The Texas Almanac for 1861 Page: 74
336 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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74 TEXAS ALL&XA.
THE TEXASB FLAG_
THE insignia of a nation always originate in its infant struggles for existence or
independence, and may pass through many forms and changes before they assume a
fixed character, or become permanently adopted and' known. Pace, language, an-
cestral or poetic recollections, and commercial intercourse would doubtless give di-
rection to sentimental as well as practical thought among a young community. The
fable of Romulus and the wolf was sung in ballads, ages before history recorded it;
but, to the Romans of Virgil's day, it was consecrated by time, and the cultivated
minds that could detect the imposture, yielded willingly to the charm of the poetry
that hallowed it. Few Englishmen of our time would boast of the true character of
their national patronymic, St, George ; and the moral propriety of the Black Prince's
retort, " Honi soit qui neal ype ase," which now emblazons the arms of England,
would hardly save the reputation of any young gentleman who should return the
garter of a frail beauty in a modern ball-room.
When the American colonies began their career, the fabulous age was past. The
stars and stripes have no exotic or mythological origin, and our eagle is a native bird,
The homeward-bound mariner greets his country's flag at sea, as the symbol of pres-
ent power, not traditional renown ; and our emblematic bird is honored above all
the vulture tribe for the fierce shrillness of his scream and the strength of his
clutch.
The Spanish invasion of this continent differed essentially from the English. Fresh
from the conquest of the Moors, in which their military organization and pride of
soldiership had been trained for centuries, they followed in the wake of Columbus,
and landed among races that were Asiatic in the despotism of their governments,
and the effeminacy of their people. The natives were subdued through their imagi-
nations, by the fire-arms and horses of the Spaniards, whom they believed to be cen-
taurs, armed with celestial weapons. The Spaniard was in his chivalrous and poetic
epoch, and he gracefully interwove the traditions of the country into the narrative
of his conquest, to enhance, if possible, the wealth that dazzled him.
The English Colonist fought step by step from the coast to the mountains, against
an Indian of the noblest type-too proud to serve, and incapable to rule. From
Philip of Pokanoket to Osceola, history shows no sterner patriotism, or bolder war-
riors; and the invader, Saxon and Celt, unwilling either to mix his blood, or divide
his sovereignty, fought and toiled, slowly but surely, to-his conquest. Thus the
English destroyed, while the Spaniard subjected and incorporated the Indian.
When Mexico revolted from Spain, it was natural they should seek their national
emblems among their aboriginal fables. The native element predominated in the
population, and its resentments were strongest and most easily awakened against the
haughty invader. It is noticeable, too, that the eagle was the chosen symbol of na-
tive independence, and was derived from the oldest and most venerated of their tra
ditions. But it was the most ignoble of its species ; its talons do not clutch the arrows
of Jove, but a hissing serpent writhes in its beak. It is not on the wing, "abroad in
the van of its brood," but crouched and cowering in a nopal bush, hardly above the
earth, from which it has just snatched its crawling prey. Are not the instincts of a peo-
ple the key to their history ? Is not the Spaniard now suffering the penalty for having
forgotten the dignity of his race and mixed his blood with an inferior caste ? Let the
Guachupin; whose Castilian purity made him the first victim, answer, and let the
misguided negrophilist of our own country profit by it. Capacity for self-government
is the priceless boon of few of the sons of Adam. Mexico under her Indian princes
was a congenial despotism; under the viceroys, her mongrels bore the lash with
spaniel submission; and her miscalled Republic has been one long riot, in which she
has only been surpassed, in rapine and bloodshed, by her emulous sister of Hayti.
We may almost fix the day when, if left to themselves, they will either expire by
mutual destruction, or reproduce the original despotism of the Montezumas and the
King of Dahomey.
We have been thus prolix because the origin and history of the Lone Star flag of
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The Texas Almanac for 1861, book, 1860; Galveston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth123767/m1/74/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.