13547) l LAMAR A DD RESS J
Soldiers of Texas: On assuming lhc glorious respunsil,ilily of leading you in the field of battle, ( am deeply impressed with gr.1litude for lhc lrust confided; arnl feel most vividly, that to command an army of heroes in lhe cause of freedom is the highest of all privileges, ancl lo conduct il lo victory is the most enduring and exalted honor. The enemy who so recently retired, terrified from our borders, are about to counlermarch upon us with reinforcements formidable in count, bul feeble in spirit and puissance. They come for the hellish purpose of desolating the loveliest of a thousand lands, and staining our luxuriant fields with the blood of the cultivators. Confident of numbers, they hope to gain by overwhelming force, that which they cannot achieve by valor. They boast that they will retrieve the late inglorious defeat of their arms, or perish in the attempt; that they will drive us beyond the Subine, or give us a grave this side. You, soldiers, know the futility of their vain-glorious boastings, as well as the ferocious character of their warfare. Their cruelly and perfidy were sufficiently exemplified in their horrid massacres at Bexar and La Bahia, while their shameful route and discomfiture al the San Jacinto stand as a perpetual monument of their unexampled pusillanimity and dastardly conduct. Audacious monsters! Thal they have the willingness lo murder is apparent-their ability to conquer they never have shown. Their numbers can avail them nothing; and their threats of extermination, instead of intimidating, only invigorate the nerves of the hold and free. Let them come. Their return is hailed with joy by every manly voice in Texas. Another opportunity is afforded lo vindicate our rights and avenge ·our wrongs. The greater the force, the richer the harvcsL! Though every blade of grass on the banks of the Bnivo bristle inlo a bayonet, it shall not save them. The very gin nee of a freeman's eye, is a bl:1¼ing shield of Perseus lo the monsters of tyranny. They havci to fly, or fall, before the wrath of an injured people, nerved in the cause of liberty and vengeance.
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