Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/294

 , Oct. 22, 1836.

The House met pursuant to adjournment, at 3 o'clock The Speaker rose and administered the oath of office to the President, and then to the Vice-President, as prescribed in the Constitution. Whereupon the President delivered the following address:
 * Deeply impressed with a sense of responsibility devolving on me, I can not, in justice to myself, repress the emotions of my heart, or restrain the feelings which my sense of obligation to my fellow-citizens has inspired. Their suffrage was gratuitously bestowed. Preferred to others, possibly superior in merit to myself, called to the most important station among mankind, by the voice of a free people, it is utterly impossible not to feel impressed with the deepest sensations of delicacy in my present situation before mankind. It is not here alone, but before all nations, our present attitude has rendered my position and that of the country one of peculiar interest.

A spot on earth almost unknown to the geography of the age, almost destitute of resources, comparatively few in numbers, we modestly remonstrated against oppression; and when invaded by a numerous host, we dared to proclaim our independence and to strike for freedom on the breast of the oppressors. As yet our course is onward. We are only in the outset of the campaign of liberty. Futurity has locked up the destiny which awaits our people.

Who with apathy can contemplate a situation so imposing in the physical and moral world? None ! No, not one. The relations among ourselves are peculiarly delicate and important; for no matter what zeal or fidelity I may possess in the discharge of my official duties, if I do not obtain a co-operation and an honest support from the co-ordinate departments of the Government, wreck and ruin must be the inevitable consequences of my administration.

If, then, in the discharge of my duty, my competency should fail in the attainment of the great objects in view, it would become your sacred duty to correct my errors, and sustain me by your superior wisdom. This much I anticipate; this much I demand. I am perfectly aware of the difficulties that surround me, and the convulsive throes through which my country must pass. I have never been emulous of the honors of the civic wreath; when merited, it crowns a happy destiny. A country situated like ours, is environed with difficulties; its administration fraught with perplexities. Had it been my destiny, I would infinitely have preferred the toils, privations, and penis of a soldier, to the duties of my present station. Nothing but zeal, stimulated by the holy spirit of patriotism, and guided by philosophy and wisdom, can give that impetus to our energies, necessary to surmount the difficulties with which our political path is obstructed.

By the aid of your intelligence, I trust all impediments to our situation will be removed; that all wounds in the body politic will be healed, and that the constitution of the Republic will derive strength and vigor equal to all opposing energies. I shall confidently anticipate the establishment of constitutional liberty. In the attainment of this object we must regard our relative situation to other countries.

A subject of no small importance to our welfare is the situation of an extensive frontier, bordered by Indians, and subject to their depredations. Treaties