The ballle of San Jacinto is one of those illustrious events which not only throw a grace of intense interest, inlo the pages of history, but sometimes determine the fate of nations. It was a triumph not only of arms, but of soul: not of mere animal power, but of intellectual and moral impulse. The relative numbers of the combatants was of minor importance; for had the enemy possessed three times his actual superiority, the result would have been the same or somewhat more brilliant. It was feeling, determination, an indomitable resolution to conquer; that achieved the conquest. Such feelings are the highest possible exemplification of patriotism; and acts of a high and magnanimous patriotism, constitute the best and strongest claims to a nation's gratitude. It has become a proverb and a reproach, that republics are ungrateful. - Let not the unkind censure fix itself upon Texas. The heroes of San Jacinto afford you a happy opportunity, to falsify the proverb and repel the reproach: and I recommend to your consideration the propriety of making a suitable expression of the public gratitude, by donations of lands, to the officers and soldiers, who had the proud gratification of participating in the glories of that memorable day. Young as we are in existence, we have accumulated a debt of gratitude which all the goods of this world can never equal. The generous exertions that have been made in our behalf, by many citizens of that glorious land, from which we claim a common parentage; the active sympathy they have manifested in our cause and our sufferings; the many and valuable benefits they have conferred upon us; constitute obligations which nothing in our power to confer upon them, can cancel. The besl and most acceptable requital we can make, is an abundant evidence, that their sympathies have been worthily bestowed; that Lhe fruits of their liberality have been appropriated to the diffusion of the great principles of '76; and that our generous benefactors, have contributed to the establishment of an enlightened, liberal and virtuous government, in a delightful region of the earth, where recently the spirit of despotism, reigned in all the gloomy majesty of an interdicted solitude. There is a multitude of other subjects that would naturally present themselves to the legislators of Texas. But they belong to your successors; while to us, pertains the arduous task of adjusting the contToversy with Mexico. The hand of Providence has been prodigal in its dispensations to our favored land. In its agricultural capabilities, it is unexcelled. Its champaign surface, invites the construction of rail roads and canals, in all directions; and future explorations will disclose inexhaustible mineral weal th, comprising
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