The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 47, July 1943 - April, 1944 Page: 328

BOOK REVIEWS
Charles DeMorse: Pioneer Editor and Statesman. By Ernest
Wallace. Lubbock (Texas Tech Press), 1943. Pp. v+271.
$3.00.
Charles DeMorse was born in Massachusetts, January 31,
1816, and died at Clarksville, Texas, October 25, 1887. Pro-
fessor Wallace expresses in his preface a just characterization
of DeMorse's public service. "No one service of DeMorse," he
says, "has great magnitude, but the myriad of services which
he performed should place him among those whose life's records,
so closely interwoven with that of the history of Texas, should
be preserved."
DeMorse arrived in Texas somewhat casually on March 2,
1836, and a few days later was made lieutenant of marines on
the schooner Independence. His ship carried President Burnet
from Galveston Island to Velasco after the battle of San Jacinto,
and he saw there the excitement aroused by the effort of the
government to return Santa Anna to Mexico in accordance with
the terms of the Treaty of Velasco. In July, 1836, he resigned
from the Navy, joined the army and was appointed a major
by General Rusk. Following Houston's demobilization of the
army in 1837, DeMorse practiced law in Matagorda. He moved
to Austin early in 1839, was appointed to a minor political office
by President Lamar, became reporter of the House of Repre-
sentatives and edited a little newspaper, probably The Daily
Bulletin. Members of Congress from northeast Texas urged
him in 1842 to establish a paper in the Red River region and
offered to help him finance it. In response to this somewhat
unusual overture, he established The Northern Standard at
Clarksville and began his life work.
The Standard was in operation, with some intermissions,
from 1842 until 1887, and DeMorse came to be recognized as
one of the notable editors of his day. He maintained an un-
usually good news service, and many of his editorials were sum-
marized or quoted by Niles' Register, the national weekly of
its day.
Professor Wallace finds a natural organization for his study
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