WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1860
434
If the present Union, from which we are asked to secede, does not possess in itself all the conservative elements for its main- tenance, it does seem to me that all political wisdom and binding force must be set at naught by the measures proposed. So long as a single State reserves to herself the right of judg- ing for the entire South as to the wrongs inflicted, and the mode of redress, it is difficult to determine to what extent the theory would be carried. Texas is a border State. Indians ravage a portion of her frontier. Mexico renders insecure her entire western boundary. Her slaves are liable to escape, and no fugitive slave law is pledged for their recovery. Virginia, Missouri, and Kentucky are border States, and exposed to abolition emissaries. Have they asked for disunion as a remedy against the assaults of abolitionism? Let dissolution come, and the terrible conse- quences will fall upon all those first, and with double force. South Carolina, from her central position, the sea upon one side, and a cordon of slave States between her and danger, has had but little reason for apprehension. Those who suffer most at the hands of the North seem still to bear on for the sake of the Union. When they can bear no longer they can judge for ·themselves, and should their remonstrances fail to call the enemies of the Constitution back to duty, and the Federal Government cease to protect them, the pathway of revolution is open to them. To guide us in our present difficulties, it is a safe rule to borrow experience from the sages and patriots of the past. Beginning with the father of our country, and great apostle of human liberty, George Washington, I am happy to find my opinions on this subject have the sanction of all those illustrious names which we and future generations will cherish so long as liberty is a thing possessed or hoped for. In his farewell address, he says: "The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence- the support of your tranquillity at home and your peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that from different causes and from different quarters much pains will be taken-many artifices e~- ployed, to weaken your minds in the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortr~ss against which batteries of internal and external enemies
Powered by FlippingBook