The Texan Mercury. (Seguin, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 28, Ed. 1 Saturday, April 1, 1854 Page: 1 of 4
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.< H. T. BtJSKE, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.
SEGUDÍ, GUADALUPE COUNTY, APRIL 1, 1854.
VOLUME I.—NUMBER XXVIII.
I
*#
I
OUR SPRING COURTS.
term for this cir-
át Payette, under the recent act
of holding courts in the second
have been made to ns as to
of the change and its results. A
( bar here has furnished ns with
of private correspondence,
firm of which he is a member,
as to the change in the
> them in «he hope that
upon the sulgect,
own conclusions
Tex , Feb. 15,1854.
: I received
me that
yon will
there-
• e
It
v
I should
while
cases,
would like to bring
lawyer in
about the
John Stiles.
tráete.,
lurch $,1854,
, Richard Roe
would be
all your queries,
the time of
(follows, tú: The court
.in March at
Bastrop, two
**4js, «me week;
aad Travis nntil business is
yk ; *
.
J
By thb ft win be seen that Comal and
cwrtiw are entirely cut off, and
jadirial district thereby greatly curtailed.
This, however, is bat a light evil when com-
*ith . the conflict of the courts. This
we regard m something wonderful, and
na be inclined to attribute it to
we not acquainted with the originat-
As it is, we regard it simply
in accordance with an old
The conflict is as follows: The dis-
at Georgetown, and at
all sit at the mm time; also, at the
the «queme aad federal courts sit,
r tv years the legislature; so that
hnwe at home, in the fell, afl at once, the
aad federal courts, and the
hüe ,©ur most profitable district
mnm, Williamson and Guadalupe,
at the same time in session. Nor
Comal being out of the district, it
" "* " Burnet and Comal both come
two of the fairest coun-
and emasculating the
every vestige of talent,
ive that we can not con-
We have been annoyed at this change, the
lore so because we believe that the district
*mM have besa easily so arranged as to remedy
- - - -
rin which the affair has been managed,
seem that other motives actuated some
of the bill. We witt not question
r, as they are matters of supreme
We have never for a moment
the change as permanent, aad of
i the next legislature will alter it again, so
that it may operate without such glaring injus-
tice; aad in the mean time we must endure it as
beat we can.
no idea, however, that the head
the bill will ever be present at
its repeal, wdess as a spectator. We can even
dy at the littleness of the
• it, and laugh at the inge-
naity with which the mousing owl has hawked
at the eagle, soarfag in his pride of place, and
broaght him down. And if the moral to be
drapm from the fable of the deer and tprtoise is,
that the slow can win the race, we confidently
predict the total defeat of the Austin bar, as
the rest of the circuit, (at least so says Mrs.
Grundy,) enjoy an almost entire monopoly of
that quality.
In the passage and effect of this bill, we are
reminded of the great king of the forest, being
circumscribed and hemmed in while asleep by a
cunning combination of most of the smaller and
a few of the larger animals, particularly those
noted for the music of their voices and there
peculiar odor or habits, led on in fact by the
ass, the mink, the skunk aad the fox, together
with a few straggling, mangy curs, who br|ng
up the rear; all of whom dissatisfied because
nobody will notice or regard their braying,
yelping and barking, when they can still hear
the roar of the great king. They therefore pro-
pose to force on the rest their importance, not
by muzzling him entirely, but while he is quietfjfc
slumbering, unconscious of approaching danger,
to build a wall around him, and thus confine him
to a particular part of the wood, while they,
awkwardly imitating his appearance and stately
.stride, wül h«h their tails and roar, in hopes of
■receiving from the enraptured audience the
plaudits that Snug the joiner vainly sighed for,
namely for the cry to be raised, " let him roar
again, let him roar again." But in the mean-
while the serious business, that really demands
the attention of a king, is wholly neglected; the
whole wood is an uproar, the inhabitants mur-
mur and do not appreciate the weak imitar
tion, and begin to fancy they distinguish high
above all the rest the bray of the donkey,
loudly asserting his right to the throne. The
whole affair becomes ridiculous, all business is
stopped, the farce has gone quite far enough,
the lion is loosed or frees himself from his chains,
and' once more nature resumes her wonted
serenity, and every thing ¿lides along smoothly
and harmoniously as before his imprisonment.
The scenes in your own district court and
elsewhere, #111 doubtless furnish you a parallel
to the fable we have just narrated. The fact
of your being discontented, we think, was antic-
ipated by the wiseacres who conceded and
brought forth this bill, (if indeed they anticipa-
ted any thing,) for Captain Baylor, m á letter to
the La Grange Monument, dated from this
place, stated that the bill had passed, much to
the discomfiture of the " legal gents here."
But it seems that not only the legal gents here,
but the parties litigant throughout the district
are discontented, and the people also, who
consider themselves quite competent, without
legislative interference, to select those whom
they are willing to entrust with business,
ahd who have never placed so high an estimate
on the legal gents elsewhere as they have placed
upon themselves.
Were it not for the number of courts occur-
ring at one time here, my partner or myself
might make some satisfactory arrangement to
be present at your court; and indeed at the
spring term there will be no discomfiture to
those of us who .have partners, as the seniors
can stay at home and commit the business on
the district to the junior members of the firm.
In fact this will be a positive advantage to the
juniors, as it allows them to sally forth alone
and break a lance with their village competitors.
This, though by no means a very difficult or
exciting exercise, will tend to prepare them for
the contests at home, where some talent is
required.'
In conclusion, you ask, ? if neither of us can
make it convenient to attend court, to suggest
to you some able and safe lawyer in La Grange,
Bastrop,- Lockhart, San Marcos, or San Anto-
nio? This question is an embarrassing one to
answer, and were your pecuniary interests not
involved we would hesitate long before making
any response, for we naturally feel a delicacy in
speaking ill of professional brothers, and when
truth forbids our speaking in commendation of
them, we have sealed our lips in silence. For
this reason we do not remember ever to have
mentioned the La Grange bar in the presence of
strangers, and we will now abstain from any
thing more than throwing out some hints, from
which you can draw your own conclusions. It
has been said that impudence, cool, Siberian im-
pudence, is a sine qua non of a model lawyer.
A large bump of self-esteem, cultivated to such
a pitch as to induce its victims,—Don Quixote-
like,—to desire to wander sixty or eighty miles
from home, for the purpose of tilting with the
ablest champions in the State, is also said to be
desirable. Both these qualities Madame Rumor
has connected with the Fayette bar, who by this
bill are turned loose on the district, not so much
to seek whom they may devour, but seeking
those who will inevitably devour them, if they
are so unfortunate as to stray to the city. It is
also said that they have attributed to themselves
a thorough and scientific knowledge of the law,
that might excite the envy and admiration of old
Story himself. It may be, however, that both
the people and Fayette bar are mistaken: the
people, in attributing to the bar the former qual-
ities, and the bar, in assuming to themselves
extraordinary profundity of legal lore. If, how-
ever, this last charge, though unsupported by
any proof whatever, should be true, we would
fain bid them be of good cheer: now, at last,
are their long-cherished expectations to be real-
ized; and that, having hitherto had little prac-
tice, and still le9s of reputation, at home, and
none, whatever, of either abroad, they may now
devote their valuable services almost exclusively
to our supreme court, much to the delight of
that bench, and the general edification and
illumination of the bar at large; but particularly
of that of Austin. The latter bar, we can
assure them, will be easily astonished at any
ordinary legal feat that they may perform.
High, however, as are our expectations of the
rising glories of the Cokes, Kents, Hales and
Storys,—not to mention a host of mute, inglori-
ous Blackstones,—of La Grange, we can not yet
safely recommend them to you, until we have,
Thomas-like, had ocular demonstration of their
genius.
You did not precisely inform us as to what
was likely to be the nature of the new suits you
wished instituted. As to yojir land-cases, these
you will have to employ some lawyer'to continue
for you, until we can coine ourselves, or get
some member of the bar from this place to
attend to the matter for us: for we really regret
to tell you, that, beyond the limits of this city,
there is not a respectable land*lawye to lye
found' in the district; indeed, their ignorance of
old Spanish titles, and of many of the peculiar-
ities of even the common action of trespass to
try title, renders them exceedingly unsafe
without help. This we must, however, do them
the justice to say, they are always ready and
willing to admit, and rarely undertake an im-
portant case without associating with them some
member of the Travis bar, if for no other purp-
ose than to give respectability to their pleadings.
For fear that some awkward blunder may be
made, we herewith enclose you an affidavit for
continuance, which you will inform the attorney
whom you may employ to follow, verbatim et
literatim, so that he may have it correct, as we
understand that it is the height of the ambition
of some of the village snaps around to draw a
sufficient affidavit for continuance; but, as yet,
their hopes have never been realized.
If, however, your new business is neither land,
probate, nor collecting business, and the amount
involved is under one hundred dollars, we take
especial satisfaction in being able heartily to
recommend the whole Bastrop bar as the very
men for your purpose: and we dó this the more
willingly, in this instance, because it is very
rarely that we can truly say any thing of them
by way of commendation. But we have some
hopes,—we confess not very sanguine ones,—
that, under the operation of this new law, as
neither the, Austin nor Fayette bars are ex-
cluded from Bastrop, they will no longer be
wandering, hopelessly lost in the labyrinthine
mazes of theirown defective pleadings^and that
they will cease for the figure to encounter those
insurmountable obstacles which have, hitherto,
so thickly bestrowed their path—by-the-by, by
no means the antiqua via legis, of which Coke
wrote, but a narrow cow-path, blazed out for
themselves by the enterprising legal geniuses of
that modern Bceotia. However, let us drop the
curtain over the past, and let us hope; for the
future, that, by the friendly advice and sugges-
tion of counsel from-abroad, the business of the
court there may be despatched, if not with
credit, at least with deeency.
In Lockhart and San Marcos, we presume,
there are no lawyers at all, as we have never
heard of one in that quarter, though we once
made diligent inquiries about the matter. We
believe, though, now, that it is generally under-
stood that there is nobody there.
At San Antdnio you can find them in a herd,
bearing no little «resemblance to Ali Baba's forty
thieves, and that, too, in something more than
number. Amongst them all, scattered here and
there, you may be able to find some one more
than a match for both Bastrop and La Grange
combined, and qualified to meet successfully any
lawyers in the district, except those from this
city. At present, however, we would advise
you to make your selection from the bar of Sé-
guin, itself; for, though young in years, they
seem to possess some qualities that have grown
quite rare in this district, such as good morals,
sobriety, modesty of demeanor, close attention
to the interests of their clients, and a jealous
regard for their professional reputation. If these
virtues were more cultivated, thefe would no
longer be any ueed to send from a distance to
Austin for competent counselors; there would
be no need for other bars to invoke legislative
interference to aid them in their futile competi-
tion with those who are their superiors only by
hard labor and industry : but there would be a
generous and noble rivalry, which would result
in pleasing and profitable, intellectual and pro-
fessional advancement, that would soon cause
the second judicial district to be the banner dis-
trict of the State, in point of legal learning and
eloquence; and then, instead of wasting precious
moments in idle repinings at the success of oth-
ers, the mind can be turned unreservedly and
correctly to the discharge of the grave and re-
sponsible duties of one of the most honorable of
all professions. But this can and jvill never be
nntil some better plan of retaining practice can
be devised, than one which, acknowledging its
own weakness, sinks down without an effort, and
calls loudly on Hercules for help.
Your obedient servants,
Story and Kext.
Worse and Worse.—Wc thought this outrage
was bad enough:
? " When does a man rob his wife?"
" When he hooks her dress."
But this perpetration of The Boston Post
beats it hollow:
? " When does a woman rob her husband?"
"When, like Delilah; she picks his locks."
? What is to be done with this joker?
The following beautiful lines appeared in The
Louisville Journal, twelve years ago, and are
thought to have been written by a young lady
who committed suicide a few days after they
appeared:
THE RAINBOW.
\
I sometimes have thought, in my loneliest hoars,
That lie on my heart, like the dew on the flowers,
Of a ramble 1 took, one bright afternoon,
When my heart was as light as a blossom in June.
■ r \
The green earth was moist with the late fallen showers,
The breeze flattered down and blew open the flowers;
While a single white cloud to its haven of rest,
On the white wing of peace floats off in the west.
As f threw back my tresses to catch the cool breeze
That scattered the rain-drops and dimpled the seas,
Far up the blue sky a fair rainbow unrolled
Its soft-tinted pinions of purple and gold.
'T was born in a moment, yet, quick as its birth,
It had stretched to the uttermost ends of the earth,
And, fair as aa angel, it floated all free,
With a wing on Hie earth, and a wing on the sea.
1 How calm was the ocean—! how gentle its swell!
Like a woman's soft bosom, it rose and it fell;
While its light, sparkling waves, stealing laughingly o'er,
When they saw the fair rainbow knelt down to the shore.
No sweet hymn ascended, no murmur of prayer,
Yet I felt that the spirit of worship was there,
And I bent my young heart in devotion of love,
'Neáth the form of an angel that floated above.
! How wide was the sweep of its beautiful rings!
! How boundless its circle—how radiant its wings!
If I looked up to the sky, 'twas suspended in air;
If I.lookéd on the ocean, the rainbow Was there.
7 a
Thus forming a girdle as brilliant and whole
As the thoughts of the rainbow that circles my soul;
Like the wing of the Deity, calmly unfurled,
It bept from the cloud, and encircled the world.
There are moments, I think, when the spirit receives
Whole volumes of thought on its unwritten leaves,
When the folds of the heart, in a moment, unclose,
Like the innermost leaves from the heart of a rose.
And thus, when the rainbow had passed from the sky,
The thoughts it awoke were too deep to pass by:
It left my full soul, like the wing of a dove.
All fluttering with pleasure, and flattering with love.
I know that each moment of rapture and pain
Bat shortens the lints in life's mystical chain;
I know that my form, like that bow from the wave,
Mast pass from the earth, and lie cold in the grave.
• &
Yet oh, when death's shadowy my bosom uncloud.
When I shrink from the thought of the coffin and sjiroad)
May Hope, like the rainbow, my spirit unfold,
In her beautiful pinions of puiple and gold.
WOMEN'S RIGHTS.
Something must be dona for Albany. It must
be held back. It is going ahead altogether to-
fast. It is getting , too much steam on. We
shall be out of sight of the rest of the world
uhles the breaks are applied. Last week wte
had a Hen Convention—a Shanghai and Chitta-
gond demonstration—where poultry and poodle
dogs, geese and rat-terriers, long-eared rabbits
and Guinea hens, eagles and prairie chicken^,
Muscovy ducks and torn turkeys, crowed and
cackled, and gobbled, and barked, and screamed
the people onward in the way of progress and
increase of speed at least twenty miles to the
hour. We.were getting a little over that ex-
citement, settling down into a safe sort of gait,
had let enough of the steam off to remove any
actual danger of an explosion. We could begin
to count the milestones that stood by. the way
side, and in a fortnight or so might have be-
come comparatively regular and orderly, so as to
be able to sleep o* nights.
But here we are again up to fever heat, with
the steam on at a tremendous pressure, and
going ahead like a comet. *We have a Woman'i
Convention in the full tide of-successful experi-
ment, three sessions a day, working and
talking and arguing as if ihe heavens and earth
were coming together. The strong-minded
women are here. The Bloomers are here,
ladies in pantalets, old-fashioned short ^owns,
and long flowing curls dangling beautifully
along <fown by rosy cheeks, and floating grace-
fully over necks of snow and shoulders of ala-
baster. Reverend men are here, with faces
meek as lambB and long as liberty poles, with
hair curled sleekly back and oiled as if in
preparation for being swallowed by a boa con-
strictor.
?Who has not heard of the wrongs of women
and the cruelty of men; of the hard oppressions
that expel women from their " God exalted
sphere;" of the aggregated evils that are by law
heaped in pyramids upon wives, and the excess
of privileges conferred upon hnsbands? Let him
who is happily ignorant of all this attend this
convention, and be astonished. Let him listen
to the Reverend Antoinette Brown, the
; '
Reverend Mr. May, and other strong-minded
and philanthropic women. Mrs. Ernestine L.
Rose, with her flowing ringlets - and silvery
voice, with graceful gesture of kidded hand,
will charm him with her eloquenpe. Mrs. Nichols
with her heavenly smile beaming through tears
like an April sunshine gleaming gloriously
among the raindrops, will entrance him. They
wjll do more. They will make him open his
eyes to the dimensions of half a dozen full
moons.
Talk about the wrongs of southern slavery,
the oppressions heaped upon the sable sons
and daughters of Africa; portray your " log
cabin sccues," clank your chains, and apply
the lasli to the quivering flesh. All these
things, when compared to the wrongs inflicted
by law and the social habits of society upon
white, educated, refined Christian woman in this
free country are in comparison like the puny
dormouse to the extinct mastodon, the ininuy to
the leviathan of the great deep.
Reform is the word. Woman must be re-
deemed, disenthralled, lifted up, or there '11 be
trouble in the world. She has rocked the cra-
dle long enough; she has washed (he dishes and
poured the tea till the heavens cry out against
the wrong. She must have her rights. She
must hoe corn and dig potatoes. She must run
an engine on the railroads and oversee canals.
She must drive stages and command ships. She
must don the epaulets of the general or carry 'a
musket in the ranks. She has been "down-
trodden" long enough. The time has come
when, in "the might of her power, with the
God-given charter of equality in her hand, she
demands emancipation, a loosening of her bonds!"
Mrs. Stanton, the President of the Convention,
has said it. Lucy Stone has said it. Mrs. Rose,
she of the silvery voice, the flowing ringlets,
and the beautiful kidded hand, has said it. Mrs.
Nichols with the beiming smile, has said it;
and what they have saM must he done. It must
be done quickly, or there'll be war. We have
heard of wars between the races of men; wars
of opinion, -wars between the oppressed and the
oppressor; wars of creeds, but here will be war
between the sexes—war to the knife, and it
needs no prophet to foretell the issue. ,The
resolves of man, his tyrannies, his vaulting am-
bition will be dashed to pieces like* a potter's
vessel. See than standing in battle array, this
army of beautiful women, all in Bloomer uni-
form, with ringlets flowing and bright eyes
gleaming, with cheeks of vermil and/ lips of
ruby, all armed with the potency of radiant
smiles, like the beams of the morning, crying,
with voices sweet as the music of harps float-
ing in a summer evening over the moonlit sur-
face of the sleeping lake, " God and our rights."
?What hosts of mortal men can withstand
them? > .
No! no! The prudent man, foreseeing the
evil, hideth himself. Man must surrender lps
supremacy. He must yield to his destiny. He
must rode the cradle and throw the shuttle and
spin. Woman must be redeemed. She must be
made a free and independent voter. She must
take a seat on the bench and in the jury box.
Sh? must be elected supervisor and serve in the
police. She ihust go to congress and hsfre
place in the cabinet She must pave streets
and build houses. She must cany the hod
have a voice in legislation. She must go to the
'wars and carry a musket and revolvers, or a
long sharp sword to cut and slash people with.
She must have,an exclusive and antagonistic
existence, a separate identity from maa- -She
must be a separate and distinct' people, moving;
by herself on one side of the track and man
the other.' There must be two, races, two sets
of humanities, two destinies, two social
political existences, the one man and. the other
woman. They must no longer go together like
cups and saucers, nor be put in the same box
like knives and fqlks. They must each
a distinct nationality though occupying the
same territory, an imperium in imperio. If they
can agree and abide by compacts, qll very well;
if they can not, then they must go back to first
principles,, and make a tooth and nail
of it.
Being a man of peace we go in Car women's
rights. We surrender and hand over the un-
mentionables: We were. not made for an op-
pressor, and have no stomacK for fighting.
Bright eyes, flowing ringlets, beautiful hands,
and smiles like the sunlight are our
Yes! yes! Women must have their rights.
They must no longer be down-trodden, made
slaves of, tyrannized over/ tomahawked or
scalped. They must be free, aye,'free and inde-
pendent, unfettered and halterless as the wild
asses' colt.—[Albauy State Register.
1 ' I gBBggggBBBHMMpWg
Smoking in a Stack.—The late Mr. CHay was
a man of great resolution, and.
daring. He once told the following
to a friend of ours. Traveling, in parly maahood,
in a public conveyance in a south-western State,
he found himself in' company of . three other ma-
sons, consisting of a young lady
her husband, and an individual "iHfffffl V*
whose countenance
appeared to be indulging in * i
Morpheus. Suddenly a big,
ian got into the coach, smoking a
frowned fiercely around, as much ante say,
"I'mhalf alligator; the yaUer flower of the
forest, all brimstone but the head aad years, aad
thafs aquafortis."
In fact, he looked
and puffed forth large vi
reference to the
lady, who manifested
annoyance.
the gentleman with her,
requested the
noyed his companion.
" I reckon I've
much as I darn please
me, no how."
With that he looked dangerous,
his eyes round, as fiercely aa a
was evident hf hqd no objection to *
and that if it'
to a deadly struggle.
as a meat-axe,
¿51
The Sabbath.—A history of all the lives of
all the criminals ever sentenced, imprisoned or
executed would show that a disregard of the
Sabbath was one of the leading steps in their
progress to ruin; that in company with those who
like themselves desecrated its time,, they had
taken the initiatory step in vice thit eventually
led them to the commission of crimé.' And we
are taught to believe that the parent as well as
the child is responsible for these negligencies,
these sins. Kind parents teach your children to
regard the Sabbath. 'The lesson taught us in
the serene quiet of that holy day in childhood,
though not taught by a parent—a mother—are
still indelibly impressed upon our memory, i
though it were but yesterday we received them.
If they do not go to church, keep them within
doors, that they may not prove enemies to
themselves and nuisances to those around them.
Few can enjoy the quiet of home with a gang df
boys in front of their dwellings playing games,
laughing, shooting, cursing and swearing, espec-
ially on the Sabbath. " Remember the Sabbath
day to keep it holy," is one of the Command-
ments.
The Washington Union says, in speaking of
the humble positon of the relatives of our great
men, that the only brother of Clay was a cabinet
maker. Webster, the giant of statesmen, and
the ornament of his country, had a brother-in-
law who never learned to read until after com-
pleting the period of three score and ten, and a
majority of the first statesmen of the preseat
time are energetic and ambitious sons of " poor
but honest parents." Everett, (who will never
blush to hear it,) was discovered in his younger
pursuit of knowledge under difficulties of poverty
—though they presented to him but slight
impediments on the road to renown.
end for
adversary.
his
when very
the comer
mantle was
dressed in a
nothing
optics of th*
word this "
¿S3
£.~- '■
that Singular
name is Cokmel James
that
*
Mr. Clay said!
expression of the i
The predominant i
the certainly of!
of
be qaaSad.
between his
downcast, out of the
Colbnel James
long knife k its
without laying, a
vouchsafing a
cloak around him,
syllable to tbe DM
Quarterly Review.
mm
i it"!
Pbovakk
Advocate reads the
grovelling, that we
who attaches the least
wül practice it It is i
The man who damns
hundred times a day, does i
what he says. If he did, he;
a fool or a heartless villain,
town, aad one who mows in i
among us, and one who ]
attainments, the other day i
. . . * . > ^ - ■ ■'SÍ
we thought1
than himself.
those
mond
before
the gentleman swear in
We never saw a,
a&Mhere are those wly> swaar,
Poetry Destroyed.—We 1
stood that Texas was a
learn, from a Spanish
inal signification of the
that the "oldest
many shingles for
called the Province eft
the poetry of Texas into
* i "i j
unless
shingles.—[Saa
The Goon Tama •
the goods
1 ■■
are pleading for
for them; that aathors i
that soldiers
that true philosopher ,
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Burke, H. T. The Texan Mercury. (Seguin, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 28, Ed. 1 Saturday, April 1, 1854, newspaper, April 1, 1854; Seguin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth180503/m1/1/?q=tex-fron: accessed June 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.