Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-02-27
STEPHEN T. AUSTIN.
Speech of Hon. A. W. Terrell on Present
ing the Portrait Of Stephen F. Austin.
The Written Truths of History which Pertain
to the Public Services of the Pioneer
Statesman of Texas
Special to the Gazette.

IdOcllA3 LEA. ItDs 20 ---E UNIV -
the full text of the speech of Hon. A.
W. Terrell, delivered before the Twenty
first legislature to-day in presenting the
life-size portrait of stephen F Austin:
Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House:
When more than the third of a century
ago [ first saw the old capitol building of
the republic which was erected by the
frontiersmen of Texas, single painting
On the right of the speakers chair
adorned the walls of the house. of repre-
sentatives It was the portrait of Ste
phen F. Austin, and was placed there by
those who knew him best When III 1855
another statehouse had been completed a
full length portrait of Austin again orfla-
mented the walls of the house to the right
of the speaker, and now when more
imposing and enduring structure, con-
tanning within its ample walls the visible
government of this mighty state has been
erected, you but preserve your align
ment with a generation that has passed
away by elevating to its old place in the
hall where the representatives of the peo-
pie assemble, the portrait Of Stephen +.
Austin.
In the name of those who revere the
of this honorable house, now perform
the pleasing task of presenting to Texas
through you this splendid full length
portrait of that Industrious man
/ trust that without violating the pro-
prieties of the occasion, L 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 charac-
ter as it was known TO his associates.
If we would properly understand the
fun magnitude of the enterprise which
Austin accomplished in the colonization
of Texas, we must measure the diff
culties in his path, which were intense
fed 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 1852 to its retrocession by the treaty
of San Ildefonso in 1900, no progress was
made in the settlement of Texas
Under the leadership of the wonderful
man who controlled the destinies 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 Lou
isiana was the Rio Grande river, and
Spain insisted that it was bounded by the
Sabine. The treaty of De Onis settled
the controversy by making the Sabine
the boundary.
EARLY EFFORTS TO coLoNIzE TEXAS.
During that period of sixteen years no
less than four efforts were made to oc-
cupy and colonize Texas. Three by
armed invasions organized in the United
States and one by the government of
Spain.
In 1904 the Spanish government, jeal- /
Gus of the aggressive spirit of the Anglo
American, decreed the settlement of
5000 families on the San Marcos river.
The enterprise failed.
In 1913 Texas was invaded by an armed
force from the United States under the
leadership of Gueterez and Magee.
Again in 1916 an invading force came
commanded by Nina and Perry, and an
other in 1919 commanded by Long. All
these inYasions were organized in the
United States, and all, after suffering
and carnage, terminated in failure. The
history of the invasion of 1878 has never
been written. 1t ended in the victory of
ATedono, who led the Spanish forces,
at the battle on the Medina near
San Antonio, where more than
1000 men were slain The expedition
was foiled by the armed resistance of the
central government of Mexico and the
citizens of Bexar. So completely were
the invading forces annihilated, that a
knowledge of Texas and its vast resour-
ces remained a sealed book to the people |
until 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 |
its boundaries.
During the seven years embracing the |
period of these invasions there was |
scarcely a family in San Antonio which |
did not furnish victim in defensive |
war.
RACE HATRED.
A race hatred had sprung up as result |
of these invasions, against people of An |
glo-American origin, so implacable that |
no American was tolerated on |
Texas soil unless protected by
passport from the Span |
ish viceroy. San Antonio and La Bahia |
were almost the only civilized settlements |
in all the land, and wandering tribes of |
hostile sayages roamed from the Sabine |
to the Rio Grande.
Such was the condition of Texas when |
the treaty of De Onis was consummated |
in 1919. and such were some of the OBJ |
stacles to its American colonization. Elk
ploring carefully the history of that |
period we find one citizen of the United |
States, and only one, who, in 1920, was
not deferred by the race hatred engen- !
dered by years of invasion, and who, /
bold in conscious rectitude, presented
himself before Martinez, the political
chef in San Antonio.
MosES AUSTIN.
That man was Moses Austin, the father
of the original of this portrait. The fact
that he had come without
a passport from the Spanish
Yieeroy provoked the anger of Martinez
and he peremptorily ordered Austin TO
depart from Texas. When he had
left the Office Of Martinez and was cross
ing the old civil plaza in San Antonio,
weary. sick and disappointed, he met the
Baron de Bastrop whom he had known
in Louisiana. Bastrop took him to his
house, nursed him through sickness,
reconciled Martinez and obtained from
hum permission TO colonize three hum
drei families