places, they soon become brutes. Hence the first law of
God, the church, and the state has ever been to secure happy
homes.
554 TirE Life axd Wettings of
The causes of unhappy homes is clearly seen in the fall
of General Houston. It was a marriage utterly wanting in
congeniality, and only for ambition. The beautiful bride was
eighteen years old; the bridegroom was thirty-six. She had
been brought up amid all the elegancies of a fashionable
home. He had been brought up in poverty, in the wilder-
ness among the Indians, and had a loathing for th e restraints
and shams of fashionable life. Colonel Allen had served
one term in Congress with General Houston and admired
him greatly, and was ambitious to see his lovely daughter
become the wile of the Governor and the man who some day
might be President of the United States. Two more uncon-
genial hearts never joined hands before the hymeneal altai-.
The result was bitter disappointment, fault-finding, heart-
breaking, and early separation, AVhile a student in Nash-
ville University I boarded with a cousin of Mi's. Houston,
and he gave this among many illustrations of their domestic
misery.
He said : "One evening when cousin Eliza was worn
out by fashionable dining and throngs of company, and was
seeking a little rest, a fashionable gossip entered the Gover-
nor's mansion, and she exclaimed involuntarily: 'Oh, yon-
der comes that horrible Mrs. S to bore me to death.
I wish she would stay at home or torment somebody else.'
Yet she sprang up, adjusted her beautiful toilet, put on her
sweetest smiles, and met 'the horrible Mrs. S ' with a
kiss and protestations of joy at her coming." (This may
seem incredible to some of my female hearers, but I give it
as I received it.) "That night General Houston rebuked
her sharply for such insincerity, and as the discussion grew
warmer he said : 'Such conduct is nothing but base hypocrisy
and lying, and unworthy the Governor's mansion;' which
caused my beautiful cousin to weep all night."
The second cause was the perversion of "the freedom of
speech and the press," or the unbridled abuse of public men.
It is a humiliating fact that hundreds of men feel it is one
of the highest privileges of freemen to criticise and abuse
our rulers. General Houston had just entered the canvass
for second term as governor. His opponent was the dis-
tinguished ex-Governor Carroll, who had served two terms
Dr. Eufus C. Burleson. 555
as governor and was a candidate for a third. Scores and
hundreds of men who had failed to get office under IIous-
ton were clamorous for Carroll, and scores who held office
under Houston, fearing that Carroll might be elected, were
as silent as the grave. A thousand vile tongues and penny
Bdribblers, envious of Houston's great popularity, turned
loose on the man who had been the most popular governor
of Tennessee. Every virtue was distorted, every mistake
magnified ten fold. These slanderous tongues and pens, and
especially the base ingratitude of friends, were to the sensi-
tive heart of Houston terrible as the sting of the scorpion
or the fang of the adder. Added to all these, some of Hous-
ton's friends believed that Carroll would be elected. But
there was a third and more terrible cause than even a mis-
erable home and the fierce attack of politicians. That evil
was the wine cup and the saloon. Wine suppers and treating
in saloons had become a baneful part of political and social
life, and the strong nerves and mighty brain of Houston
were unstrung and beclouded by strong drink. His worst
passions were aroused, "the whole course of nature was set
on fire of hell." Under these terrible influences he fought
a duel with General White and was challenged to fight Colonel
Irwin. He was utterly disqualified, mentally, morally and
physically to meet the duties and perils of the hour at home
and abroad, l^o human being who has not studied pro-
foundly their history or experienced their bitterness can form
the faintest conception of the power of these three great
eating cancers.
King David, "a man after God's own heart," who never
felt a tithe of the evils our Houston did, in bitterness of
soul cried out : "Oh ! that I had a place in the wilderness,
a place for wayfaring men ; Oh ! that I had the wings of a
dove, I would fly away and be at rest."
Who can wonder that our hero, goaded by these calam-
ities, deserted a miserable home, abandoned his office as Gov-
ernor, cursed the hollow shams of fashionable life, and sought
refuge in the mlderness ?
While we drop a tear for the fallen hero, let us not
forget that these three eating cancers are today gnawing at
556 The Life and Writings of
the hearts of hundreds and thousands of our citizens. It is
an appalling fact that last year 1,750 divorces were granted
in Texas. In one county there were an equal number of
divorces and marriages; and I hope another marriage ^vill
never occur in that county till the morals of the people im-
prove. If Texas continues her downward course in infamy
she will equal Chicago, where it is said that railroad con-
ductors cry: ^'Twenty minutes for dinner and divorces."
But, fellow-citizens, let us as Christians, patriots and
statesmen, blot out these cancers. Let us place these three
evils, more dreadful than cholera, smallpox and yellow fever,
under eternal quarantine.
First, let us educate our whole people to higher and
profounder views of marriage. Let parents, preacliers, teach-
ers and statesmen all combine in this glorious work. Let
us teach the people, from the cradle to the grave, that God,
amid the' bowers of Eden, ordained marriage for the happi-
ness of man and the foundation of society. He declared the
husband and wife should become "bone of one bone, flesh
of one flesh, and blood of one blood."
He commands every man "to love his wife even as his
own flesh," and to leave father, mother (and office) and all
the Avorld for his wife. And each must admire the other's
excellencies, bear Avith each other's failings, and love each
other next to God himself. All marriages for money, ambi-
tion or convenience are abominations to God and are legal-
ized adultery. N'othing but congeniality of tastes and dis-
position, ripening into undying devotion, can be the bond
of marriage.
All true love springs from the heart, is guided by the
intellect and limited by conscience. Every young man and
young woman should be profoundl}^ penetrated with the
conviction that marriage should never be entered into thought-
lessly or from impulse, but from deep and earnest considera-
tion and consultation with parents or guardian, and prayer
to God; for the wisest of all men says : "A good wife is from
the Lord."
After parents and teachers and preachers have done
their dutv you honorable senators and Ico-islators, have a
Dr. Kufus C. Burleson. 557
great duty to perforin by enacting laws to guard the sanctity
of home, forbidding all runaway marriages, and punishing
every violation of marriage with confinement in the peni-
tentiary. Finally, amend the constitution after the model
of grand old South Carolina, which utterly forbade all
divorces. When all this has been attained our homes will
be Edens of joy and the foundation of church and civiliza-
tion, and our land will be the happiest that the sun visits.
Let us correct the second grand evil by teaching our whole
people that God says: "Thou shalt not speak evil of the
ruler of thy people," and commands us to pray for all who
are in authority "and honor them as God's ministers," ap-
pointed for the good of society, that "we may lead a peaceable
life in all godliness." Let us teach our people that our presi-
dents, governors, judges, senators and legislators are repre-
sentatives of God himself and the sovereignty of the people.
The man that reviles Governor Hogg reviles Texas, and he
that reviles Grover Cleveland reviles the whole United States.
In violation of these great duties to God and our native land,
things were said against the Governor of Texas and the Presi-
dent of the United States in the late political canvass that
should cause the darkness of midnight to blush.
While God and our highest duties as citizens may re-
quire us to criticize the conduct of our rulers, we should do
it with the courtesy due the representatives of the sovereignty
of our beloved State and Nation. In 1872 I wrote over two
hundred letters to beat Hon. E. J. Davis for governor, and
yet I never uttered a disrespectful word against him. This
indiscriminate reviling of our rulers, and utter want of re-
spect, is fast plunging our nation into anarchy. I do not
wonder that such slanders aided in driving the sensitive
Houston into exile, but I wonder that they do not drive
hundreds of others to follow his example.
But the last great evil or eating cancer of our body
politic is the saloon and the wine cup. I heard General
Houston say, in a great prohibition speech, at Huntsville, in
1848 : "The wine cup and the saloon were the causes of
my early ruin, and they are to-day ruining more homes and
young men_, and more statesmen, than any other evil in
America." And with a clarion voice he cried : "Mothers,
558 The Life and Writings of
fathers, Christians, statesmen, rise up and let ns blot these
fearful curses from Texas and our native land." Oh, that
the voice of our Houston could speak from his grave at
Huntsville and arouse every Christian, every statesman to
battle against these giant evils. And though I am nearly
70 years old, I do not despair of our country. I expect to
live to see the day when there shall not be a divorce, a reviler
of public men or a saloon in Texas. Then Texas, from the
Sabine to the Kio Grande, will be filled with the happiest
homes, the noblest men and the purest women between the
oceans. But while we drop a tear of pity for our fallen
hero in his Indian exile home, let us not forget to rejoice
that "God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to per-
form; He plants His footsteps in the sea and rides upon the
storm." The Bible declares that "He causes the wrath of
man to praise Him, and the remainder of wrath He re-
straineth." That AUwise Providence overruled the wicked-
ness of men to prepare Houston to become the savior of
Texas. His rude home among the Indians gave him a
knowledge and power over the 30,000 Indians bordering on
Texas that did more to save Texas than the battle of San
Jacinto. That kind Providence wisely provided the exile
Houston a "lodging place in the wilderness." As soon as
the venerable chief of the Cherokees, Oulooteka, then 65
years old, heard of his coming, he took his whole family
and went out to meet him, and throwing his arms around
him, said: "My son, I am glad to see you; I heard a dark
cloud had fallen on your pathway of glory, and you had
turned your thoughts to my wigwam, that had sheltered you
in boyhood. I am glad. It was done by the Great Spirit.
There are many wise counselors in your nation, but we are
in trouble and threatened with ruin, and the Great Spirit has
sent you to take away trouble from us." Oulooteka was the
father of Bowles, a young Cherokee chief, that brought a
colony to Texas and settled between the E'eches and the
Angelina rivers; but having no title from the Mexicans, and
becoming a great nuisance to the people of Eastern Texas,
he was killed and his people driven beyond the Ked river
by Thomas J. Kusk, John H. Keagan, General Burleson and
other Texas heroes.
Dr. Kufus C. Burleson. 559
General Houston spent three years among the Indians.
He studied their character profoundly and gained their con-
fidence as no other man ever did, except AVilliam Penn. He
attended their great councils, but took no part, except to give
advice privately. But his righteous soul was so outraged by
the frauds of our government agents on the poor Indians, he
consented to go with their chiefs to Washington, to remon-
strate against these outrages; but, alas, nothing could be
done. "Too many of the jury had got a share of the beef."
One of the secret and powerful advocates of these public
thieves was Mr. Stansberry, a congressman from Ohio. He
was so stung by the scathing rebuke of General Houston
he resolved to attack him on the streets, and, perchance,
murder him. For this purpose he armed himself with a
pistol and attacked him; but with one blow of an "honest
hickory stick," Houston felled him to the ground and left
him bleeding and insensible.
Fellow-citizens and Kepresentatives — I am sad to say
that two years ago I was one of an educational committee
to examine into some frauds on the poor Indians by govern-
ment agents and their allies; and I firmly believe, if all the
money stolen from the poor Indians in the last fifty years
could be piled up it would make a pyramid higher than the
dome of this capitol. We found one sect had stolen over
$2,000,000, and because the Indian agent. General Mor-
gan, detei-mined to expose these frauds, he was denounced
by a thousand subsidized editors and orators. Oh ! that we
had a hundred Houstons to scourge these thieves from our
temples of liberty. But General Houston left Washington
more profoundly disgusted than ever with the shams and
political frauds of civilized life. He returned by Blount
county, Tennessee, to visit his aged mother, and to receive
her dying kiss. She threw her feeble arms around his neck,
and kissing him, said: "Oh! my noble son, live for the
benefit of man and the glory of God. Bad as this world is,
let us strive to make it better. I pray God that ypu may re-
member the curse on that man who 'buried one talent,' and
what will be your guilt if you bury ten talents ?" The sweet
odor of that dying mother's kiss and prayer followed him
back to his forest home. Scarcely had he reached the home
560 The Life and Weitings of
of Oulooteka, when a government courier brought him a
dispatch from General Jackson, whom he loved as a father
and reverenced next to God. That dispatch reminded him
that in removing the Cherokees, Choctaws and Chickasaws
to their homes west of Arkansas, the United States had guar-
anteed them protection against the plunders of the Com-
anches and other wild savages. The President therefore re-
quested General Houston to go to San Antonio, Texas, via
Nacogdoches and San Felipe, and hold a council with the
Comanches and their associate bands, and inform them of
the plighted faitk of the United States, and, if need be, the
whole army of the government would be marshalled to protect
the civilized Indians. No mission could have been dearer to
the heart of Houston, and he set out with a small guard on
a journey through the wilderness of more than 1,500 miles.
There were but two houses between Fort Towson and Nacog-
doches. As he stood on the lofty dividing ridge overlooking
the grand valleys of Arkansas and Red rivers, a strange dread
of "coming events cast their shadows before" and filled his soul
with awe. While he stood there, "doubting, dreaming dreams
no mortal ever dared to dream before," his guardian angel,
as he declares, the American eagle, swooped down near his
head, and with loud, beckoning screams, bent his flight
toward the prairies of Texas. Following what he deemed
duty and destiny, he pressed forward. At Nacogdoches he
was received joyfully by scores of distinguished Texans and
old friends, who astonished him by stating that at a public
meeting it was proposed to send a delegation to his forest
home and urge him to come and lead Texas in her fearful
struggle mth Mexico. Houston assured them Texas had
many noble sons of great courage and talents that could lead
her people against the Mexicans. They replied : "We know
Texas has some of the brightest intellects and bravest men
on the continent; yet we have no man who can smite 8,000,000
Mexicans with one hand and hold 30,000 Indians in check
with the other, and guide Texas to her grand destiny."
Houston hurried away from these entreaties of friends, to
the commission assigned him by General Jackson. At Na-
cogdoches he was joined by his friend, James Bowie, who
had just married the beautiful Castilian daughter of Vera-
Dr. Rufus C. Burleson. 561
mendi, of San Antonio, whose name was a magic power
over all the Indians and Mexicans of Western Texas.
By special courier of the United States army the Com-
anche chiefs and all their associate bands met General Hous-
ton as a special messenger of General Jackson in the Council
House at San Antonio. Houston's princely bearing, lofty
courage, long residence among the Indians and his undying
love for the red men were so great that the chiefs all de-
clared "He is a messenger from the 'Great Spirit' to save the
Indian race." After forming a most satisfactory treaty he
returned to ^N^acogdoches. Traveling through the scattered
settlements and broad prairies and fertile valleys he realized
that Texas had been rightly called the Paradise of the Kew
World, and must become the home of a noble people. His
great heart was stirred with the terrible thought that this
beautiful land was about to be deluged in blood and chained
in bondage by Santa Anna, who had just slaughtered two
thousand Mexican patriots at Zacatecas. He was still more
startled upon reaching itvTacogdoches to learn that he had
been elected a delegate to a "consultation meeting" to be
held at San Felipe to consider what was the duty of Texas
in regard to the perils of the hour.
He hurried on to I^atchitoches, La., headquarters of the
United States army under General Gaines, and delivered to
the United States courier his treaty ^vith the Indians, to be
forwarded to General Jackson. What other secret agree-
ments were made with the United States officers and suld^iers
on future contingency no human being will probably ever
fully know, but we may learn something further on. The
convention at San Telipe was composed of brilliant men,
who would have made splendid statesmen in Massachusetts,
Virginia, South Carolina or Georgia, but did not know how
to lay the foundation of a powerful government in the wil-
derness. All kinds of impracticable schemes regarding banks
and commerce were proposed by several brilliant advocates,
some of whom desired a grand banking system similar to
London, IN'ew York or Charleston. Some hot-headed men
wanted to declare immediate and eternal separation from
Mexico and set up an independent republic. Houston, plant-
ing himself upon the eternal bed rock of safety, said : "Gov-
562 The Life and Writings of
ernments long established should not be destroyed for light
and transient causes. Every effort should be made to re-
dress our wrongs before revolutionizing."
He said : "Banks may be good things where commerce
is overflowing and governments are well established, but
curses to a new formative state like Texas."
Stephen F. * Austin, with two other delegates, were ap-
pointed to go to the City of Mexico to present the petition
of Texas to become a separate State of Mexico. That con-
sultation meeting also elected Ilenry S. Smith governor, J.
W. Kobinson lieutenant-governor, and nine councilmen.
General Houston was elected commander-in-chief of the army
to be raised, but he protested earnestly, saying: "I had re-
solved never to hold another office. I came here at the earn-
est importunity of old friends, who assured me their lives
and fortunes, and the lives of their wives and children were
all about to be sacrificed, and implored me to aid tliem in
escaping the threatened ruin." At last he yielded to duty
and destiny. But alas! that advisory committee of nine
councilmen, like many other cabinets, legislators, school
trustees, etc., "clothed with a little brief authority, cut up
such fantastic tricks as make angels weep and devils laugh."
These "nine Solomons," who never smelled gunpowder, in-
formed General Houston that he was to await all orders from
them. They also commanded his subordinate officers not to
obey General Houston's orders unless countersigned by them-
selves. Governor Smith, who had fortunately been "a school-
master" and had some sense, protested against such unheard
of proceedings. He told them that General Houston h:iii
learned Avar at the feet of General Jackson, and that the
general in the field alone must be responsible. But the afore-
said "nine Solomons" proceeded to depose the governor and
assume entire control of Texas — military and civil. As soon
as Houston received their foolish orders he resigned. But
the perils of the hour were so great and fearfully increas-
ing, another and larger convention was called to meet at Wash-
ington, March ist, J88G, and declared "as Santa Anna and
other military despots have overthrown the republican con-
stitution of 1824, under Avhich we immigrated to Texas,
and has established an odious military despotism and are now
Dk. Kufus C. Burleson. 563
sending large bodies of soldiers into Texas to disarm the
citizens and leave them to the tender mercies of 30,000 In-
dians in and near our borders; therefore, resolved, we no
longer owe any allegiance to Mexico." If they had acted
otherwise they would have disgraced their Anglo-Saxon
blood, which had been poured out at Lexington, Yorktown
and New Orleans. The heroes of Texas proclaimed a declara-
tion of independence from Mexico. George C. Childress,
Sam Houston and four others were on the committee to draft
the Declaration of Independence and a Constitution. Hous-
ton moved its adoption and sustained it by a speech of burn-
ing eloquence. Hon. D. C, Burnett was elected president
and General Houston commander-in-chief, and the "nine
smart Alecks" who had figured so disgracefully as an ad-
visory council retired to dark obscurity and have never been
heard from since.
General Houston set out to join the army at Gonzales
on the 10th of March, 1836. The dreadful news that the
Alamo had fallen and the last hero perished, on the 6th of
March, flashed like lightning over Texas. Santa Anna, mad-
dened by eleven days' delay and the loss of 1,600 of his
best troops, resolved to sweep the Texans from the face of
the earth. Wlion General Houston reached the lofty ridge
upon the magnificent valleys and the boundless, beautiful
prairies, he saw scores of old men, women, boys and girls,
fleeing from Santa Anna and his thousand Guatemalean In-
dians, black angels of death, to do his bloody work of mur-
dering men, women and children. The fugitives were on
foot, on horseback and in wagons, driving their stock and
hurrying away from the murderous enemy. As he gazed
on these fugitives from burning homes, he remembered the
words uttered by ^neas to Chorebus on that fatal night
when Troy was burned by the Greeks: "All is lost; you
came to aid a burning, captured city." But as gloomy hor-
rors were filling his soul, his ever-watchful guardian angel,
the American eagle, swooped down over his head and bent
his flight toward San Jacinto, and he knew that victory and
glory were in the east.
Houston hurried on to join the little army of Texans
near Gonzales. Before he arrived two stirring events had
564 The Life akd Wkitixgs of
occurred. The mounted videttes, who had been stationed
near San Antonio to watch the siege of the Alamo, dashed
into the Texas camp on the 7th and shouted: "The Alamo
has fallen and is a smoking ruin, and every hero is dead."
As it was supposed Santa Anna would sweep over Texas like
a tornado, there was a general panic to hurry home and look
after their families. At that crisis the drum beat, and all
soldiers were requested to meet at General Burleson's tent.
He was a plain, unlettered soldier, but made a soul-stirring
speech, closing with the memorable words: '"Thei-mopylae
had her messenger of defeat, the Alamo has none; and so
let it be with all Texas. If Texas goes down in this anequal,
bloody contest for liberty, let no Texan soldier ever cross the
Sabine as a messenger of our defeat. Let every soldier die
as Travis, Crockett and Bowie have, fighting for liberty."
Wild shouts rent the air: "That's just what we will do;
that is just what we will do."
The other event was, Santa Anna sent, on the 8th, "a
messenger of defeat" to the Texas camp, to spread terror and
panic. He mounted Mrs. Dickinson, the only surviving wit-
ness of the butchery of the Alamo, on a mule, with her babe
in her arms, both sprinkled with the blood of heroes. He sent
as her guide the African slave of Colonel Travis. As she
rode into the Texas camp on the 9th, all the soldiers gathered
around her to gaze upon the mournful sight. She shouted,
with her clarion voice : "They all died fighting for liberty,