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WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 18,12
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redundancy and variety of its productions-all unite to render it the most inviting portion of the globe. Watered by beautiful rivulets and navigable streams, with a soil unequalled in fertility, Texas, with these advantages, and when her lands are brought into market, will possess the means to compensate those who may render aid in her present circumstances. The Executive, at the last session of Congress, urged with the most earnest zeal and solicitude the sale of the Cherokee lands so soon as they could be prepared for market. The millions aris- ing from the sale of that portion of the public domain would have sustained the country in every emergency-prevented all bur- thens of taxation, and induced an enterprizing wealthy and intel- ligent emigration from·the United States and from Europe. But that, like every other measure recommended by the Executive, which had for its object the defence or protection of the country, met with an unfavorable reception by the Honorable Congress, which left him in a most unenviable situation. He is responsible for the performance of certain duties under the constitution, and yet denied the requisite means for their execution. Under these embarrassing circumstances, he must remain until the assembling of a new Congress; for he will not violate the Constitution. It is a maxim with him, that where a constitution is violated, liberty cannot exist. Every infraction is an encroachment upon the rights of the citizen. Texas possesses every means necessary to be employed for de- fence or invasion. The representatives of the people have the power to appropriate those means, and the Executive has the power to make their proper application. In the prosecution of the measures we have been driven to adopt, to render them effectual, it will be necessary to maintain order, establish union and preserve harmony. Patriotism will be a powerful incentive to their accomplishment. Subordination to the constitutional authorities of the country and officers of the law is the foundation of all good government. In our armies discipline must be established-subordination must be regarded, and troops must not consider themselves independent of the constituted authorities of the land. Without subordination and discipline, an army is as inefficient against an enemy and as frightful to the citizens, as a mob governed alone by violent im- pulse of feeling where all command and none are willing to obey. It was obedience to rule and discipline that enabled Greece to triumph over her enemies and Rome to subjugate the world.
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