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WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1851
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and by midnight toil. These are the advantages which I have not possessed, and to an audience so erudite and intelligent as this, I know my circumstances will carry an ample apology, and command their generosity and charity. My life has been spent in the ruder walks of men; unacquainted with the smooth phrases of the colleges and refined society such as I now address, it cannot be expected that it should be either adapted to polite ears or to the refinement of the present auditory. Notwithstanding, I will proceed to the discharge of the duty devolving on me, and en- deavor to narrate to you in a succinct and plain manner the history of a portion of the earth that now is peculiarly interesting to the whole nation and to the civilized world. I allude to Texas. A few years ago, it was unknown on the map of the globe- hardly a speck in the geography of the world. Now it is looming up, or has loomed up into the notice of nations, and has become a portion of this glorious confederacy. In 1825, I think, Mr. Austin went to that country: he was a man of adventure, of energy, and untiring industry. He applied to the Mexican authority during the time of Iturbide, and obtained a grant to colonize a certain portion of the country lying mainly between the Guadaloupe or Colorado and Trinity rivers; he was under an obligation to furnish so many families, each to enjoy a league of land which comprised 4,428 acres, and for each hundred families that he located in the country he was to receive seven premium leagues for his individual benefit. However, Mr. Austin died; his son, Stephen F. Austin, became successor to the enter- prise after the decease of his venerated father. I mention the name of Stephen F. Austin, the real father of Texas; not its putative sire, but the man who planted the American footsteps there, whose memory will be revered as long as the name of Austin shall be sounded, or the gratitude of the human heart be offered as a tribute to worth. He was the father of Texas, and with him he took 300 families and located them upon wha~ was then the soil of Mexico. Was it an act of munificence on the part of Mexico, or was it to settle ai territory that had remained unproductive for centuries? It was the region for the wild mustang to roam over, the untamed buffalo, the wild Indian, and every beast of the forest that could have added ferocity to the scene, or was calculated to terrify the timid. There was no Mexican capable of undergoing the toils, privations, and dangers. The Anglo-American race were invited to interpose, and donations were the inducements held out to valor and enterprise. They
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