his prayers for its peace and prosperity will be offered up with that sincerity and devotion, with which his services were rendered while occupying public station. Sam Houston. iJl1essaues of the Governors of Texas, Texas State Library; The South- cn1. Jntell1'gcncer, March 27, 1861; 7'hc T1·11e Issue, March 28, 1861; The Standard, April 13, 1861.
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