The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1889-02-28
STEPHEN F. AUSTIN.
A Brilliant Tribute to His Mem
DRY by Hon. A. w.
Terrell.
Presentation of o FULFIL ength
Portrait of This lllustrious
Man to the House.

The following is the full text of TIT
brilliant address of Hon. A. W. Terrell
yesterday on presenting the portrait o.
Stephen F. Austin to the house, it being
the generous gift of Messrs. Joel Bryan
and Guy M. Bryan, jr.:
Mr.. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House,
When more than the third of &
century ago I first saw the ole
capitol building of the republic
which was erected by the frontiersmen
of Texas, single portrait on the right Of
the speakers chair adorned Che walls OF
the house of representatives. 1t was the
portrait of Stephen F. Austin, and was
placed there by those who knew him best
When in 1855 another state house had
bsen com pleted, full length portrait of
Austin again ornamented the wall, of the
house to the right of the speaker; and now
when more imposing and enduring
structure, containing within it's ample
walls the visible government OF this
mighty state, has been erected, you but
preserve your alignment with a genera
ton that has passed, by elevating to its
old place in the hall where the represen-
tatives of the people assemble, the por-
trait of Stephen F. Austin.
In the name of those who revere the
memory of Austin, and by the courtesy of
this honorable house, I now perform the
pleasing task of presenting to Texas
through you the splendid full-length por-
trait of that ilustrlous man, which has
Just been borne into this hall by the
heroic veterans of a race now almost gone.
trust that without violating the pro-
prleties of the occasion 1 may now, as a
citizen of Texas, connect the written
truths of history, which pertain to the
public services of this pioneer statesman,
with reflections upon his personal char
acter as it was known to his associates.
If we would properly understand the
full magnitude of the enterprise which
Austin accom- plished in the colonization
of Texas we must measure the difficulties
in his path, which were intensified by race
prejudice, and to which no historian has
done Justice.
From the period when Louisiana was
ceded to Spain by the French monarch in
1862 to its retrocession by the treaty of
made in the settlement of Texas. Under
the leadership of the wonderful man who
then controlled the destiny of France, and
who needed money in his approaching
contest with the crowned heads of Europe,
that government ceded the territory of
Louisiana in 1903 to the United States.
From 1903 to the treaty of De Onis in
1919 both Spain and the United States
claimed the territory of Texas. The
United States claimed that the western
limit of the territory of Louisiana was
the Rio Grande river, and Spain insisted
that it was bounded by the Sabine. The
treaty of De Onis settled the controversy
10y making Sabine the boundary.
EARLY EFFORTS TO COLOMBO TEXAS.
During that perior of sixteen years no
less than four efforts were made TO occupy
and colonize Texas-three by armed inva-
sions organized in the United States and
one by the government of Spain.
In 1904 the Spanish government, jealous
of the aggressive spirit of the Anglo
American, decreed the settlement of 5000
families on the San Marcos river. The en-
terprlse failed.
In 1913 Texas was invaded by an armed
force from the United States under the
leadership of Guaterez and Magee. Again,
in 1916, an invading force came com
manded by Nina and Perry, and another
1919 commanded by Long. All these in
vasions were organized in the United
States, and all, after suffering and car
mage, terminated in failure.
The true history of the invasion of 1918
L Inl fhn
victory of Aredondo, who led the Spanish
forces, at the battle on the Medina, near
San Antonio, where more than thousand
men were slain. Each expedition was
foiled by the armed resistance of the CEN
tral government of Mexico and by the cit
liens of Bexar. So completely were the
various invading forces annihilated that
knowledge of Texas and its vast resources
remained sealed book to the people I'M
til Austin came.
An inscrutable providence had decreed
that Texas should never be dominated by
an armed invader, and that whatever race
established here its home in peace should
preserve in war the integrity of her boun-
daries. During the seven years embrac-
ing the period of these invasions there
was scarcely a family in San Antonio
which did not furnish victim in defen-
sive war.
RACE HATRED.
race hatred had sprung up as the re-
suit of these invasions against the people
of Auglo-American origin, so implacable
that no American was tolerated on Texas
soil unless protected by passport from
the Spanish viceroy. San Antonio and
La Bahia were the only civilized settle