The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-07-09

one of the really great collections of docu-
ments known to the world. If these docu-
ments We're translated into the English
language and printed. and IL a student S)t
Texas history were TO address himself dill
gently, for eight hours per day. TO the
task of reading the entire collection. he
would find steady employment for more
than Two years. No one knows the con-
tents of these papers; no one knows how
much of what now passes for Texas HIS
tory viii be rendered obsolete when they
are fully worked up. They contain the
correspondence OF the officials of Texas
with superiors and Interiors from 1880 10
1885; here reposes the history OF Texas
to the revolution, the story of the rise.
rule and fall of the Spanish power between
the Sabine and the Rio Grande; detailed
accounts of the ceaseless war against hos
tile tribes; of the long struggle with the
French OF the unselfish toilng OF the
patient missionaries; the Spanish version
of the quarrel between the United States
and Spain; the wild story of the Mexican
revolution, so intimately connected with
Magee and Long; reports from the neutral
ground and of the gathering of turbulent
crowds around Nacogdoches; the story OF
the coming OF the Americans. the building
up of the settlements and the revolution.
That these subjects are all treated Is
certain; how fully they are treated can
only be determined by patient inVestiga
ton. To be more specific, there are hum
dreds OF lettere. reports, petitions and or
ders relative to the FREEDMAN war which
were unknown to those who wrote our
Texas histories. Does any one doubt that
they will let in a flood of light which In
all probability will necessitate the recast-
Ing OF the entire account of that episode?
There are more than 300 letters from Gen
eral Cos written just prior to his entry
into San Antonio. Would any one now
pretend 10 write the history OF our reyolu
ton without first possessing himself Of the
contents OF those letters? And so we might
go on enumerating subjects until we had
covered the entire field Of Texas history
to 1885 and scarcely one euch subject could
DO treated without consulting the archives
OF Bexar Here Is work for scores OF in
yesiigAtors. There must be, too, much
Texas matter stored away in the Mexican
archives In Saltillo Monterey, Chihuahua,
Queretaro, Zacatecas and the City Of Mex
leo. VIC must even penetrate the vaults
In Spain iteelf, and In France, before the
final history of Texas is written. But the
archives of Bexar Is not the only great
collection in Texas There are thousands
of documents In the State library, thou
sands more in the vaults OF the secretary
of states office, etill others In the land
Office, in the other departments OF the
State capitol, and in the various county
court houses Of the State Some of these
are unclassifed: some fairly well arranged
and indesed all are accessible 10 'ihyesti
gators, and all must he etudied by the his
torical writer's of the future.
There are also several other collections,
mostly in private hands, of priceless value
to the student. The first of these is, per-
haps, the Austin papers. numbering several
thousand documents which are the prop
erty of Ausln's nephew. Colonel Guy NJ.
Bryan; others OF great value are the
o. NJ. Roberts papers and the papers OF the
Texas Veterans association, now the prop
eriy OF the University OF Texas; a few
old and very valuable manuscripts in the
library of the Agricultural and Mechanical
college; the Robertson papers in the hands
Of Hon, Huling y. Robertson OF Temple
and Mrs Cone Johnson OF Tyler the coll
lection OF DR.. " o. King OF Austin; OF
DR.. Dlenst OF Temple; of Judge Bethel
Coopwood OF Laredo; of Colonel John g.
James of oakwood; OF Mrs. II. l.. Fulton
OF San Antonio; OF William r. Houston OF
Dallas; Of Hon. s. v. Pfenffer OF Now
Braunfels; OF Judge Peyton F. Edwards OF
El Paso; OF Mrs. John 9. Ford OF San An
tonic; OF Hon. A w. Terrell OF Austin; Of