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'l'EX..\S STATE LIBRARY
The ignorant, bigoted and viciou may revile and in ult h r, but we who are fanned by her genial airs; who revel in the luxury of her waving ·field. and clear blue kies, are happy in the beauty that surround u and the plenty that prevails. We igh for no richer nor a brighter land. And if we did .where shall a lovelier be found'! \Ye read of the Vale of Vallambrozia, and we are told in song of the bank of the blue l\Ioselle; but he who hall wend hi way t9 our fair and favored region, will find himself embowered in a 'bonndle Lea oes-a uniYersal Elysium, where every hill i a flower crowned Ida, and every plain is the valley of Tempe. You who have stood upon the summit of San Saba will testify to the fidelity of this. '!'he stranger abroad who believe it not, if he will come into our country and go ·with me to the ~fountain of ierra l\Iadena, I will show him a seene that bids defiance to th& geniu of poetry-a land cape beyond the brilliancy of Titian's pen cil-where flowers of every figure and complexion pread their gay beauties to the un and shed odor on the breeze---wherc birds of the brigh1!!st plumage pour•their melody to the cadence of the laughing waters-where the roe and the deer are lightly bounding together- where the bi on and the buffalo darken the distant horizon witlt their numbers whilst the fiery Mu. ta11gs to s their long mane to the wind and hake the very hill with their wild and furious stam,pede. An<l how can he <>aze upon these thin"'s and find in his heart to 11bu e a land that od hath o beautified and ble sed 1 If he b of that frigid and malignant cla ·s who hav rejoiced in the calamities of my country-who have sought by the foul breath of calumny to blight a rising- nation's hopes of liberty and mildew the laurel of its brave defender , I would turn from him with abhorrence and contempt, and cay to him, depart, thou .scorn of honor and the shame of chivalry. But if he have a soul of ensibility and a spark of fenor-a ta te for beauty and a love of freedom, I know that he will not only deli.,.ht to serve and honor a country whose glory is emblemed in the morn- ing star, but he will bear his hea<l, and pour out the fountains of his heart to the Great pirit of b ncYolcnce for spreading before him liuch soul-inspiring cene and indning him with a capacity to appre- cinte the ble ing and enjoy them with gratitnde. Ye , gentlemen, for our country God hath don much; let it not be writt n in the history of these time that we have done nothing; bnt let it be onr study by night and by <lay to pursue , ucb a r, tem of cnlight ned legislation a will perpetuate the freedom we have won, and . how to mankind that we arc neither unmindful or unworthv of the bounties b stowed by the hand of an nn paring Providence. Our valor is famed thronl{hont all civilized nation , and it is now in our power by a CO\ll'!;C of hi:rh integrity to pron:i to the world that we arc as inflexible in virtue as we are im•inciblc in arms. : 'o. 61G 1837 Nov. 13, [WILT,TA~t ?if. lTEPIIFmn; 1IOUS'l'01 r, TE. ~A , 'T'O SAM 110 TO, no TO,\ TEXA l Presenting- the clnim of E. E. Dibble nncl other. for n<lvnnccs to the I ndepe11de11ce pri. oners while at :Matamoros. Copy (extract). 1 p. In no. 1023, Q. V.
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