56
TEXAS STATE LIBRAIIY
the timid; yet around the standard of their insultetl :::itate, there will e,·er linger, all-sufficient for its protection, a glorious band of patriots, who will shrink not from the mentainance of their rights though the whole treasury should he the rewnrd of trcitchery, and an army of hanners be unfurled n~ainst their fidelit.y. 'l'hey look to God for their protection; He -is the anchor of their hope- their f:hiclcl and their buckler. If it be His will that they should seal their devotion to lib- ertv bv the blood of martvrdom-then be it so- thcv arc ready to throw.,their breath upon the wind, nnd their flesh to the famished raven. But. never will they go down in darkness. A people that never quailed at the glance of a tyrant, will never sneak to the grave I ike cowards. Every faithful sabre, feeling the wrath, and brightning in the fame of its master, will illumine the path of death with a gleam of its burning fires and lightning. And who that hath the spirit of a freeman, would not rather walk to the tomb by the light of his sword, than to sigh out a degraded existence in the darkness of slavery? The hitse betrayer of his State,- corrupted hy mammon or terrified by • power from the mentainance of his rights- may Ii,·e and fatten on the fruits of his recreancy; but when he dies he rots in infamy to the joy of all. But the brave incorruptible patriot who draws in defense of hii; invaded hom·e and presents his brenst as the shield of her free- dom-when victory brings him rest & safety, his perils are rewa r<led with the thanks of a grateful laud and the smiles of its high-born beauty; but if doomed to perish in the conflict he still survives in the hearts of his countrymen and his glory enlarges with the flight of ages. ' Determined not to wellfy my hearers with a protracted discussion of obsrure and immaterial abstractions, I shall enter into no useless altercation about subordinate peculiarities of the contending parties of this State; but overlooking such minor points of disputation as re- quire no immediate acljustment. I beg lea,·e to direct, in u brief man- ner, the attention of my fellow citizens to some few of the more im- portant and essential prin('iples of gorernment upon which the southern people hare become di,·idecl. Without any disposition to magnify the ueauties of the one party or the cl_eformities of the other, my purpose is simply to exhibit their respecti\'e creeds in terms familiar and con- c·ise, and leare the people to 1letermine for themseh-es which of the two systems is best citlculated to prcsen·e the Union and to perpetuate the liber~ies of the Country. And first it is the theory of the State Rights part.r, that our C:o,·emment is plainly nn l;nion of Soneign & I 11Cle- pe)l(lt1nt States, llllund together 1,y a writtc·n compact, callPcl the Con- stitution, in whi('h thry hare all agreecl to Pntrust n portion of their pn,n•r~ to thr <'Xc•n·i~l' of a t·ommon a_genf. This ngcnt (whit·h is t·allctl th<' Ccncrnl t:owrnmf'nt) i!-houncl to <:011fi11c it:-: act:-: within th<' limits of the 1·omp:u·t. But ~houlcl thr Agl•nt a8!'Urne the exerci:,;;e of p111rpr,: 1wl ,kh•gatPcl. or )'<'1'\'l'l't t hc,::r \\'hi('h arr. 1·011tidcd, to purposes 11111 1·1111tr111platPil 11,r till• pn1tie,:, thr11 clo it;; ads (·rase to be obligatory, and 1hr Stah• fc•1•li11!! agrien•,1 l,_r ,;ud1 u,:11rpatio11~ or ah11!-<c;;, ha,·e the ri~ht and arr i11 d111,r l1uu11d to n•fu,;p olieclienC'C'. Thl' ngent hcn·ing 11 0 powt•r rxi-PJII ,rhnt i,: Pxpn•:;,:l_r \\Tiltl•n in th<' Compac-t: mul find inµ- "ERch little rill, each mountain rh·er. Rolls mingling with his fame forever.''
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