196
TEXAS STATE LIBRARY
their benign influenc~s ?Ver the land more -~favored than any other country whatever-enJoymg almost all that the heart can desire a delicious climate, a fertile soil, and liberty without precedent, we sho~ld express our thanks to the Supreme Being from whom emanate all these blessings, Every branch of industry is well rewarded and prosperity reigns everywhere. This condition, so encouraging to our coup.try, inspires the hope that soon the epoch will arrive in which the State of Texas can assume among the other States of the Union that ele- vated rank of which it is deserving, no less on account of its wide- spread territory, and the mineral wealth which sleeps in the bosom of the mountains, than on account of the enterprise, the culture and the virtue which prevail among its inhabitants- Who that has a spark of patriotism in his heart, does not rejoice at the prospect of its future greatness? The gift of prophecy is not lacking to foretell the splendid future which awaits it.- No. 2416. SANTA ANNA THE MODERN NERO. LAMAR [Translation from the Spanish J [Richmond? Texas 184- ?l Let us turn our eyes towards any of those bloody tyrants whatsoever whose assassinations blacken the pages of ancient history-Nero, for example- and let him be brought to judgment for the multiplicity of his iniquities against God and nature.• Behold him in all the pride of his power; the wheels of his chariot grind the bones of his enemies, and the banner of extermination is stretched before the eyes of an un- fortunate people. Contemplate him in his hours of rejoicing-the lament of the widow is the music of the .festive Salon, and the tear of the orphan the nectar of the banquet.- Contemplate him in his moments of cruelty and anger-he tramples with his heel of iron the bosom of beauty, and drinks the blood of the tender infant. Suppose that he should be judged before us in all the fullness of his iniquity, with the accumulated crime of forty years hanging over his head and mocking at us- Suppose that it could be proved, that the history of all his life has only been a continued series of carnage, rapine and desolation, and that even in the midst of a burning City, he was able to employ himself in the diversion of music and march over the pros- trate bodies of the dying and of the dead because of his instinctive love of cruelty and of blood? I ask in the name of outraged nature and of insulted justice, what shall be our judgment against a demon so atrocious? Every virtuous emotion, every manly sentiment, every ennobling principle of the heart, proclaim with voice of thunder- instant death · and eternal shame. But let us suppose, that in oppo- sition to all the eloquence of nature, we whisper in the ear of the proud criminal that he possessed gold, power and dominion, and that not- withstanding the fact that his crimes were many and great, he could still elude the punishment that his villainy deserved, provided he should give us gold in order to pay our public debt, provided that he, will ag- grandize our national boundaries and should elevate us in the balance of power-I ask in the name of the public good, what judgment would mankind form 0£ such a transaction? What other [judgment], except that we had stained the luster of our national shield, sacrificing honor for the public welfare?
Powered by FlippingBook