WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1860
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the awful consequences of a final rupture and dissolution of the Union should never be lost sight of. Such a prospect must be deprecated-must be shuddered at by every friend of his country, to liberty, to the happiness of man. For, in the event of a dissolution of the Union, an impossibility of ever renewing it is brought home to every mind by the difficulties encountered in establish- ing it. The propensity of all communities to divide when not pressed into a unity by external dangers is a truth well understood. There is no instance of a people in- habiting even a small island, if remote from foreign danger, and sometimes in spite of that pressure, who are not divided into alien, rival, hostile tribes. The happy union of these States is a wonder, the Constitution a miracle, their example the hope of liberty throughout the world. Woe to the ambition that would meditate the destruction of either." Who that has a heart that throbs for freedom can disregard the wisdom and admonition of patriots, whose lives have been devoted to the service of their country, and who, turning away from the appeals of wealth, have felt rich in the enjoyment of the boon of free government and the possession of an humble competency! After leaving the sages who participated in the formation of our Union, we find that the distinguished patriots of latter days likewise offer their testimony to the value of the Union, and against the doctrine of secession. Andrew Jackson, the Presi- dent of the masses, the man to whose bravery in-battle, and whose firmness in council, the country owes much for its present prosperous condition, was called upon to meet this question under circumstances the most embarrassing. His giant will encompassed it all, and a grateful people now revere him for the act. The position assumed by South Carolina in her ordinance of November 24, 1832, called forth his proclamation of the 10th of December following. The following extract will suffice: "The Constitution of the United States then forms a government, not a league; and whether it be formed by compact between the States or in any other manner, its character is the same. It is a government in which all the people are represented, which operates directly upon the people individually, not upon the States-they re- tained all the power they did not grant. But each State having expressly parted with so many powers as to constitute, jointly with the other States, a single nation, can not from policy possess any right to secede; because secession does not break a league, but destroys the unity
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