The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 14, July 1910 - April, 1911 Page: 183
348 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Stephen F. Austin: A Memorial Address
183
would bring his ashes from their resting place near the gulf and
deposit them here in the State cemetery, where she has buried many
of her illustrious dead. We are about to see that wish accom-
plished, and by your indulgence, and at the request of Austin's
kindred and a joint committee of the Legislature, I will now speak
of his life and services.
Liberty, regulated by law, was won for us by men of a past gen-
eration, and inasmuch as it was the most valuable heritage they
could bestow, by so much it is our duty to perpetuate a knowledge
of when, how, and by whom it was secured, and thus preserve the
record of their services before it is obscured and clouded by tradi-
tion. In the evolution of our race the curtain is about to rise on
an era in which the achievement of an invading conqueror will no
longer attract, and when the people will bow with reverence only
before the shrine of those who devoted their lives to the enfranchise-
ment of man, or to lifting him up to a higher plane of knowledge.
He whose coffined remains repose in that casket was the great lead-
ing pioneer of an advancing civilization in Texas.
Before reviewing his eventful career, indulge me while I speak
of his birth and early life. He was born one hundred and seven-
teen years ago, at Austinville, in the mountains of Virginia, on the
third day of November, 1793, the year when George Washington
was elected President for his second term. He went, when yet a
child, to the wild territory of northern Louisiana, where he became
familiar with the dangers of a frontier life. His education was
finished in Lexington, Kentucky, and there, while still a youth, he
attracted the attention of Henry Clay. His first public service was
in the Legislature of the Territory of Missouri, when he was hardly
old enough to be eligible. There he met Senator Thomas H. Ben-
ton, through whose influence, and that of Mr. Clay, he was ap-
pointed, before he was thirty years old, United States judge for the
Territory of Arkansas.
The present era in which man is exploring and utilizing all the
forces of nature had not dawned when Austin grew to manhood.
No steam vessel was seen on the river or the ocean; no thread was
spun in a cotton factory; no railways were in the world; and
though Franklin had brought electricity from the clouds, the tele-
graph and telephone were unknown.
The revolution of the American colonies in 1776 had startled the
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 14, July 1910 - April, 1911, periodical, 1911; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101054/m1/207/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.