modest and unassuming manners, carried the force of conviction with the charm of integrity..

"Had Thomas J. Rusk lived, he could have reached any official position in this Union to which he would have aspired. Retiring in his disposition, it was with difficulty that his own best friends, who knew and appreciated his true worth, could induce him to accept the honors they were ever ready to confer upon him. Social and domestic in his habits-warm in friendship and devoted in his attachments-he preferred the quiet joys of a private life at home to the noisy plaudits of the multitude abroad; yet while he sought not the latter at any time, he often yielded the former at the call of his constituents, and for the benefit of his country. But the death, last year, of the life-long partner of his bosom, who had shared with him the sorrows of exile and the dangers of revolution, as well as the pleasures of honorable distinction and pecuniary prosperity, seemed to unnerve him for the conflict of a public career, and cause him to shrink from the world into the sacred retreat of home. It was to him like the rupture of his strong heart-sinews, and the tearing asunder of the chords of life. Other causes may have contributed to his fatal despondency, but this was undoubtedly the heaviest weight of sorrow that dragged him down to death. Only noble and sensitive natures are capable of such depth and intensity of woe. Let us throw the white veil of charity over the scene of his final struggle. Let us wash away that purple stain with the fast-flowing tears of sympathy. With reverence let us consign that noble form to the mausoleum of the past, and with gratitude inscribe upou the tablet of our memory the record of his manly virtues and his patriotic deeds."

We add a few paragraphs from the eulogy pronounced on Rusk, in the Hall of the House of Representatives of Texas, November 7th, 1857, by Chief Justice Hemphill:

"His deep interest in railroad improvements, and his efforts and services in giving an impulse to the great line which is to span the continent, and link the Atlantic and Pacific together as with bands of iron, were most important, but are too familiar to have been forgotten, or even obscured in the recollection.

"He was rarely absent from his post in the Senate. With untiring assiduity he examined thoroughly the questions before that body, and his opinion when formed, especially on subjects before committees to which he was attached, had a force almost irresistible.

"No man ever served in public life more entirely free from even the suspicion of corrupt, mercenary, or improper motives. With integrity, purity and singleness of purpose, he devoted his great talents to his country, unswerved by selfish designs, or the impulses of an ill-regulated ambition. He was endowed with moral courage in an eminent degree. As an illustration, on the boundary question, he expressed his determination to vote for a proposition which he thought Texas might with honor accept, though, from information on which he relied, he felt conscious that by so voting he would forfeit his seat in the Senate. This anticipation, happily for the country, proved to be groundless. Texas did accept the proposition. But his resolution showed that even against a justly indignant public sentiment

-but exasperated in his opinion to such a degree as to be deaf to the sug gestions of prudence—he had a spirit which could boldly stand up for what he deemed the true honor and interests of the State, though at the risk, nay, the certainty of the sacrifice of himself.

"He was generous, magnanimous, brave and humane. He was largely endowed with that fine electric quality which seems the gift of nature—the result, perhaps, of a rare combination of the higher qualities of the intellect and of the heart, which inspires confidence, and exerts, in a mystical way, a control over surrounding persons; which exacts obedience from a soldier more from attachment and a high and implicit trust, than from the force of discipline; which, in the hour of danger, draws all to him as the pilot who must weather the storm; which arbitrates and settles the difficulties of others, makes friends everywhere without effort, and in legislative assemblies, gives an influence which no mere talent, intellect, energy or efforts to please can ever possess.

"General Rusk had all the essentials of genuine eloquence. He mastered the strong points of the subject-had clear conceptions, sound practical common-sense views. These were expressed with clearness, force, simplicity, directness, and with a bold and impassioned earnestness if required by the occasion, and these, aided by his lofty presence, full voice, and beaming and expressive countenance, seldom failed to propel the minds of his hearers before him, and produce conviction, the object of all eloquence.

"Without discussing particularly his character as a lawyer and as a judge, we may say that he combined the important elements necessary to constitute a great lawyer. He had a thorough knowledge of the principles of the law a vast fund of common sense, a familiar acquaintance with the springs of human action-a spirit of investigation carried to any extent required to enable him to master the great points in the facts and law of the cause.

"In his private relations, he was hospitable and kind, beloved of all his neighbors. He lived in patriarchal simplicity. All were welcome at his house; the humblest visited him, and were equally welcome and at home with the richest and greatest of the land. In the words of a friend, beneyolence and kindness were more conspicuous in him than in any man he ever knew. He was deeply affectionate and tender in his family circle; no word of unkindness to any member of his family was ever heard to flow from his lips. His wife, the partner of his bosom in youth and in age, in misfortune and in prosperity, was cherished by him with an indescribable fervor and depth of tenderness, love and affection; and her death in the previous year was a blow to his heart from which he never recovered. But it avails not to enumerate his virtues, public or private, or his services, or the hopes of his country untimely blighted. He is gone! so far as a great man who lives in the imperishable records of his country's history can die. He has left us a bright heritage of liberties won by his valor, and sustained and invigorated by the wisdom of his counsels, and he has left a glorious example of exalted abilities and noble virtures all devoted to the service of his country.

"The manner of his death is the only shade on the grand and brilliant

picture of his long, glorious and useful life. He had been weak and sick for some time. The death of his wife had been to him a crushing affliction. His grief, acting through the disordered state of his physical system, produced such an increasing degree of gloom and melancholy, as finally to weaken the control of reason, and in a moment of temporary insanity to produce the melancholy catastrophe which has filled the country with lamentation and woe. Let the tears of sympathy flow for this sudden collapse of one of the finest of mental organizations, striking as it did from life and from his country forever, one of her most illustrious and venerated patriots and statesmen.

"Death cometh to all as surely as the sun runneth his daily course, but it cannot obliterate the services which this great man has rendered to his country. It cannot diminish the brightness of his memory, shining as a star in the political heavens, and exerting for ages in the future its benign agency over the political destinies of the people. But, fellow-citizens, I will not attempt to detain you longer by this feeble tribute to the memory of the deceased. We may not look on his like again. His place may be filled, but who can fill the void in the hearts of his countrymen? We may, however, attempt to imitate his example, to emulate his virtues, to love our country with devoted, uncalculating affection, to give it our hearts and souls, and if necessary, 'the first and the last drop of blood that runs in our veins,' to sustain the honor and rights of our beloved State against all opposition and to every extremity, and to fervently hope with him that this mighty, this growing Republic, may be perpetuated over a people enjoying all the blessings of liberty, and all the beneficent glories of a union of patriotic fraternal feeling, and of constitutional and equal rights."

RUSSELL, WILLIAM J.-A native of North Carolina; came to Texas in 1826; in 1832, gathered with the indignant citizens to demand of Bradburn, at Anahuac, the release of Jack, Travis, and others, whom he had arbitrarily arrested. Russell was sent with John Austin to Brazoria for a cannon. Ugartechea, at Velasco, refused to let the cannon pass that place. Austin determined to attack the fort. Russell participated in the fight as captain of the vessel on which the cannon had been placed for transportation to Anahuac. In 1838, he represented Brazoria county in the Senate. After annexation, Captain R. removed to Fayette county, which he represented in the Legislature in 1849; he was also for several years Chief Justice of that county. He is President of the Texas Veteran Association, and resides in Austin.

SANTA ANNA, Antonio LOPEZ DE.-The connection which this distinguished Mexican General and statesman had with Texas affairs renders it proper that a brief summary of his life should be given. He was born at Jalapa in 1798, and early in life became distinguished as a leader among the Republican patriots who were seeking to throw off the Spanish yoke. In 1822, he assisted in expelling the Royalists from Vera Cruz, and the next year pronounced against Iturbide, who had proclaimed himself Emperor. In 1828, he took the field against Pedraza and secured the elevation of Guer

rera to the Presidency, during whose administration Santa Anna had the portfolio of War. In 1830, he was an active partisan of Bustemente, who was elected President; and, three years later, Santa Anna was himself elevated to the Presidential chair. He now deserted the party with which he had always acted, and formed an alliance with the Church, or Reactionary party. On the 3d of October, 1835, he issued his celebrated order dissolving the Legislature, and virtually establishing a military despotism. We need not recount his experiences in Texas! Suffice it to say, that he attempted to justify the Alamo slaughter on the ground of the stubborn resistance of the garrison; but even this poor excuse cannot be offered for the slaughter of Fannin and his men, who were put to death in cold blood after they had surrendered as prisoners of war. That was a butchery-barbarous and wholly unjustifiable on any principles of civilized warfare.

The most perplexing question that agitated the government of Texas ad interim was the disposition of the captive President of Mexico, after his capture at San Jacinto. Not a few of the leading men-among them Lamar, Potter, Sherman, W. H. Jack, Mosely Baker, and many of the officers of the army-thought he ought to be tried by drum-head court martial; while Burnet, Houston, Rusk and others contended, as he had been recognized as a prisoner of war, and had ordered Filisola to retreat, since his capture—an order that General was but too willing to obey, Santa Anna ought to be sent home, as had been agreed upon in the treaty with President Burnet. As we have elsewhere said, it was thought the schooner Passaic entered the Brazos with a plan for rescuing Santa Anna and his suite, who were prisoners at Orazaba. When this failed, it was reported that the discouraged prisoner attempted to take his own life by poison.

When he reached home, after his ill-starred Texas campaign, he was coldly received, and retired at once to his hacienda, at Mango de Clavo. He was in the army again in 1858, and in a battle at Vera Cruz, in which the French were handsomely repulsed, but in which he lost a leg.

In 1841, at the head of 10,000 men, he pronounced against Bustemente; defeated that General, and became virtual Dictator of Mexico; but was overthrown and banished in 1845. During the invasion of the country by the army of General Scott, Santa Anna was recalled, and it is confidently as serted that the American blockading fleet permitted him to land under the pledge that he would speedily negotiate a treaty of peace-a promise like that made to the Texans, on the battle-ground of San Jacinto, which he made no effort to fulfill. He at once took the command of the army, and was in the battle of Buena Vista, February 22d, 1847; Cerro Gordo, April 18th; Contrereras, August 19th; Churubusco, August 20th, and Molino del Rey, September 9th; after which Scott's army entered the City of Mexico. Santa Anna, though he had displayed his youthful energy in mustering his forces for these consecutive battles, had been defeated, and retired to voluntary exile; and the Americans had, literally, to create a government with which they could establish terms of peace.

Santa Anna was recailed to Mexico, and restored to power in 1853. This time he was appointed President for life, with the privilege of naming his successor. A successful revolution having occurred, he abdicated August 16th,