Hl
PAPEns Ot' )lrnABEAU BuoNAPARTE LAMAn
erous and brave?- ..\nd is it right- is it just- that her people shoul<l. be clcnou11eed as intruders, rebbels, traitors? 'l'hey were first invitecl into the country- coldly received- puhlicly immltecl-and finally prosc'.riuell by a :-imi barbarous tyrant who hoped through their life's blood to cane his passage to a throne. Surely if danger and distress an<l accumulated wrougs can form any claim to the sympathy of the virtuous, 'l'exas was entitled to that sympathy; and if ever a grateful immortality should rest upon the memory of the noble dea<l, it is the rightful inhcritence of those who rallied to her standard and perished in her cause. War being inevital, t.he Texians prepared to meet the consequences with becoming firmness. The forces of the two parties were soon mar- shalled in the field. The disparity between them, how great and ap- palling! On the one side we behold an army of ten thousand dis- ciplined vetrans, just from the fields of slaughter, flushed with victory and panting hot for fresh war. On the other side we see a little band of Spartan heroes, a mere handful of men, badly armed, without or- ganization, almost destitute of provisions, with no experienced leader to guide them and surrounded by hordes of savage cannibals who were lighting their fire brands and grinding their teeth for the victims. At this awful and alarming crisis, what do they do? They call upon their brethren of the North for aid; they call upon the brave and generous of all nations to rally to her standard. The call was uot unheeded. They come, they come. I see them on their winding way; around their ranks the moon beams play; they come, they come. You gentle- men can tell better than myself how that call was responded to, by the citizens of Columbus. You saw the bravest of your gallant youths gird on their weapons; you saw them take an affection farewell of friends, home kindred- they rushed to the rescue; and found a grave. I stand not here to mourn their fate; but I do stand here to indicate their fame, and to utter my heai·t's deep and damning maledictions against the whole race of demoniac fanatics who rejoiced in their mis- fortunes, and mocked the calamities of my country. 0, if there be a miscreant wretch on earth, who deserves the eternal reprobation of every virtuous mind, it is he, the cold-hearted defamer, who would by the foul breath calumny destroy a nation's liberty and mildew the laurels of its brave defenders. I know that I must not go into the details of war; yet in justice to the memory of the cleacl, I hope I may be permitted to glance at a few of those splendid achievments which have shed on the actors and the country the liO'ht of und)'iUCT (Tlor)'· Passin 0 ,-. over the expulsion , p v O O • of . adrcz, Bradburn (the infamous Bradburn) and l:gartnchee m 1832, we com~ down to the period of Santannn's inrnsion. The first conflict of any consequence between the contending parties, was the battle of Conception at which our «allant townsman Col. Fannin at the head of 92 men,' reC'ci,·ed the as;ault of -!50 of the enemy, whirh h_e soon repulsed, rolling them back to the ,·ery ramparts of tlu•ir c1taclel, spreading haYoc nncl distruction in their rnnks, without th<' loss of a single one of hi!- own men. This brilliant affair inspired the ranks of freedom with redoubled energy; and was soon suceecdNl by the animated skirmish known us the grass fight, in which -!00 hnn-
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