The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1889-02-28

ments in all the land, and wandering
tribes of hostile savages roamed from the
Sabine to the Rio Grande.
| Such was the condition of Texas when
the treaty of De Onis was consummated in
1873, and such were some of the obstacles
| to its American colonization. Exploring
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 engendered by years of
| invasion, and who, bold in conscious
rectitude, presented himself before Mar
tinez, the political chief, 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 passport from
the Spanish viceroy provoked the anger
of Martinez, and he peremptorily ordered
Austin to depart from Texas.
When he had left the Office of Martinez
and was crossing 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 home, nursed him through sickness,
reconciled Martinez and obtained from
him permission to colonize three hundred
families. That casual meeting with the
Baron de Bastrop changed the map of
North America, for tracing in their con-
Meeting links cause and effect, we find it
eliminating in the colonization of Texas,
the revolution of 1886, annexation In 1916,
and the bold sweep of the American flag
across the continent.
am aware, sir, that what have said
and what l have still to say, there has been
aud will be much of that which is trite
history, for l am not here to indulge in
senseless eulogy, but to present the acts
of the great founder of American civiliza-
ton in Texas, and when history reveals
the grandeur of man we may derive
profit by reviewing its pages.
Moses Austin who had looked on this
goodly land was destined like Moses of
old, only to look upon it but never to
possess the soil on which his posterity
would dwell. Robbed and deserted by his
companions, he iourneyed starving for
eight days on his return before reaching
the Sabine, and left as his dying request
that his son Stephen F. Austin should I'M
dertake the colonization of Texas.
STEPHEN F. AUsT1N's EARLY LIFE.
How we'll the son observed the dying
request of that father, the growing cities
and fruitful fields of this mighty state
bear witness.
He was thoroughly equipped both by
nature and study for the great work be-
fore him. Educated in Kentucky at
Pennsylvania college, at the age of 20
he was licensed lawyer and member of
the territorial Legislature of Missouri. So
rapid had been his advancement that
at reaching the age of 81 he was United
States Judge for the territory of Arkansas.
Before him was life of official distinction
and assured independence, but these he
renounced without pang and plunged
into the wilderness to establish new re-
public.
PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF AUSTIN.
The portrait before you represents Ste
phen f. Austin as he appeared in 1924
standing near the bank of the lower
Brazos on the territory of his colonial en-
terprise. In stature he was below the me-
dunn height, with black hair, dark brown
eyes, features classic in their manly
beauty, and a complexion, which, until
tanned by our southern sun, was fair. as
that of a faxen haired woman. On his
ample brow intellect and high resolve had
fixed their seal, and in that slight but sin
envy form was vital force like that of
Hastings and Pizarro, equal to every hard
ship, and courage equal to every danger.
With seventeen companions he trav-
eled down the Mission trail from Natchi-
toches to San Antonio. Along that road
could still be seen the unburied skeletons
of the American invaders who were over
taken and slain after their defeat by Ar
redondo, ghostly mementoes to the peace
full emigrant of Mexican resentment.
After Austin had come bearing the
olive branch of peace, Tespelacios, who
was I the political chief in 1922, had the
skeletons gathered and buried.
INHABITANTS OF SAN ANTONIO.
Permit me, while speaking of the con-
dition of Texas when Austin came, to
correct an error of history as to
the character of the people who
then lived IN San Antonio. Pease,
the historian, who wrote in 1888, described
them as being in point of intelligence but
little better than the Indians who were
their most frequent visitors. On the con-
trary, those who were of Spanish origin
had been for nearly one hundred years in
structed by the priesthood in all that per-
tanned to history and the literature and
science of the period. A line of mission
churches dotted the continent from the
mouth'of the Mississippi to the waters of
the Pacific. Priests of the Franciscan
order, accompanied by an armed escort,
journeyed once every year for nearly a
hundred years on their annual visitations
nv Wav of San Antonio and Ell PasO, and
thence down by the missions on the ella
river to the Gulf of California.
Traces of their old trail may still be
seen from Nacogdoches to San Antonio.
By such men the youth of San Antonio
were instructed. Never have met more
accomplished gentlemen than the patriot
Antonio Navarro and John M. SeguiD,
both of whom are natives of San Antonio.
Thirty years ago they we're witnesses
before me to establish the crown grant to
the commons of that city. The grant had
been buried with the city archives before
the battle on the Medina, and every officer