WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1858
89
object-our upward and onward career. As if in atonement for the wrong inflicted upon the country by the angry Missouri con- troversy, which was then fresh in every mind, there seemed to be no circumscription to that genuine patriotism which every- where within our embraces displayed itself. May we not trust, Mr. President, that a ·similar result will ensue from the still more angry Kansas controversy, and that the benign influences of such results will be as durable as creation? This will assuredly be the case if the only question asked within this Capitol when an embryo State asks for admission into the Union is: Does her con- stitution conform to the national requirement-"A republican form of government?" We have cheapened ourselves immensely in the world's esteem, and I fear polluted our system of govern- ment, in our extravagant disbursements, which have been over- looked, in the profitless strife which had its emanation in the hos- tility to the institution of negro slavery. Let each new State here- after come slave or come free, as she chooses, and we shall henceforth have peace, the peace of union as contemplated by the authors and founders of our Republic. We have grander ends to attain than the frittering away of a healthful existence upon such loathsome, ignoble subjects. Our aspirations should be to spread our heaven-inspired principles by our lofty public bearing on to the most remote and benighted regions; proudly, in the rectitude of our intentions, taking our place at the very head of the nations of the earth. It is for us, if we are equal to our mission, to realize for America the poet's vision of the future of England: "Wherever the bright sun of heaven shall shine, Her honor and the greatness of her name But, sir, to return to the Monroe doctrine: in their notice of the message at the time it was promulgated, the then as now calrt1, observing editors of the National Intelligencer, remarked: "It does honor to its author, and the most material parts are conceived in the true spirit of the days in which he first engaged in the scenes of public life." Shall be and make new nations; she shall flourish, And like a mountain cedar, reach her branches To all the plains about her." Sir, that doctrine is, perhaps, quite familiar to every member of this Senate; but such has been my unrelaxing pride in it for nearly thirty-five years, increased, if possible, by the fact that I am the only person entitled to a seat in this building to whom it was addressed, that I cannot refrain from its perusal, nor from narrating its history, and explaining its purpose.
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