The choice of this seal was the result of an accident. When the declaration of independence was adopted at San Felipe, Governor Smith, having no other seal, used one of the brass2 buttons from his coat. Its device chanced to be a five-pointed star encircled by a wreath of oak leaves. The Lone3 Star with its wreath thus became the official signet of the Texas Republic.
Flag of Texas Republic.
Santa Anna was conducted on board the war-schooner Invincible4, which had orders to convey him and his staff to Vera Cruz on the coast of Mexico. But public feeling was so strong against setting free the arch enemy of Texas that President Burnet was obliged to have him brought on shore again. He was sent from Velasco to Columbia, and thence to Orizaba, the country place of Dr. Orlando Phelps, on the Brazos River. A plot for his release was soon afterward5 discovered. This caused him to be put in irons, and to receive a small taste of the ill-treatment he had so often accorded to others. It was not until after the return of Houston from New Orleans in the fall that the captive general was finally released.
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Meantime there was great dissatisfaction in the army. The soldiers, having no fighting to do, began to remember that they were hungry and in rags. They clamored for money which the poverty-stricken government could not give them; and they still demanded loudly the death of Santa Anna.
In June Major Isaac Burton, with a company of mounted rangers7 on the lookout8 for Mexican vessels9 at Copano, succeeded in decoying into port and capturing three supply ships which belonged to the enemy. These were the Watchman, the Comanche, and the Fanny Butler. The supplies, valued at twenty-five thousand dollars, were sent at once to the army. This timely relief and the re-imprisonment of Santa Anna restored the soldiers to good humor.
In September a general election was held. General Houston was made President, and Mirabeau B. Lamar Vice-President. The new term was to begin in December; but President Burnet, glad to lay down the burden which he had borne wisely and virtuously10, resigned his office, and on the 22d of October Houston was inaugurated.
The ceremony took place at Columbia. Among those present were many who had been prominent in the revolution: Stephen F. Austin, ex-Governor Smith, Branch T. Archer11, the Whartons, Mosely Baker12, Sidney Sherman, John T. Austin, William Austin, and many others.
Santa Anna, in his guarded apartment not far away, might almost have heard the echoes of his old enemy’s voice when, at the conclusion of his address, Houston unbuckled his sword and handed it to the Speaker of the House, with the assurance that if his country should ever call for his services again he would resume his sword and respond to that call with his blood or his life.
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Stephen F. Austin was made Secretary of State in Houston’s cabinet. He had but lately returned from the United States, where he had rendered important service to Texas during her struggle for independence. He now saw his highest hopes realized. His beloved colonists13 had become a free people. His chosen land would now blossom like a rose in the fair sunshine of peace.
He began his new duties with ardor14. But constant anxiety and the hardships of prison life had left him weak and delicate. The unfinished room where he worked was without fire; he was seized suddenly with pneumonia15, and after a short illness he died (December 27, 1836).
The Father of Texas was but forty-three years old. His life had been noble, useful, and unselfish, and his death was a public loss. His body was conveyed in the steamer Yellowstone to Peach Point on the Brazos, near Columbia. There, in the presence of the President and his cabinet, the officers of the army and navy, and a large concourse of citizens, he was buried with military honors.
Mirabeau B. Lamar.
The first regular Congress had a hard task before it. The people of Texas were in favor of annexation16 to the United States. But a strong faction6 in that nation, though willing to acknowledge Texas as an independent country, was strongly opposed to receiving another slave state. The young Republic was therefore obliged to stand alone.
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There was a large public debt, but no money in the treasury17. Mexico still laid claim to her rebellious18 province, and it was necessary to maintain an army to repel19 invasion, and a navy to defend the coast. The Indians were troublesome. The civil law, in the confusion and disorder20 of the war, had become almost a dead letter.
This was a tangled21 skein, but Congress set to work with hearty22 good will to unravel23 the threads. The legislature provided for the public debt and other state expenses by issuing land scrip (government paper entitling the holder24 to so many leagues of land).
First Capitol of Texas. At Columbia (1836).
County and magistrate25 courts were organized; a Supreme26 Court was formed, and the Spanish code of laws was displaced by the code used by the United States. The soldiers instead of their pay received permission to go home on long visits to their families. Some vessels were bought for the navy, and commissioners27 were sent to the different Indian tribes to make treaties of friendship.
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Congress adjourned28 in December. The following May it met in the new town on Buffalo29 Bayou named in honor of the President.
Monsieur Le Clère (Le Clare), a Frenchman who visited Texas about this time, writes thus of Houston: “I cannot say that Houston is a great city, although it is a capital. The principal street, Main Street, which is laid out in a straight line, and handsome enough for the country, runs down to the river. The footwalks are barely marked out. We found the landing still blocked by enormous trunks of trees. Great southern pines are left standing30 in the street. The ascent31 which leads from the bayou to the city is very rough, and one stumbles over the logs that encumber32 it. By the side of houses of tolerably fine appearance (though built entirely33 of wood), one meets here and there with those poor houses called log cabins. Finally, as a last touch to this picture, there stand in Main Street and near the capitol two great tents which would do honor to a chief of the Tartars or Bedouins.
“The environs of Houston are not inhabited. A great number of the people I saw in the city were going further west, but their passage gave it a very lively appearance. They were on horseback, and almost all armed with the terrible weapon called the bowie knife. Most of them carried before them on the saddle that rifle, excessively long, which they handle with a wonderful skill, and which Jackson’s men used so well at the battle of New Orleans.”
The capitol building was unfinished, and Congress was obliged to shorten its sittings when it rained or a “norther” blew fiercely through the shutterless34 windows. The President’s house was a double log cabin with a puncheon floor. But the naturalist35 Audubon describes President Houston (May, 1837) as receiving his guests in this rude cabin, “dressed in a fancy velvet36 coat and trousers trimmed with gold lace; and around his neck was tied a cravat37 somewhat in the style of 1776.”
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The same writer speaks of the members of the cabinet as men bearing the stamp of “intellectual ability, simple, though bold in their general appearance.”
All sorts of people from at home and abroad thronged38 the little capital. Curious travelers like Audubon and Le Clère, the Frenchman, brushed against hunters clad in buck-skin, traders with pack-mules, and eager-eyed young adventurers from “the States.”
A Comanche Chief.
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A great many Indians came into the town to see their Great Father, Houston. One such deputation was from the hunting-grounds of the Comanches. They came to make their treaty of peace in person. They rode mustang ponies39, and brought their squaws and papooses with them. After setting up their buffalo-hide lodges40 on the prairie near the town, the warriors41 marched in single file to President Houston’s own residence. They were all tall and finely formed, with very red skin, and jet-black hair which they wore hanging in long locks down their backs. These locks were ornamented42 with bands of silver. Many of the warriors wore, just below the elbow, clumsy rings of copper43 or gold, from which dangled44 the scalp-locks of their dead enemies. Monsieur Le Clère, who saw this procession, says that one young Indian had two of these rings hung with ten or fifteen heads of hair of different colors. The women wore tight leggings of tanned buck-skin, with tunics45 of wolf or jaguar46 skins, trimmed with beads47 and quills48. Many strands49 of colored beads were strung around their necks, and their hands were loaded with gold and silver rings. Some of their costumes were graceful50 and pretty. The wearers were nearly all old and ugly; but one young girl, the daughter of the chief, is described as very beautiful, with liquid black eyes, softly rounded cheeks, and red laughing lips. She wore on her head a crown made of eagle feathers, and her girdle was a band of heavy silver discs.
The President welcomed his red brothers gravely and kindly51. The calumet, or pipe of peace, was smoked and the treaty was made. The Indians received presents of beads, blankets, and red cloth. The old chief when he rode away carried the Texas flag tied to a stalk of sugar cane52. “Me big chief! Houston big chief!” he cried, striking his breast with his hand.
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1
affixed
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| adj.[医]附着的，附着的v.附加( affix的过去式和过去分词 )；粘贴；加以；盖（印章） | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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3
lone
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| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
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invincible
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| adj.不可征服的，难以制服的 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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faction
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| n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争 | |
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rangers
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| 护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员 | |
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lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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virtuously
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| 合乎道德地，善良地 | |
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archer
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| n.射手，弓箭手 | |
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baker
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| n.面包师 | |
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13
colonists
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| n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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14
ardor
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| n.热情，狂热 | |
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pneumonia
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| n.肺炎 | |
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annexation
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| n.吞并，合并 | |
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treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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rebellious
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| adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的 | |
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repel
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| v.击退，抵制，拒绝，排斥 | |
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disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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21
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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22
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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23
unravel
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| v.弄清楚（秘密）；拆开，解开，松开 | |
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holder
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| n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物 | |
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magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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commissioners
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| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
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adjourned
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| （使）休会， （使）休庭( adjourn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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buffalo
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| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
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30
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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32
encumber
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| v.阻碍行动，妨碍，堆满 | |
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33
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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34
shutterless
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| 快门不 | |
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35
naturalist
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| n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者) | |
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36
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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37
cravat
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| n.领巾，领结；v.使穿有领结的服装，使结领结 | |
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38
thronged
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| v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ponies
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| 矮种马，小型马( pony的名词复数 )； ￡25 25 英镑 | |
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lodges
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| v.存放( lodge的第三人称单数 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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41
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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42
ornamented
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| adj.花式字体的v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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44
dangled
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| 悬吊着( dangle的过去式和过去分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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45
tunics
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| n.（动植物的）膜皮( tunic的名词复数 )；束腰宽松外衣；一套制服的短上衣；（天主教主教等穿的）短祭袍 | |
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46
jaguar
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| n.美洲虎 | |
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47
beads
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| n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链 | |
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48
quills
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| n.（刺猬或豪猪的）刺( quill的名词复数 )；羽毛管；翮；纡管 | |
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49
strands
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| n.（线、绳、金属线、毛发等的）股( strand的名词复数 )；缕；海洋、湖或河的)岸；（观点、计划、故事等的）部份v.使滞留，使搁浅( strand的第三人称单数 ) | |
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50
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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51
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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52
cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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