The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 49, July 1945 - April, 1946 Page: 280
717 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
event? Ancient and modern history show no evidence of a similar char-
acter. It is the great event of the age, and has excited the astonishment
and admiration of the civilized world. The Monarchs of the Old World
have beheld it with fear and trembling. They have hitherto deceived
themselves with the belief that man is incapable of self government; and
they have long been looking forward with confidence to the day when
the predictions of the Philosophers who have prophesied to please Princes,
would be fulfilled, and the Glorious Republic of Washington would fall
to pieces like a fabric of sand. But they have seen that Republic extending
and yet gaining more and more strength year after year, and now they
behold it towering in strength and beauty, and evincing a stability
enduring as the rock of ages. They have idly talked of the Balance of
Power and have formed combinations to prevent one nation from becoming
so powerful as to overawe another. They forgot that power belonged to
the people, that their thrones rested merely upon the will of the governed.
They have fondly hoped that by keeping the governed in ignorance they
could compel them to aid in riveting the chains of monarchy upon their
own necks. But we see in the Annexation of Texas to the Union a new
cause of alarm. They have for the first time seen the governed rising
in their majesty, and directing the governors as their agents to yield
up their authority and permit the government of a foreign state to
supplant their own. Well may they fear for the safety of their thrones
when they find that their subjects can at any time rise in a similar
manner, and direct them to lay down their usurped authority and transfer
the government to other hands. Such are the effects of the institutions
founded by the Fathers of the American Constitution, that even foreign
nations will doubtless be attracted like Texas to the great Confederacy.
These institutions are designed to promote the interests of the greatest
number and to protect the rights of all. Wherever they are extended they
give security, peace and protection. Nations in which these institutions
are founded, or where a majority of the people approve them, will
naturally incline to coalesce from the same principle that men in a state
of nature incline to associate and form communities. Hitherto the larger
communities which are styled nations have been induced through the
ambition and selfishness of their rulers, to view each other with suspicion
or hatred, and it has been the chief aim of governments to foster these
prejudices and induce neighboring nations to regard each other as enemies.
But the institutions founded by American Statesmen are exploding these
debasing doctrines and inculcating principles more in accordance with
the precepts of the Gospel. Nations like individuals are taught by these
to "love one another," and the divine precept "love thy neighbor as
thyself" is becoming applicable to nations as it has heretofore been to
individuals. The Annexation of Texas to the American Union may there-
fore be regarded as one of the most glorious triumphs of Christianity:
for it has been effected through the operations of the most enobling
principles of pure religion. It may be regarded as the first of the mighty
series of events foretold by the inspired prophets, and it heralds forth in
glorious characters the advent of that long sighed for period when nations
shall learn war no more. No armies were required to effect this Union,
no navies laden with the dread implements of war; but it was consumated280
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 49, July 1945 - April, 1946, periodical, 1946; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146056/m1/313/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.