Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-05-18


gled air of piety snd romance TO the annals
OF C.stilian conquest, and In those mis-
si,ns showed both the censor and the
sword, the mitre and the helmet. For
those pious fathers In the spread of their
Masters faith dared the wilderness, but
whatsoever opposed their path felt the
thrust Of the lance or the stroke Of the
sword. They came as conquerers. Nor
did their name or dress belle the martial
name of
THKIR LovELIEST MISSION,
San Juan De Espsds. Within the portals
Of those missions might dwell the saint
Hest abbott and the hottest nuns, but
from their walls frowned furious artillery
and at mathis aud vespers foated the
melody OF bugles. For more than
100 years after the destruction of the
La Sale colony, till the stars and stripes
rose above the Crescent City on the
purchase of Louisiana these missions
we're the seats of Spanish power and the
centers around which settlement clus-
tered. Standing desolute, yet beautiful
and grsnd even in Iuins, these old mis-
siops appeal to usswith eloqnence beyond
sill words. They are the land marks of &
bsnishlng, the boundary stones OF re-
cedipg empire. They are monu-
ments Of the mistaken zeal
Of a powerful and pious order.
The extension of the limits Of the
United States to the Sabine river caused
the concentration o; the Spanish military
forces on that stream. The interval be-
tween the purchase Of Louisians and the
settlement of Texas By Stephen Austin is
| filed with turbulent events, but not SUI
| ficiently important of results to admit of
extended mention here. The same year
which witnessed the final liberation Of
Mexico from her 800 years of Spanish
rule beheld the inception of the plan
which resulted In
| THE FRKRDoM OF TEXAS,
the colonization by Stephen Austin. The
interval Of fifteen years between
the arrival of Austin and the
Independence of Texas is filed
with events to which such brilliant and
exhaustive reference has been made by
the scholarly jurist, orator and states
man who has preceded me that any al
fusion to that would mar the delight
memory that must liDger of the words
that fell like pearls from lips so ssge.
But will advert tot one feature of thst
period. In Msrch, 1886, the convention
Of the then province OF Texas assembled
at Washington, on the Brszos. On the
second day of its existence that conven-
ton formulated "declaration Of Texas
independence" which in literary merit
CHALLENGES COMPARISON
with the finest productions OF our
language. That same body OF men in
fourteen days prepared the constitution
of the republic of Texss which remained
for nine years without a suggested
amendment theg organic law Of Texas
J Il should not be forgotten that this con
stitution was framed amid an overWhelm
ing invasion, that participation in the
proceedings of that convention was
threatened death and that those who
drafted that constitution laid down theil
pens to grasp the sword; that 1t was In.
I deed born amid the clssh Of arms and
! rocked in the cradle OF war. TIT
benefcence and perfection o
Its provisions, the rspiditl
r with which it was prepared
: and the reverence with which it VS.
obeyed make the constitution of 1886 on
Of the evidences that the Anglo -Saxol
3 race Is
CAPABLE OF SELF. GOVERNMENT.
The men who devised that constitution
! we're the disciples Of Jefferson. The,
/ were the evsngelists of liberty, for wher
ever that race breathed on land or ses
oppression ceased instantly. The princi
: pies which they proclaimed st Washington
}. On the 2nd Of March, 1886, they, fifty day
, later at San Jacinto, sealed with thei
j blood. 1t was the old corfic
3 between the Latin and the Teu
ton. 1t had been battled whe
{ the armada was dispersed, and at Trafal
i gar and Waterloo, and fate had de
creed that the Anglo-Ssxon shout
! triumph, for wheresoever on the face o
the earth this knight Grant Of Hbert
!, planted his foot victory hs
r greeted him, and Christisnit
n has been his companion. [Gres
b applause When the last hour pealed, II
4 sounds rang from q spot where the re
1 public of Texas died when the state G
S Texas was born. On yonder hill wher
the clock chimes each f1eeting hour ono
t stood an historic building which now onl
t lives in the memory of
e vENERATED FEW.
Il In log building on that hill the pionee
IS Legislature framed the constitution {
o 1S45 under which Texas was admitte
:, in the Union. When the sea
l. Of government was located here
j. 1889 this point was beyond the ex
% treme outposts Of the frontier, but tn
sublimitY OF the scenery, the majesti
beauty of the spot, marked 1t as the plac
b ordained by fate as the capital Of Texs!
II ard such shall it ever remain. Ar
Z plause The people Of Texas sre indebt
d ed to United States Senator Charles !
4 Farwell and his brother, John V. Fsrwel
i OF Chicago and Colonel Abner Taylor nj
a only for the best state house In Ii
Il Uaited States, but more especially fe
Q bringing our public .ards into worl
e wide notice by agreeing to buldith
e house fer three million acres set asiC
|. for that purpose. It will be recollecte
b that these lands we're offered for sale
n 80 cents an, sore
|. WITHOUT ATTRACTING PURCHASERS,
e while the building has cost nearly thrt
e times so cents an scre and is really wort
II more than five times that amount If n
d are to measure its value by the cash COZ
a of similar buildings in her states. II
Il state and the Fsrwell syndical
II are to be congratulated on sue
! 10 result as demonstrating beyond tn
e power Of successful criticism the WI
!. dom Of contract which mHde 1t possiol
n the state because che has realised II
1. these lands much more than she coul
have done under her land, laws for the
sale, and got them Under tax sndsat Il
10 same time secured the use OF this mob
hu,ldiuu