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TEXAS STA.TE LIBRA.RY
tians and indi8Jls, at times on one side and then on the other, it is no uncharitable inference that at the period of his advent to Texas, he was under the desparing conviction, that both parties loathed and mis- trusted him. Having arrived at the point where Judge Burnet shows up the im- pudence and pusillanimity of Houston with the tact of a skillful lawyer, who possessing ample evidence, solicits no credence but that which the jury cannot refuse, it is superfluous to repeat, and impossible, while there are so many living witnesses, to subvert facts, so often, but never before so ably laid open to public gaze. Even the Editor of the Civil- ian, who believes his future centered in Houston, flippant as he is, a worm that imagines itself a dangerous snake, passes over the Review with the remark, that it was written by one Burnet, as if the ephemeral slime of the reptile could obliterate one letter of the undying inscrip• tion, which the Judges ability as a Legislator has achieved for him. Sam Houston's autobiography published at Washington City was intended for other markets than that of Texas, where his deed& of arms are far from being the foundation of his elevation to the Senate, or any indication of the approbation of those settlers who bore the heat and burthen of the Texian revolution - while, from his unmanly and unGeneral like retreat, the hearths of the West were broken up, the men of Eastern Texas chiefly held back, afterwards to dispose of priv- ileges they never fought for; and to favor with their acclamations the wily sycophant, who on all occasions, furthered their sectional views to the injury of the West. It is more than probable, that very few of these who are furnished with Sam Houston's life of himself, will ever hear of Burnets Review, or glance an eye over these pages; never- theless, that few who seek truth, must not go unfurnished with the tme character of the consistent and intrepid Settlers of Austin's Col- ony, whose fame the insidious chieftain has, without any compunction merged into his own. , These Settlers were no indiscriminate rabble, as Houston t.erms them, but sedate families of well selected emigrants, chiefly in the prime of life and intellect, properly made aware beforehand, and in practice following up the principle, that their footing could only be maintained by personal eourage against the marauding and intractible indian. Their due appreciation of Mexiran valor of necessity followed their primary experience of indian depredation; and when the time came to assert their rights, and to vindicate their liberties, we are gravely told "they refused submission to discipline, appeared actuated by no regard for the common weal, and moved only by selfish considerations in capriciously joining and causelessly deserting their accomplished commander'' ! To attribute caprice to these stern sires is to belie our actual knowledge of the survivors; and ran only be a cloak for the cowardice of the imposter, whmie banner they lloon discovered was upheld, not for their retrievement, but for the greed of himself, and the gratification of his knot of maudlin as!!ociates, who never ·saw beyond the indul,!!'encieEl of the present moment. The sincerity and bravery of these settlers are sufficiently evinred by their instantaneous response to the rall of honor, their agonized terseness of reproach to their panic-stricken leader, who seeming blind to all advantages of numbers and position, forever shunnrd a foe they knew and despised.
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