The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 37, July 1933 - April, 1934 Page: 205
330 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Henry Austin
public eye. Stephen F. Austin did not mince words in a letter of
June 27, 1836:
"My sister came down here [Velasco] the other day to embark
for Orleans, but the vessel did not sail . it was the panic
caused by the flight of families last spring which came so near to
losing Texas, and if my sister goes, it will have its influence on
many others-I wish all of my name and connection to stay in
Texas and abide the issue what it may-Your children .
must remain . . . in Lexington but you ought to be HERE""5
On the other hand, Henry Austin, whose early enterprises had
shown that he was by no means a physical coward, was never able to
convince himself that he was deserving of censure because he left
Texas. His age and fast-failing health made it improbable that
he could have been of much value in the field operations of the
army; he had sent two of his employees, armed, equipped, and
mounted at his expense, to join the Texas troops; and it was
necessary, he thought, to go to the United States in order to raise
money for his needy family in Kentucky.68 In New Orleans he
not only advanced a hundred dollars from his meagre funds in
order that the schooner Independence might not be lost to the
service on account of the non-payment of debts, but he also made
numerous speeches in behalf of Texas."9 Finally, he wrote several
letters to various public officials in Texas in which he urged that
the provisional government should make constant efforts to meet
its financial obligations, especially to the Texan agents in New
Orleans, because, said he, "public credit like a woman's reputation
once lost is seldom regained, never without time and difficulty."
He was prompted to write these letters "by the conviction that it is
the duty of every citizen to do spontaneously whatever he may
believe to be serviceable in any degree to the community of which
he is a member."60
Before Stephen F. Austin's death on December 27, 1836, Henry
Austin rendered him a service of note by using his influence to
prevent him from becoming associated in the promotion of the
7"Stephen F. Austin to Austin, June 27, 1836, Austin Papers, III, 371.
"Austin to Holley, March 29, 1836, Henry Austin Papers.
"'Austin to Holley, November 8, 1836, Henry Austin Papers; to M. B.
Lamar, March 29, 1839, Lamar Papers, II, 502.
0"Austin to Asa Brigham and J. S. D. Byrom, March 31, 1836, Austin
Papers, III, 320; to David G. Burnet, April 7, 1836, in Bryan, Hall, and
Ellis, A Vindication (New Orleans, 1836), 15.205
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Texas State Historical Association & Barker, Eugene C. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 37, July 1933 - April, 1934, periodical, 1934; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101094/m1/224/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.