Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas Page: 660 of 894
762 p., [172] leaves of plates : ill., ports. ; 30 cm.View a full description of this book.
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562
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
ever been reported by any other Supreme Court
Reporter in the United States.
In 1876 he was elected to the Senate without
opposition and was twice re-elected. During this
term of service he framed the present jury law
which was a great improvement upon that previously
in force and which no subsequent Legislature has
been able to improve. He was also champion of
the law that established the State University and
drew all the acts which gave it its permanent
endowment. He also framed the school law, while
chairman of the Committee on Education, that
established what was known as the "Community
System," which continued until the establishment
in recent years of the " District System." The
various measures for rebuilding and enlarging the
asylum for the insane, and the educational institutions
for the deaf and dumb and for the blind,
were originated and pushed to enactment by him.
All the laws under which the Texas State Capitol
were erected were framed by Judge Terrell, and so
careful was the system of checks and supervision
provided by law, that the splendid granite capitol
was finished complete under the original contracts,
without a deficiency. His influence was felt in
every direction and he left his impress upon very
nearly all of the important legislative work that
was accomplished. Judge Terrell was chairman
of the Judiciary Committee of the Senate for eight
years. After securing the passage of laws for the
construction of the State capitol, Judge Terrell was
again elected to the State Senate, with the avowed
object of securing the establishment of a State
University. Its establishment had been required
in the constitution of the Republic of Texas and
of the State for over forty years, but the jealousy
of the different sections of so vast a State had
prevented its location. An inspection of the journals
of the Senate show that the bill which finally
established the State University, was introduced
by Senator Buchanan of Eastern Texas. It was
almost the copy of a bill introduced formerly in
the House, by Representative, afterwards Congressman,
Hutchison, of Houston, and may be regarded
as the joint work of 0. H. Cooper, afterwards
State Superintendent of Education, Mr. Hutchison
and Judge Terrell. The original bill, which became
law, was in Judge Terrell's handwriting.
Senator Buchanan, as Judge Terrell's friend, introduced
the bill. At the close of his last term in
the Senate, Judge Terrell declined re-election, at a
time when he could have been returned without
opposition. In 1888 he was made Democratic
Elector for the State at large and did yeoman service
in unifying the party, in disseminating aknowledge of fundamental principles and in securing
an overwhelmning majority for the party's
nominees. In 1891 he was elected a member of
the House of Representatives, from Travis County,
without offering himself as a candidate, and after
his published declaration that he did not wish the
position and would not electioneer for it. The
majority accorded him was the largest ever received
by a candidate in Travis County. It was
at this session that he perfected the railroad commission
bill. He also aided in the passage of other
and much needed legislation.
In 1883 Judge Terrell was married to Mrs. Ann
H. Jones, formerly Miss Ann H. Holliday. He has
three living children: Mrs. Lilla Rector, and two
sons.
Judge Terrell delivered a speech at the laying of
the corner-stone of the magnificient granite State
capitol, in 1885, and read a poem in Latin, that
was inscribed upon a bronze plate, which was deposited
in the receptacle in the corner-stone. The
oration was a superb effort and well suited to the
occasion and the poem is said by competent Latin
scholars to be worthy of perpetuation for aftertimes
in a language that has been handed down to
us by the immortal lyric strains of Ovid and Horace.
He has delivered by special request many addresses
before colleges and literary and learned
societies, and delivered many speeches in the discussion
of problems that confront the people or
that he knew would in the coming years demand
solution at their hands. There are many who remember
his speech delivered many years ago, in
the Opera House at Austin, and published under
the title of "The Cormorant and the Commune."
No man who has a copy of it would part with it for
love or money. This was only one among many
equally striking utterances, the echoes of which
still reverberate through the land, or have grown
and deepened into the thunderous diapason of
popular demands that cannot and will not be
silenced until justice is done.
In every campaign, State and national, until his
appointment as Minister to Turkey, his views were
eagerly sought, and he was looked to as a leader.
His fame is national and international. His wisdom
and patriotism are approved. He has helped to
make a large and important part of the history of
Texas. The State is proud of it and the nation's
representative at the most important court in the
East, and, when his term of service has expired,
will right gladly welcome him home again.
It is to be regretted that he has retired from
politics, and manifests no disposition to again enter
the arena.
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Brown, John Henry. Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas, book, 1880~; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth6725/m1/660/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.