USA > Texas > History of Texas : from 1685 to 1892, volume 2 > Part 8
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President Burnet's message to the first Congress, October 4th, says that the commissioners, while in New Orleans in January, arranged for two loans -one for fifty thousand dol- lars which was advanced at the time ; another for two hundred thousand, on which twenty thousand were advanced, on a basis of landed security ; but when the agent of the lenders came over to have the terms ratified, the government demanded a modification to which the lenders objected and the remaining $180,000 was never received.
THE FIRST ELECTION IN THE REPUBLIC.
On the 23rd of July, 1836, President Burnet, with the approval of the cabinet, and in the exercise of the powers con- ferred upon him by the organic act of the convention under which he was made the head of the government ad interim
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(the time being discretionary with him), issued a proclama- tion ordering a general election to be held throughout the Republic, on the first Monday in September, for: 1st, a president and vice-president ; 2nd, for fourteen senators and twenty-nine representatives, to compose the first Congress, senators being chosen for three years, while representatives were to be elected annually: 3d, on the ratification or rejec- tion of the constitution; 4th, on clothing the first Congress with conventional powers to revise and amend the constitution (which latter power was denied by the people), 5th, on the question of annexation to the United States.
As a matter of historic value, the apportionment of sena- tors and representatives is given :
The county of Bexar, one senator; San Patricio, Refugio and Goliad, one; Brazoria, one; Bastrop and Gonzales, one ; Nacogdoches, one ; Red River, one ; Shelby and Sabine, one ; Matagorda, Jackson and Victoria, one; Austin and Colorado, one ; San Augustin, one ; Milam, one ; Jasper and Jefferson, one; Liberty and Harrisburg ( now Harris ), one ; Washington, one ; total, fourteen.
For representatives ; Austin County, one; Brazoria, two; Bexar, two; Colorado, one; Sabine, one; Gonzales, one; Jefferson, one; Goliad, one ; Matagorda, one; Bastrop, two; Nacogdoches, two; Red River, three; Victoria, one; San Augustine, two; Shelby, two; Refugio, one; San Patricio, one; Washington, two; Milam, one; Jackson, one; total, twenty-seven.
The following extract from the proclamation of President Burnet deserves to be preserved and handed down to, posterity :
" As there are now in the army in the service of their country, a great many persons who might thereby lose their right of suffrage, therefore all such persons entitled to vote can do so by holding an election and sending the returns to the managers of the election at the capital of the precinct
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(county) of which they are citizens; the name of each voter being taken down in writing and forwarded with the returns. . " And as some of the precincts ( counties ) are depopulated by their temporary abandonment, on account of the invasion of the Mexicans and the inroads of the Indians, therefore, all such persons, thus absent, are permitted to exercise their right of suffrage, by meeting together, whenever they can in any number, holding an election and making their returns, within ten days, to the Secretary of State, in which returns shall be stated the names of the persons voting, and the result thereof.'' 1
The proclamation closed by directing that the members of the first Congress, to be so chosen, should assemble on Mon- day, the third day of October, 1836, in the town of Columbia, Brazoria County - the place now known as West Columbia, two miles west of the present town of Columbia, on the immediate bank of the Brazos.
In the private memoranda of General Austin that gentleman says :
" Archer, Wharton, Bailey Hardeman, S. Rhoads Fisher and many others at this time requested me to become a candidate for President." 2
1 In point of fact no election was held in the counties of Goliad, Re- fugio or San Patricio, their exiled citizens voting in groups, wherever they chanced to be, whether at Victoria, on the Lavaca, Colorado, Brazos or San Jacinto. Thus was the voice of all - soldier, citizen and refugee - heard.
2 The unkind utterances of Austin in regard to Wharton, in the pre- vious December, will be remembered, as will also my statement that in a large number of private letters written by Wharton near that time, not an unkind allusion is made to Austin. That Austin's animadversions were unjust seems clear. Now, after their joint service in the United States, we have Austin's own declaration that not only Wharton but also Dr. Archer (original champions of independence, while Austin was earnestly opposing that step) were supporting him for the presidency. Thus, is established the nobility of Wharton's nature; while General Austin vindicates his own sense of justice, by virtually admitting the injustice he had done him. Wharton ever kept the faith of their reconciliation at Gonzales in October,
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In reply to solicitations to become a candidate, Austin said :
" Influenced by the great governing principle that has reg- ulated my action since I came to Texas, which is to serve this country in any capacity in which the people may think proper to employ me, I shall not decline the highly responsible and difficult one now proposed, should a majority of my fellow-citizens elect me."
General Houston, after much suffering, had been success- fully treated in New Orleans ; and, though still in feeble gen- eral health, was enabled to return to Texas, by way of Red River, arriving in San Augustine on the 5th of July. Small particles of bone, however, at intervals for several years, pro- truded through the cuticle of his ankle and were extracted. That member never was restored to its original strength and occasionally troubled him through life. As soon as the elec- tion was ordered by President Burnet, there was a wide-spread demand upon General Houston to become a candidate for presi- dent. He was nominated by an assemblage of six hundred people, embracing many from other parts of the country, at Columbia, by large gatherings at San Augustine, Nacogdoches and elsewhere, and was overwhelmingly the choice of the citizen-volunteers in the army, embracing as well those who had served under him in the San Jacinto campaign, as those who had afterwards reached the army. They regarded him as still the major-general and commander-in-chief, and, largely for that reason, had resented the attempt of President Burnet and the cabinet to confer that rank on Colonel Lamar. It was also said by them that when General Rusk sought to retire and recommended Felix Huston for a major-generalship, the army was greatly reduced, idle in camp, and without any prospects of active service, while, in prospect of a new invasion, the furloughed soldiers had returned and fresh ones
1835. Evil disposed persons caused Austin for a time to think otherwise and while so misled he penned the unfortunate letters.
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had arrived till they had twenty-five hundred men, and next to Houston they wanted Rusk. They censured the president for taking advantage of Rusk's former letter, written under one set of circumstances and responding to it under a new, unexpected and entirely different condition of affairs; and then not complying with its suggestions, but appointing Lamar instead of Felix Huston. But in fact, with a prospect of again meeting the enemy, General Rusk, noble soldier that he was, did not wish to leave the army. These considerations and facts greatly strengthened General Houston as a candidate for president.
Before General Houston was known as a candidate, the friends of ex-Governor Henry Smith, announced him as a candidate and sent hand-bills over the country so declaring, before he was aware of the fact. He declined to be so and made known the fact as widely as he could in the short time intervening. He advised his friends to support General Houston and did so himself.
The insignificant vote cast for General Austin was no just index to the hold he had on the good-will and confidence of the people of the country. His utterances relative to inde- pendence still rankled in the breasts of many old Texians, and later comers only knew that he had opposed that measure and therefore opposed him and gave their support to the hero of San Jacinto. They did not pause to consider the fact that as soon as convinced of the necessity and practicability of a declaration of independence, he had heartily espoused the cause and untiringly bent all his energies toward securing such a declaration. Nor did they consider the splendid service he had rendered the country from January to June, 1836, as commissioner to the United States. Neither did they con- sider, for they could not know, the valuable services he had, almost in that hour, performed for Texas in his letter to General Gaines, President Jackson and Messrs. Collinsworth and Grayson, the new commissioners to the United States.
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In the army, too, he was opposed because of his order ( while in command at San Antonio) to Captain Philip Dimmitt, to give up the command of his company, to which he had been unanimously elected at Goliad, to Captain Collinsworth who had left the company in anticipation of a higher position. These matters, involving only differences of opinion, and in nowise affecting his honor, or his capacity for usefulness, as public sentiment then existed, were fatal to his candidacy for the presidency. But, in truth, the hold General Houston then held on the popular heart was irresistible. Thrice wounded in youth, under Jackson, at the Horseshoe and a loved protege of that great man, then President of the United States; a major-general in Tennessee; a distinguished member of Congress from Tennessee, and later Governor of Tennessee, made his name and career, his ability and powers as an orator familiar in every quarter of the Union. This distinction was supplemented by the friendship and admira- tion of many of the most eminent men and statesmen in the American Union. These facts had great weight with the thoughtful population and largely influenced the result.
In connection with the threatened invasion and the rapid increase of the army, a problem arose, as soon as it became apparent that there would be no invasion, as to what should be done with so large a force. The expense, and in some sense the danger, of keeping so many men idle in camp on precarious supplies, were apparent. Notwithstanding com- panies were discharged as their respective terms expired, new companies continued to arrive from the United States - some enlisted under the authority granted by the late council to Thomas J. Chambers, to raise an "army of reserve," some under arrangements made by the late commissioners, and some under other auspices. In this dilemma a descent on Matamoros, chiefly by water, was proposed; not with the view of holding the place permanently, but as a retaliatory measure, to cripple the enemy, teach him the capacity of Texas for aggressive war-
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fare, and to make reprisals of supplies needful in sustaining the army. The President and cabinet gave their sanction to it; but at the critical moment, the schooner Invincible went to the United States for repairs and captain Hurd, without the knowledge of the government, went with the Brutus to the same country. This caused the expedition to be abandoned.
A little prior to this General Rusk dispatched Captain Isaac W. Burton with a small company of mounted men to scour the coast from the mouth of the Guadalupe to Copano. Discovering the schooner Watchman near Copano and con- cealing his men, Burton decoyed the launch of the schooner on shore. He seized and manned the boat and then captured the vessel, which was loaded with supplies for the Mexican army. Very soon the schooners Fanny Butler and Comanche, similarly freighted, entered the bay and, suspecting no danger, came to anchor near the Watchman. They, too, were cap- tured, and the three rich prizes were taken into Velasco. These achievements, so timely and so gratifying to the coun- try, and especially to the poorly fed army, won for Captain Burton and his cavalry, by universal acclaim, the unique appellation of " The Horse Marines."
When the commissioners, Collinsworth and Grayson, reached Washington, Congress having adjourned, President Jackson dispatched Mr. Harvey M. Morfit on a visit to Texas, to inves- tigate the condition of affairs. His report amounted to little more than estimating the total population at 50,670, of which 30,000 were Anglo-Americans.
On the 14th of July, President Burnet, to correct abuses and curtail useless expenses, issued a proclamation revoking all commissions held in the military and naval service by persons who were not actually in service. This gave offense to Thomas J. Chambers, who had been in Kentucky since the previous January, and was still there under the authority of the council, to raise an army of reserve, of which, when placed
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in service, he was to be major-general. A controversy ensued, now of no historic interest. Chambers had been the means of sending three or four hundred men to Texas, under Colonel Edward J. Wilson and Major G. Lewis Postlethwaite. On arriving at Velasco, these two men, not being hailed with bonfires, illuminations and salvos of artillery, or some equivalent demonstration, became suddenly bankrupt in patriotism, and, with many of their men (though by no means all), returned to their homes in Lexing- ton, Kentucky, where they published slanderous and untruth- ful statements against the government and people of Texas. Chambers answered them in terms that led to a challenge and a duel was only averted by the intervention of mutual friends, the chief of whom was George D. Prentice, then and ever a friend of Texas. That there was wisdom in the President's course is evident from the fact that many persons holding roving commissions were not only doing no good, but were injuring our cause in the United States ; but Chambers did not fall into that classification. However unwisely granted by the council, General Chambers was acting under its author- ity and could not have been included in the class referred to in the proclamation. He had incurred large responsibilities and expended considerable sums, and was entitled to be treated with good faith by the government, and so he was as soon as it became practicable.1
1 Mr. Chambers, so far as popular feeling was concerned, had a heavy weight to carry. As superior judge under the judiciary law of 1834, with- out ever having held or organized a court, he received from the government of Coahuila and Texas thirty-two square leagues (141,696 acres) of land for one year's salary and also acquired several eleven league grants under a law that was very odious in public estimation. His opposition to independence in 1835 was attributed to this large landed interest. But his labors in behalf of Texas in Kentucky cannot be denied.
CHAPTER VIII.
Result of the First Election - Gen. Sam Houston, President - Meeting of the First Congress - The First Constitutional Cabinet - List of Its Members and Officers - President Burnet's Message.
The first election in the Republic took place on the first Monday in September, at a time when a large number of citizens were yet absent from their homes, and hence the vote was small ; but the people, in the main, chose an able Congress, including a fair per cent of the most distinguished and patri- otic men in the country. The labors of this body, after the lapse of half a century, still receive the commendation of the most enlightened minds, at home and abroad. The elec- tion for President resulted as follows :
Sam Houston 5,119 votes
Henry Smith 743
Stephen F. Austin.
587
Scattering.
191
Total
6,640 votes
For Vice-President Mirabeau B. Lamar received a major- ity of 2,699 votes.
The constitution was unanimously ratified.
For giving Congress power to amend the constitution only 223 votes were cast and against annexation to the United States only 91.
The new Congress assembled in accordance with the presi- dent's proclamation, on Monday the 3d day of October, 1836, at Columbia, whither the government had previously gone from Velasco. The accommodations were meager in every re- spect, but there was available a commodious house (for that (99)
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day), with large rooms on the ground floor, separated by a wide hallway, with other rooms for committee and clerical purposes. Each house occupied one of the large rooms. This house at first accommodated the government only in part, other houses being also utilized.
Both houses organized on the day of assemblage. In the senate, in consequence of the indisposition of the Vice-Presi- dent, Lorenzo de Zavala, Senator Richard Ellis, of Red River County, was elected President pro tem, and Richardson Scurry, Secretary.
In the House of Representatives Ira Ingram, of Matagorda, was elected Speaker; and Willis A. Faris, Clerk.
The next day after the usual notifications from one house to the other and (jointly ) to the Executive, President Burnet sent in his message.
Referring to the policy of imposing duties on imports and, in some cases, on exports, in the then straitened condition of the country, President Burnet said:
" They constitute a convenient and economical mode of sup- plying the public necessities, and are less onerous to individ- uals than almost any form of taxation. They therefore form part of the financial resources of all countries.
* The idea of free international commerce is a modern improvement that reflects great credit on the philanthropy of the present age; and it is much to be regretted that the entanglements of ancient institutions, and the inveteracy of confirmed habitudes, have prevented its adoption by the principal nations of the earth. While such nations oppose it by cordons of custom houses, and ponderous codes of revenue laws, it would be vain and ineffectual for a nation just springing into existence, to effect its practical establishment. * *
" When the abundant, intrinsic resources of our country shall be fully developed, then it may be the peculiar glory of Texas to invite the kindred nations of the earth to an unem-
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barrassed intercommunion of their diversified products. The effects of such a system on the peace and happiness of nations, and on the comfort and enjoyment of individuals, would tran- scend all that has heretofore been accomplished by the straitened and selfish spirit of commerce; and that, secret, parsimonious and jealous as it is, has done much to ameliorate the condition of man, by dispensing the munificent and various benedictions of Providence to and from remotest climes.
" The institution of a tariff is a matter of great delicacy, requiring minute attention to the smallest concerns of domestic life. An excessive or disproportionate charge upon one nec- essary article of merchandise would violate the grand principle of equalization, and I trust you will be enabled so to order the assessment as to avoid that evil. The experience of the nation from which we have seceded affords abundant testimony of the pernicious consequences of an overcharged tariff. An exorbi- tant rate of duty not only defeats itself, by presenting allure- ments to evasions of the law, but it has a tendency to demoralize a valuable portion of the community. It is one of the most interesting purposes of legislation to purify and elevate the standard of moral sentiment among the people.
" Young as we are in existence we have accumulated a debt of gratitude which all the goods of this world can never cancel. The generous exertions that have been made in our behalf by many citizens of that glorious land from which we claim a common parentage ; the active sympathy they have manifested in our cause and sufferings ; the many and valuable benefits they have conferred upon us, constitute obligations which nothing in our power to confer upon them can cancel. The best and most acceptable requital we can make, is an abundant evidence that their sympathies have been worthily bestowed ; that the fruits of their liberality have been appropriated to the diffusion of the great principles' of '76; and that our generous benefactors have contributed to the establishment of an enlightened, liberal and virtuous government, in a delightful
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region of the earth, where recently the spirit of despotism reigned in all the gloomy majesty of an interdicted solitude.
" There are a multitude of other subjects that would natur- ally present themselves to the legislators of Texas. But they belong to your successors, while to us pertains the arduous task of adjusting the controversy with Mexico. The hand of Providence has been prodigal in its dispensations to our favored land. In its agricultural capabilities it is unexcelled. Its champaign surface invites the construction of railroads in all directions ; and future explorations will disclose inexhaus- tible mineral wealth, comprising gold, silver, copper, lead and iron. All these will constitute subjects for future legislation. But, at present, the defense of our country and the achieve- ment of our independence, are absorbing and paramount sub- jects to which all the functionaries of government, and all patriotic citizens should devote their most strenuous and inde- fatigable exertions.
" I trust that this Congress and all others that may assemble in Texas, will promptly and decisively put the seal of repro- bation upon all sinister and unrighteous speculation in the public domain. But the moment the legislature of a country attempts, with an unhallowed hand, to violate the just and vested rights of individuals, government ceases to be a bless- ing and civil society is divested of half its guarantees.
" In the course of your labors for the public weal, you may experience trials and vexations that will be calculated to dis- courage your hearts and diffuse distrust into your minds. Your best exertions and most elaborate productions may re- ceive reproach instead of approval, and your motives may be impugned when they are pure as the snow on the mountain- top; but let not these things dishearten you. ' It is but the rough brake that virtue must go through.' Banish from your councils all party spirit and political intrigue ; and, armed in the panoply of an honest patriotism, move forward in the path of duty, and onward to the goal of our country's redemption.
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" And may the Almighty Ruler of the universe give you wisdom to discern, virtue to choose, and firmness to pursue the right and eschew the wrong. Then your labors will re- dound to the essential and permanent benefit of your country, and will so establish your own fame that the voice of jealousy and the tongue of vituperation shall not prevail to sully its brightness."
These extracts from the first communication of the first President to the first Congress of Texas, reveal the integrity and lofty character of the writer, whose moral purity as a man and high mental endowments reflected honor on the peo- ple and country, for whom he labored with a zeal and courage that indisputably attested his conscientious devotion to the cause of liberty and pure representative government.
In the foot-note appended below will be found a complete list of the members and officers of the first Congress, all of whom, it is believed, are dead.1
1 The first session began at Columbia, October 3d, 1836- the adjourned session at Houston, May 1st, 1837.
Lorenzo de Zavala, Vice-President and President of the Senate till Octo- ber 22, - term expired. He died November 15, 1836.
Mirabeau B. Lamar, Vice-President and President of the Senate from October 22, 1836, to December 10, 1838, died December 19, 1859.
Richard Ellis, President pro tem at the first session, - Jesse Grimes at the second.
THE SENATORS.
Dr. Stephen H. Everitt, from Jefferson and Jasper, died in 1849; Robert Wilson, from Harrisburg and Liberty, died in 1856; Willis H. Landrum, from Shelby and Sabine; Shelby Corzine, from San Augustine (elected first dis- trict judge and resigned, died in 1839) ; Sterling C. Robertson, from Milam, died March 4, 1842; Alexander Somervell, from Austin and Colorado, drowned in January, 1854; Jesse Grimes, from Washington, died March 16, 1866; Edwin Morehouse, from Goliad, etc., died in 1849; Richard Ellis, from Red River, died in 1840; Albert C. Horton, from Matagorda, Jackson and Victoria, died in 1865; James S. Lester, from Bastrop and Gonzales; Fran- cisco Ruiz, from Bexar; William H. Wharton, from Brazoria, died in 1839 - resigned to become American Minister and succeeded by James Collinsworth, who was drowned in 1838; Dr. Robert A. Irion, from Nacogdoches.
Richardson Scurrey was secretary of the first and Arthur Robertson of the
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second session; Masillon Farley, Assistant Secretary of the first and Edward M. Glenn of the second session; Wm. King, Sergeant-at-Arms of the first and Noah T. Byars of the second session; Joshua Canter, Door-keeper of the first and Marshall Mann of the second session; E. Lawrence Stickney, Enrolling Clerk; Oscar Farish, Engrossing Clerk, second session; Augustus M. Tompkins, Reporter. The senators by lot, served one, two and three years.
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