South-Western American (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 4, No. 13, Ed. 1, Wednesday, October 6, 1852 Page: 1 of 4
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St Democratic Xctuspnpcr Dcuotco to Svjjriciiltnrc JXcms politics auir QLcxan Jfutcrcsts.
($4 at the end of the Year.
VOL. IV.
CITY OF AUSTIN TEXAS. WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 0 1852.
NO. 15
Bastrop August 30th 1S52.
JEJitor of (he Sou'Ii- Western American :
Dear Sir Enclosed herewith 1 send you a copy of
an.address delivered by Judge Paschal at the examination of
tbe students of Bastrop Academy on the 20th inst. which by
his permission we offer for and request the publication of the
same hoping you will extend the'favor.
. Respectfully your obedient serv't
SAM'L W. SIMS.
JUDGE PASCDAL'S ADDRESS.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Three j'eafs before the close of the fast century the Baron
de Bastrop an enterprising Hollander owing to the troubles
Tfhich the French Revolution had caused throughout Europe
solicited the authorities of Spain having the govornment of
-Liouisiana.lor a district of country on the Ouchita nverwhere-
on to establish an asylum for a number of his exiled country
men.
The petition was granted and some initiatory steps taken
by the Government to forward the enterprise. 1 It was how
ever destined to delear. I1 or the same sanguinary revolution
-Which convulsed all Eurone and shook the low countries to
their centre involved Spain in a war with the mtghty Corsi-
can who in Ins brilliant career dealt out Kingdoms and
. crowns to monarebs of his own creation. The fair fields of
Andalusia ran with the blood of her brave hidalgos ; the Pen-
insula wars shook the sceptre of an absolute monarch in his
trembling hand and unable to protect his possessions at home
the crown of Castile relinquished to the first consul of France
(who-ceded the same to the United States) the vast country
from the mouth to the source of the Mississippi river the
Louisiana Territor3" which has since been subdivided into
three sovereign States and a home for the perishing aborigi-
nes The inhabitants who before owed their natural allegiance
to distant monarebs and cried ' God save the King" no mat
ter who wore tbe crown were by this act of civil revolution
declared citizens of the independent American Republic.
Whether or not our free and liberal institutions were dis-
tasteful to the titled Hollander or he foresaw in the change
of government an end to the speculations which others have
since attempted in his name it is certain he prbfered the rule
of the Spanish Vice Roy to liberty under tbe American Eale.
For as early as 1807 he obtained from the Spanish authori-
ties at San Antonio de Bexar a concession for four leagues ot
land just where a gushing volume of chrystal water bursts
from the mountain side the Comal spings swell into a tor-
rent and.transparent as the blue ether tumble into the no less
beautiful and swift flowing Guadalupe.
And it is a coincidence then far beyond the ken of the ad-
Tenturous foreigner that the same 20000 acres of land thus
purchased not as on the Ouachita river for wheat growing
dutch ; but as a pasture for Mexican herds and herdsmen
should in less than two score years afterwards have been se-
lected by a number of united German princes as the Braun-
fels lor their countrymen in the new Anglo-American Repub
lic then the centie of South-western America now.
At a later .period the footsteps of the Baron de Bastrop
i preceded the march of civilization.
Jn 1S2U the hrst pioneer oi comprehensive views Moses
Austin traversed the wilderness from Nachitoches in Louisi
ana to San Antonio de Bexar. Passing over the neb valleys
he sloping hills the ocean prairies uninhabited save by the
frild buflalo and mustang and their still wilder masters the
fefonquered and unconquerable prairie Indians he beholds
ffter days of toil the ancient city of San Antonio rising be
fore him like an oasis in the ru.dst of the desert. He enters
his only seat of tottering Spanish power east of the Rio
rrande and explained his object to establish a colony of
lAmericans within these vast uninhabited wilds.
The Spanish Governor the " little lord of all he surveyed"
for want of "those passports always so necessary in lands of
absolute despotism ordered Austin immediately to depart
from the country.
Austin had known Bastrop twenty years before in the land
of their mutual adoption and through his influence the first
empresario laid the foundation of the colonial system which
in after years so much controlled the destinies of Texas.
The heroic part which Bastrop acted in the revolution
which separated Mexico from Spain the many offices state
and federal which he filled under the government his last
days having been given to the service of his country entitled
his name to a more imperishable record than was ever con-
ferred by the ungrateful Mexican Republic. To the Texas
Congress more grateful was left the honor of changing the
Municipality of Mina into the county of Bastrop and giving
tp the beautiful city on the bank of the delightiul Colorado
the same significant name a name which characterizes it
among its fellows as apioneer which leads in useful improve-
ments. The praiseworthy founders of this institution have
erected a monument to his memory more durable than chang-
ing civil corporations a seat of learning which may become
the Alma Mater of some histoiian who will collect the fading
fngitive materials of a country more eventful than any other
during the same period. Texas is that country. It is so
whether viewed at the point of time already alluded to; or
when less than 20000 souls threw of the thraldom of a mili-
klarv despot declared their independence and presented the
Standard and flag of the Lone Star Republic among tbe na
tions of the earth; or when by a voluntary civil revolution
that star paled not its light but moved forward in the galaxy
and became one in the firmanent of the American confedera
cy. During the short period of this brotheihood the light of
the star ol Texas has not ueen cummeu or oDscureu. iuer
annexation was sufficiently important to produce a war
which irave new slorv and lustre to the American arms ex
tended the area of freedom to the shores of the Pacific
wrested from Mexico the two territories which contain the
golden El Dorado of. the age brought the Chinese trade with-
in our commercial grasp and in a word marked a new era
jn the history of civilization.
INor has it dimmed the well earned glory of Texas that
svhen contending factions had almost shaken the integrity of
the government the elements of discord lowered in a threat-
ening horizon and brother was just ready to war with
brother Texas nobly offered a part of her tei ritory on the al-
tar of peace; and the settlement of her boundary became a
iink in the compromise measures the observance of which
must bind stronger and stronger the fraternal ties of our glo-
rious union.
It is fortunate that amidst so great political events there
are those who survey the whole picture and see that when
physical advancement has far outstripped intellectual im-
provement and the mature in age are engaged in stirring
strife or great undertakings there is danger to liberty and sol-
id happiness.
It profits little that our rich alluvials our mellow prairies
OUr WOOU SKirtea creeKS aim imuuis luuiti wiut lu-vuitaiiiou-
ne yei-
nning
ing; now solving the mystery of numbers as demonstrated by
figure patches.on the slate first displayed in standing columns
next as lesser numbers are substi acted from or divided
though greater until the young mind is enlightened by a rca-
son for a truth which it could not before comprehend and
rules are learned by which the scholar cyphers through the
arithmetic and calculates the whole business of after life :
This class mastering a syntax by which their native tongue
only half learned by wrote assumes an elegance ; that one
making some shady mound of earth a table for an outspread
map and geography on which they trace and fix deep in mem-
ory the great aud minute divisions of sea and land mountain
and river town and country with the manners customs and
characters of tbe inhabitants : if these primary schools be not
interspersed throughout our country our children must not
only grow up with habits of idleness but their ignorance will
render our very prosperity a curse rather than a blessing.
And institutions ol a higher order are equally necessary.
While your industrious boy is mastering the branches already
alluded to he mu-t look forward with fond aspirations to the
higher school where are read Caesar's conquests as recorded
by himself; the sweet measures of Mantua's immortal poet
Virgil ; the eloquent orations of Cicero in his own hoary lan
guage; the Odes and Satyres of Horaco and the roots of that
tongue in which the Apostles recorded the sermons of the Mes-
siah ; iEsop taught by fables and Homer sang ; where sci-
ence is learned by demonstration and experiments and her
paths made easy to the tyro aud pleasing to the lover of truth.
And for those who desire the higher perfection of literature
we must supply the learned University where professors de-
vote their whole lives to study; the ancient and modern foiios
are arranged with artistic hand; the improved labratory sub-
jects every element to the. will of the scientific operator ; po-
lemics and disputations prepare contending rivals for the fo-
rum the senate chamber and the sacred desk ; and honors
are conferred according to the merit of each ambitious aspi-
rant. When wre consider the precocious growth of our wide-spred
country over which a population Irom every clime is sparsely
scattered we have reason to congratulate ourselves that these
necessary advantages to youtn have not been whoily ncg-
lected. From the Gulf shore to the borders of the Louisiana
and Arkansas from San Antonio to Nacogdoches the coun
try school-house often (but ah ! too seldom) greets the eye of
the traveler. And in the lounding and patronising schools
of the higher order Texas has surpassed any other new State.
The ancient Mission of Goliad founded by the monopoli-
zers of learning during a darker age the order of San Fran-
ciscans has been donated to the friends of education every-
where the indefatigable Presbyterians. Their preparatory
high school is already in successful operation and the college
endowed by liberal voluntary donations will be ready for the
first Fieshman Class.
In the rich vallies of the Guadalupe in a town unkown
upon your maps has been founded (at great coat) the Seguin
high school wheie 160 pupils are taught each year whose
progi ess would reflect honor upon many a centenary academy.
Your own institution this Bastrop academy stands as a mo-
nument of the public spirit and munificent libeiality of its
founders the wise selection of the teachers and the ambition
and talents of the scholars.
At Rutersville a highly l espectable college rises like a'nolhcr
lower in the wilderness a living proof that the itinerant
preachers of the Methodist church are the first harbingers
who cry aloud " prepare the way ot the J-iora maice ior mm
dom of the schoolmen lies at the foundation of every amelio-
ration of the time5;.
The student of a month now masters what was the work
of years to our fathers. Sciences are multiplied and a few
uneiring rules lender their acquisition easy. The increase of
our commerce the flocking hither of the oppressed of despot
lands and the march of liteiature in every tongue make-the
acquisition of the modern languages a necessary part of a po-
lite and useful education. A deep study of the philosophy of
thought and nature has brought the linguist and philologist
to the discovery of the common origin and common reason of
all languages. The classification of a few roots and the ob-
servance of a few analogies make harmonious the tongues of
the cold and grave Northman the warm and mercurial South-
ron and the vehement accents of the hordes of the middle
climates : an union of the polite scholars of the world-wide
nations no longer presents the jargon of a sensele-s Babel
but the day of Pentecost without the miracle of "-cloven
tongues like as of fire." 'Tis true genius inspired by science
gives them utterance.
To usher these arts to make easy the path to the many stu-
dents entrusted to your care to watch over their moral and
intellectual training Mr. President and teachers is the pleas
ing task which you have chosen.
The success of this 'our first examination the scientific
skill which you have displayed in bringing forward your
classes and their complete mastery of their respective stud-
ies are the best guaranty for the prosperity of your charge.
Be not discouraged by the contusion of new systems or th&
writing and printing of books of which there is no end. In
selecting the useful and giving the proper direction to the in-
tellectual taste of your students you will find no greater dif-
ficulty among the million volumes of the times than ihe epi-
cure experiences in choosing useful food and raiment from
the great store-house of creation which commerce new
brings within his grasp.
Young Ladies and Gentlemen
To every lover of youth to every philanthropist and friend
of the cause of education the exercises of this week have-
been most satisfactory.
I know not what may have been the advancement of any
of you before becoming students of this institutions. But
all know the difficulty of forming classes out of a number of
scholars thrown heteiogeneously together ; pupils whose
training discipline and aptitude may have been as different
as mental organizations are always dissimilar.
To discover the amount of knowledge the capacity and
ability of each student; to so classify and direct their studies as
to produce wholesome emulation ; to so instruct as to bring
each lesson or lecture within the comprehension of all re
quire a degree of skill labor and patience in the master far
above the calculations ei the unthinking and inexperienced.
It is an error but too common for parents and guardians to
judge wrongly as to vvho is the best teacher. Some form their
opinions from the progress which the pupils make in storing
their memories with something which parrot like they can
repeat; others by the number of studies with which they are
crowded; but far the greater number by the estimation in
which the child holds the teacher. Indeed the foolishly in-
dulgent make the contentment of the scholar a sine qua nort
for the continuance of their patronage. All these guides are
exceedingly fallible. While the exercise of memory is use-
ful it should not be charged with that which is worthless ;
books may be skimmed through so rapidly that nothing valua-
n nC ttipir nnntpnf? will hf "'rptnifiprl irninntrpnnna afnrlino
a straight passage. ... . . . bmav be so multiplied as only to confuse: and the oninions.
And within another day's journey tne louowers oi.tuj ttrf .- r fh .h.r t.wr.B .. tMnua9.'han
A f Unc Rnnflim hano Prptofl '" x"-'-'-"" " ""- -" m -m.v.. xnj w i
still more uncertain test lhc instructor it is true who can
OUr WOOU SKineU CICKH3 aim m-i iui-iii u.uiiuiu.mu
gar cane forest corn-stalks bending with heavy ears the
lr harvest he d. anU tne wnitfi uiounung uuuuii uutviaui
nnn ihe.ir tree- ike stalks. These iruiuui crops may imng
wealth and luxuries into the laps of the adventurous pioneers
who only a few years ago lived by the rifle and the chase.
But if the schoolmaster be not abroad; if the rough log-cabin
with its long plank writing slab lighted by the crack
which opens to the south its rude benches arranged for class-
es who spell " by heart" peep not up amidst the shady grove
beside the coof bubbling spring; and if there he not in and
around it the patient teacher with his juvenile classes now
vieing with each other to ' itand head " in spelling and dofin-
meek teacher who scorned not John's Baptism have erected
and given character to the Baylor Institute worthy of the
wealthy county which bears the name of the "Father of his
country." And the same enterprising Baptists have become
the Almoners of liberal donations by the citizens of a few
wealthy counties and are rearing a college at Tyler intended
to rival all others in the gi eat valley of the Trinity. The lovers
of older and followers of the creed and liturgy of Oxford and
Cambridge have founded a Diocessan school in Grimes
county and placed over its infancy a clergyman whose piety
and perseverance will insure to the Episcopalians academic
honors equal to their highest claims.
At Huntsville the old school followers of the Westminster
confession of faith the men of rigid discipline the liberal pa-
trons of learniug and of the missionary cause have founded a
college and conferred on it the name of the leader ofTexas
pioneers Austin. This monument to his memory w ill survive
when the colonization system the boundaries of every league
headright and of every empiesario grant shall be lost in the
vortex of time. The Marshall University stands as the great
leader in the cauSe of learning in Eastern Texas. At San
Augustine the Independent Order of Masons are the benevo-
lent patrons of an institution whose recent examination af-
forded another gratifying proof of the influence which that
time-honored association often exerts in the cause of philan-
thropy. And it must be gratifying to every Texan that the lovers
of learning have not confined their friendly exertions in be-
half of youth to the valleys of your rivers your wood-skirted
prairies or your high rolling hills. The muses are not alone
propitious in the sylvan wood ; your astronomer rears not his
telescope only on the mountain height; the dreams of your
philosopher are not confined to the -hady forest grove beside
the ripling stream. But your beautiful island city washed by
the Gulf's swelling wave' and girt by the sky bound seas was
the first to adopt the poor man's choice blessing the system
of free schools ; and was emphatically foremost in the cause
of the great equalizer of the rich and poor the Sabbath
school and Sabbatical institutions. There loo an enterpriz-
ing Presbyterian clergyman has established a school of a high
order where are taught several hundied pupils ; there are pat
ronized many private teachers ot the hncr accomplishments;
there the devoted nuns cloistered in a convent give their
whole lives to the instruction of innocent maidens ; a.'d there
the Catholics whose different orders in a dark age saved
learning from total Vandalism and preserved it in the monas
tery and cell of the friar are preparing to lay the loundation
of an university to be upheld by an order perhaps older than
the sands of tbe island which rise above the breakers of the
sea an university which we may well hope will survive all
revolutions among men and only find its grave vwhen in the
hour of the earth's dissolution the romantic island shall be bu-
ried in the angry ocean.
What a commentary is this slight summary of the progress
of the great cause of education in Texas upon the narrow
notions of the bigot and sectarian who believe there is nothing
good beyond his immediate creed. Education is a noble work
in which the zealot of every name may engage with equal
eneigy. The high school by whomsoever taught has nearly
the same classical course for the scholar.
The great ability of many of the teachers engaged in these
and many other institutions and the perfection which has
been attained in the art of instiucting enable those not desi-
rous of the lushest degree of literature to master at home all
that is necessary for the common business of life. Fortunately
Mr. President the task of passing through a regular course
often so discouraging to the tyro is not so formidible as it was
in our day. If the improvements in the art of teaching are
not so often adverted to as the million-tongucd steam-press
the floating steam-palace the iron horse and lightning tele-
graph which realize the fable of girding the earlh if the
works of Webster Goodrich Anthon and Davie are not so
often quoted by the fashionables as those of Bulwer James
and Eugene Sue; if this utilitarian age more appreciates the
inventor of a labor-saving machine than the learned professor
who shortens the course of study yet in their eflects the wis-
win the affections of his scholars has accomplished much ;
but he who can awaken in them a love for their studies is
much more deserving of approbation. The former has pre-
pared the young mind the more cheerfully to follow his will;
the latter has inspired a passion which would soon make a
scholar without the teacher's aid. For the student who is wil-
ling to learn from another there is hope ; he who is ready to
brave the labors of self-culture is already independent of his
master.
Be not too ready young gentlemen and ladies to listen to
the idle and stupid as to what is useless or valuable in edu-
cation. One will tell you to eschew Latin or Greek or the
modern languages and to rely upon the perfection of your
own mother tongue. The more indolent will condemn math-
ematics because of the labor of comprehension. The igno-
rant reject the natural and physical sciences as they would ne-
cromancy. The sombre dullard denounces all light reading
and works of imagination. And should you continue to list-
en to all such friendly advisers you would soon reject the
whole range of science and literature.
It is not my purpose to dwell upon the choice of studies a
woik which your able preceptors have shown themselves em-
inently qualified to direct.
I may say that I am not a full convert to the doctrine that
every boy has a genius for some particular course and that
the bent of his inclination should be consulted to the exclu-
sion of all else. Early indications are often deceptive. The
future poet is not always indicated by the rhymster the phi-
losopher by the disputant the orator by the declaimer nor the
lawyer by the mere cunning knave. Religious enthusiasm
gives no certain security for a life-time of piety ; nor should x
your frolicksome mettlesome boy be condemned as a repro-
bate. There is one certain guide for the teacher and the pupil
which can never fail. Let your faculties be trained to reason
and to think. When you have so far acquired the habit of
application as to thoroughly master any study you need not
fear your ability to learn all that is useful. If you should
hereafter mistake )Our profession or calling all that you will
have learned will only the better prepare you for that course
for which your peculiar genius is particularly adapted. There
is no principle or fact no idea or anecdote which may not be-
come useful in the great play of life.
And remember young ladies and gentlemen that all learn-
ing is too valuable to be acquired without attention labor
and perseverance. A great genius such as Franklin Craw-
ford and the transcended orator and wise statesman whose
recent death has clothed a whole natian in mourning occa-
sionally shoots forth like a comet and has a career among
lesser stars so brilliant that the unthinking deem a classical
course and early advantages almost unnecessary. But they
overlook the fact that such men often are more indebted to an
indomitable will than to the high cultivation of the under-
standing ; or if success be due to the latter then more is ow-
ing to long untiring application such as schools against ad-
versity than to any actual superiority. And may we not
hope that theie is something due to the benevolent charita-
ble and philanthropic principle which ever moves the good
man's breast to lend a helping hand to tho-se who started far
behind in the race 1 A wise Creator certainly never intended
such benefactors as examples to cause those who have more
liberally shared his blessings to neglect precious opportuni
ties. .Let your course ue onwaiu anu rcmcmDer mat tne
spirit of the age is continual improvement. You must not
content yourself with being merely equal to your fathers; but
you must surpass them if you would not lag far behind your
contemporaries.
Citizens of Bastrop
You already deserve well of the surrounding community
for your liberality and public spirit. Your munificence has
indeed been " bread cast upon the waters'' and gathered up
within a few days. Your children will not alone reap the
rich reward but posterity will bless the liberal founders of
this beautiful edifice.
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de Cordova, P. South-Western American (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 4, No. 13, Ed. 1, Wednesday, October 6, 1852, newspaper, October 6, 1852; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth79741/m1/1/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 9, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.