the brave," lest they should conswtte, in order lo live, whilst they fight: and lest they should share the domain of a country, made free by the union of their efforts with ours; redeemed from the curse of military sway by the holy, alliance of their arms with ours. J am not, [ say, of this number. 1 am of those who have ever hailed, and hailed with joy, the arrival of our border brethren - my heart has swolJcn, and my eyes have filled, at the recital of the story of those who bled at the Almno, and at Goliad. So far as I from grudging the meagre pittance of land allotted to such as bare their bosoms lo the balls, their veins to the lance of the barbarian foes of my country - that, sooner than diminish, I would sugment, nay, double the reward - nay, more yet, I would greet with a warm welcome, the day, the hour that should bring to our shores, and into our service, spirits enough, like those who fell in the Alamo, who suffered martyrdom on the plain of Goliad, to populate every section of vacant land in Texas; nor are these sentiments peculiar to me. They are common to a large mitjority of our patriotic population - and are obnoxious to those and those only, who wish lo see nine tenths of the territory of the country belong to one hundredth of its population; but these wish to be of this hundredth. With a population made up of those who abuse its independence, Texas would be able to defend it. And to what better use can we put our vacant domain, than to barter it for nerves and sinews to defend it? What wiser appropriation can we make of our millions of vacant land, than surrender them up to the occupation of "a brave yeomanry, freedom's pride and boast," on the hard condition [torn J not, as I remarked above, peculiar to one, nor yet to a few - they are common to Lhe majority - to the sounder, and far the most numerous portion, of our people. And this majority is composed of the small land holders - owners, of, from a fourth, to a league, a league and a half, or two leagues of land. But to dimiss the digression. My advices from the army are to the 25th inst. It was then on the Guadaloupe, and Gen. Rusk still cherished the hope that he would be so rapidly reinforced that he would be able Lo sustain his position on this river. About the time the news of the enemy's return reached Head Quarters, three vessels, laden with supplied for the J\lexican Army, arrived in Arransasso Ilay, and were clccoycd by a party of our men, under the command of Capt. Burton, into the Copauo, captured and sent to the mouth of the Brasos, for adjudication. Two have entered this river, and the third is supposed to have gone to Galveston, drawing too much water for the Br:isos bar. These
i
Powered by FlippingBook