WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1861
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through his Major General, Mr. John C. Fremont, proclaimed martial law in Missouri, and assumed the civil administration of the affairs of that State, thereby ignoring the Constitution, and setting at naught the sovereignty of the people; and who has, in fact, with more than Vandalic malignity and Gothic hate, sought to incite a servile insurrection in that State. If the last feather has been wanting to break the camel's back, this act of atrocity would have supplied it. His acts and feelings are such as have never failed to characterize the heart of the renegade. If Mr. Lincoln, as he was the aggressor, by invading the soil of a sovereign State, and causing the blood of her sons to be shed, even in the neighborhood of the scared remains of Washington, after having become President upon a sectional issue, in dero- gation of the teachings of his farewell address, wishes to make reparation for the wrongs inflicted, he has but one course left, and in my opinion, that course is to propose an armistice that shall withdraw all the Federal troops from Virginia, suspend the action of the Federal forces in all the Southern States, and the Confederate authorities at the same time guaranteeing that they will not advance their troops into any territory not now occupied by them until the meeting of the Confederate and Fed- eral Congresses, at their next meeting. Should this course be pursued, there is little doubt that the good sense and the patriot- ism of the two sections, would adopt such measures as would insure peace, arrest the further destruction of human life, re- store, to a great extent, the prosperity of the two sections; for it cannot be imagined that a vain hope of restoring the Union, can ever be realized. The South can never reunite with the North, nor can the North entertain any rational ho_pe of her subjugation. The sooner war is ended, -the greater will be the probability of establishing friendly relations between the two sections; and this cannot fail to promote the mutual prosperity of both. Should this be disregarded, a terrific responsibility must rest upon the heads of those who either interpose power or authority to its consummation. Trusting that no further misapprehension of my opinions and feelings may be entertained by any one, I have been thus explicit, and submit them for what they are worth, to the world. Sam Houston. 1 The CiviUan and Galveston Gazette, September 16, 1861; Tho Texas Republican, October 12, 1861; The New Orleans Daily Crescent, October 1, 1861. The Texas Rept1blican comments editorially.
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