CHAPTER III. BUILDERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH.
"Methinks I see in my mind a noble and puissant nation rousing herself like a strong man after sleep and shaking her invincible locks. Methinks I see her as an eagle mewing her mighty youth and kindling her undazzled eye in the full mid-day beam." --MILTON.
"And from these grounds, concluding as we doe, Warres causes diuerse, so by consequence Diuerse we must conclude their natures too: For war proceeding from Omnipotence, No doubt is holy, wise, and without error; The sword, of justice and of sin, the terror." --LORD BROOKE.
It is the fashion now to live for the present but the men of fiftyyears ago, the men who builded the nation, they reverenced the past, andtherefore they could work for the future. As Robert Worth rode throughthe streets of San Antonio that afternoon, he was thinking, not of hisown life, but of his children's and of the generations which should comeafter them.
The city was flooded with sunshine, and crowded with a pack-train goingto Sonora; the animals restlessly protesting against the heat and flies;their Mexican drivers in the pulqueria, spending their last peso withtheir compadres, or with the escort of soldiers which was to accompanythem--a little squad of small, lithe men, with round, yellow, beardlessfaces, bearing in a singular degree the stamp of being native tothe soil. Their lieutenant, a gorgeously clad officer with a verydistinguished air, was coming slowly down the street to join them. Hebowed, and smiled pleasantly to the doctor as he passed him, and thenin a few moments the word of command and the shouting of men and theclatter of hoofs invaded the enchanted atmosphere like an insult.
But the tumult scarcely jarred with the thoughts of his mind. Theyhad been altogether of war and rumors of war. Every hour that subtileconsciousness of coming events, which makes whole communities attimes prescient, was becoming stronger. "If the powers of the air haveanything to do with the destinies of men," he muttered, "there must beunseen battalions around me. The air I am breathing is charged with thefeeling of battle."
After leaving the city there were only a few Mexican huts on the shadyroad leading to his own house. All within them were asleep, eventhe fighting cocks tied outside were dozing on their perches. He wasunusually weary, he had been riding since dawn, and his heart hadnot been in sympathy with his body, it had said no good cheer to it,whispered no word of courage or promise.
All at once his physical endurance seemed exhausted, and he saw thewhite wall and arched gateway of his garden and the turrets of his homewith an inexpressible relief. But it was the hour of siesta, and he wasalways careful not to let the requirements of his profession disturb hishousehold. So he rode quietly to the rear, where he found a peon noddingwithin the stable door. He opened his eyes unnaturally wide, and rose toserve his master.
"See thou rub the mare well down, and give her corn and water."
"To be sure, Senior, that is to be done. A stranger has been hereto-day; an American."
"What did he say to thee?"
"That he would call again, Senor."
The incident was not an unusual one, and it did not trouble the doctor'smind. There was on the side of the house a low extension containing tworooms. These rooms belonged exclusively to him. One was his study, hisoffice, his covert, the place to which he went when he wanted to bealone with his own soul. There were a bed and bath and refreshments inthe other room. He went directly to it, and after eating and washing,fell into a profound sleep.
At the hour before Angelus the house was as noisy and busy as if it hadbeen an inn. The servants were running hither and thither, all of themexpressing themselves in voluble Spanish. The cooks were quarrelling inthe kitchen. Antonia was showing the table men, as she had to do afreshevery day, how to lay the cloth and serve the dishes in the Americanfashion. When the duty was completed, she went into the garden to listenfor the Angelus. The young ladies of to-day would doubtless consider hertoilet frightfully unbecoming; but Antonia looked lovely in it, thoughbut a white muslin frock, with a straight skirt and low waist and short,full sleeves. It was confined by a blue belt with a gold buckle, and herfeet were in sandalled slippers of black satin.
The Angelus tolled, and the thousands of Hail Maries! which blended withits swinging vibrations were uttered, and left to their fate, as allspoken words must be. Antonia still observed the form. It lent for amoment a solemn beauty to her face. She was about to re-enter the house,when she saw a stranger approaching it. He was dressed in a handsomebuckskin suit, and a wide Mexican hat, but she knew at once that he wasan American, and she waited to receive him.
As soon as he saw her, he removed his hat and approached with it inhis hand. Perhaps he was conscious that the act not only did homage towomanhood, but revealed more perfectly a face of remarkable beauty andnobility. For the rest, he was very tall, powerfully built, elegantlyproportioned, and his address had the grace and polish of a culturedgentleman.
"I wish to see Dr. Worth, Dona."
With a gentle inclination of the head, she led him to the door of herfather's office. She was the only one in the Doctor's family at allfamiliar with the room. The Senora said so many books made her feel asif she were in a church or monastery; she was afraid to say anythingbut paternosters in it. Isabel cowered before the poor skeleton in thecorner, and the centipedes and snakes that filled the bottles on theshelves. There was not a servant that would enter the room.
But Antonia did not regard books as a part of some vague spiritualpower. She knew the history of the skeleton. She had seen the death ofmany of those "little devils" corked up in alcohol. She knew that atthis hour, if her father were at home he was always disengaged, and sheopened the door fearlessly, saying, "Father, here is a gentleman whowishes to see you."
The doctor had quite refreshed himself, and, in a house-suit of clean,white linen, was lying on a couch reading. He arose with alacrity, andwith his pleasant smile seemed to welcome the intruder, as he steppedbehind him and closed the door. Antonia had disappeared. They were quitealone.
"You are Doctor Robert Worth, sir?"
Their eyes met, their souls knew each other.
"And you are Sam Houston?"
The questions were answered in a hand grip, a sympathetic smile on bothfaces--the freemasonry of kindred spirits.
"I have a letter from your son Thomas, doctor, and I think, also, thatyou will have something to say to me, and I to you."
The most prudent of patriots could not have resisted this man. He hadthat true imperial look which all born rulers of men possess--that lookthat half coerces, and wholly persuades. Robert Worth acknowledged itspower by his instant and decisive answer.
"I have, indeed, much to say to you. We shall have dinner directly, thenyou will give the night to me?"
After a short conversation he led him into the sala and introduced himto Antonia. He himself had to prepare the Senora for her visitor, andhe had a little quaking of the heart as he entered her room. She wasdressed for dinner, and turned with a laughing face to meet him.
"I have been listening to the cooks quarrelling over the olla, Roberto.But what can my poor Manuel say when your Irishwoman attacks him. Listento her! 'Take your dirty stew aff the fire then! Shure it isn't fit fora Christian to ate at all!'"
"I hope it is, Maria, for we have a visitor to-night."
"Who, then, my love?"
"Mr. Houston."
"Sam Houston? Holy Virgin of Guadalupe preserve us! I will not see theman."
"I think you will, Maria. He has brought this letter for you from ourson Thomas; and he has been so kind as to take charge of some finehorses, and sell them well for him in San Antonio. When a man does us akindness, we should say thank you."
"That is truth, if the man is not the Evil One. As for this Sam Houston,you should have heard what was said of him at the Valdez's."
"I did hear. Everything was a lie."
"But he is a very common man."
"Maria, do you call a soldier, a lawyer, a
member of the United StatesCongress, a governor of a great State like Tennessee, a common man?Houston has been all of these things."
"It is, however, true that he has lived with Indians, and with thoseAmericans, who are bad, who have no God, who are infidels, and perhapseven cannibals. If he is a good man, why does he live with bad men? Noteven the saints could do that. A good man should be in his home. Whydoes he not stay at home."
"Alas! Maria, that is a woman's fault. He loved a beautiful girl. Hemarried her. My dear one, she did not bless his life as you have blessedmine. No one knows what his sorrow was, for he told no one. And he neverblamed her, only he left his high office and turned his back forever onhis home."
"Ah! the cruel woman. Holy Virgin, what hard hearts thou hast to prayfor!"
"Come down and smile upon him, Maria. I should like him to see ahigh-born Mexican lady. Are they not the kindest and fairest among allGod's women? I know, at least, Maria, that you are kind and fair"; andhe took her hands, and drew her within his embrace.
What good wife can resist her husband's wooing? Maria did not. Shelifted her face, her eyes shone through happy tears, she whisperedsoftly: "My Robert, it is a joy to please you. I will be kind; I willbe grateful about Thomas. You shall see that I will make a pleasantevening."
So the triumphant husband went down, proud and happy, with his smilingwife upon his arm. Isabel was already in the room. She also wore a whitefrock, but her hair was pinned back with gold butterflies, and she hada beautiful golden necklace around her throat. And the Senora kepther word. She paid her guest great attention. She talked to him of hisadventures with the Indians. She requested her daughters to sing to him.She told him stories of the old Castilian families with which she wasconnected, and described her visit to New Orleans with a great deal ofpleasant humor. She felt that she was doing herself justice; that shewas charming; and, consequently, she also was charmed with the guest andthe occasion which had been so favorable to her.
After the ladies had retired, the doctor led his visitor into his study.He sat down silently and placed a chair for Houston. Both men hesitatedfor a moment to open the conversation. Worth, because he was treadingon unknown ground; Houston, because he did not wish to force, even by aquestion, a resolution which he felt sure would come voluntarily.
The jar of tobacco stood between them, and they filled their pipessilently. Then Worth laid a letter upon the table, and said: "Iunstand{sic} from this, that my son Thomas thinks the time has come fordecisive action."
"Thomas Worth is right. With such souls as his the foundation of thestate must be laid."
"I am glad Thomas has taken the position he has; but you must remember,sir, that he is unmarried and unembarrassed by many circumstances whichrender decisive movement on my part a much more difficult thing. Yet noman now living has watched the Americanizing of Texas with the interestthat I have."
"You have been long on the watch, sir."
"I was here when my countrymen came first, in little companies of fiveor ten men. I saw the party of twenty, who joined the priest Hidalgo ineighteen hundred and ten, when Mexico made her first attempt to throwoff the Spanish yoke."
"An unsuccessful attempt."
"Yes. The next year I made a pretended professional journey toChihuahua, to try and save their lives. I failed. They were shot withHidalgo there."
"Yet the strife for liberty went on."
"It did. Two years afterwards, Magee and Bernardo, with twelve hundredAmericans, raised the standard of independence on the Trinity River. Isaw them them{sic} take this very city, though it was ably defended bySalcedo. They fought like heroes. I had many of the wounded in my house.I succored them with my purse.
"It was a great deed for a handful of men."
"The fame of it brought young Americans by hundreds here. To a man theyjoined the Mexican party struggling to free themselves from the tyrannyof old Spain. I do not think any one of them received money. The loveof freedom and the love of adventure were alike their motive and theirreward."
"Mexico owed these men a debt she has forgotten."
"She forgot it very quickly. In the following year, though they hadagain defended San Antonio against the Spaniards, the Mexicans drove allthe Americans out of the city their rifles had saved."
"You were here; tell me the true reason."
"It was not altogether ingratitude. It was the instinct ofself-preservation. The very bravery of the Americans made the men whomthey had defended hate and fear them; and there was a continual influxof young men from the States. The Mexicans said to each other: 'There isno end to these Americans. Very soon they will make a quarrel and turntheir arms against us. They do not conform to our customs, and they willnot take an order from any officer but their own.'"
Houston smiled. "It is away the Saxon race has," he said. "The oldBritons made the same complaint of them. They went first to England tohelp the Britons fight the Romans, and they liked the country so well,they determined to stay there. If I remember rightly the old Britons hadto let them do so."
"It is an old political situation. You can go back to Genesis and findPharaoh arguing about the Jews in the same manner."
"What happened after this forcible expulsion of the American elementfrom Texas?"
"Mexican independence was for a time abandoned, and the Spanish viceroyswere more tyrannical than ever. But Americans still came, though theypursued different tactics. They bought land and settled on the greatrivers. In eighteen twenty-one, Austin, with the permission of theSpanish viceroy in Mexico, introduced three hundred families."
"That was a step in the right direction; but I am astonished the viceroysanctioned it."
"Apodoca, who was then viceroy, was a Spaniard of the proudest type.He had very much the same contempt for the Mexicans that an old Englishviceroy in New York had for the colonists he was sent to govern. I daresay any of them would have permitted three hundred German families tosettle in some part of British America, as far from New York as Texasis from Mexico. I do not need to tell you that Austin's colonists area band of choice spirits, hardy working men, trained in the districtschools of New England and New York--nearly every one of them a farmeror mechanic."
"They were the very material liberty needed. They have made homes."
"That is the truth. The fighters who preceded them owned nothing buttheir horses and their rifles. But these men brought with them theirwives and their children, their civilization, their inborn love offreedom and national faith. They accepted the guarantee of the Spanishgovernment, and they expected the Spanish government to keep itspromises."
"It did not."
"It had no opportunity. The colonists were hardly settled when thestandard of revolt against Spain was again raised. Santa Anna tookthe field for a republican form of government, and once more a body ofAmericans, under the Tennesseean, Long, joined the Mexican army."
"I remember that, well."
"In eighteen twenty-four, Santa Anna, Victoria and Bravo drove theSpaniards forever from Mexico, and then they promulgated the famousconstitution of eighteen twenty-four. It was a noble constitution,purely democratic and federal, and the Texan colonists to a mangladly swore to obey it. The form was altogether elective, and whatparticularly pleased the American element was the fact that the localgovernment of every State was left to itself."
Houston laughed heartily. "Do you know, Worth," he said, "State Rightsis our political religion. The average American citizen would expect theAlmighty to conform to a written constitution, and recognize the rightsof mankind."
"I don't think he expects more than he gets, Houston. Where is there agrander constitution than is guaranteed to us in His Word; or one thatmore completely recognizes the rights of all humanity?"
"Thank you, Worth. I see that I have spoken better than I knew. I wassitting in the United States Congress, when this constitution passed,and very much occupied with the politics of Tennessee."
"I will not detain you with Mexican politics. It may be briefly saidthat
for the last ten years there has been a constant fight betweenPedraza, Guerrero, Bustamante and Santa Anna for the Presidency ofMexico. After so much war and misery the country is now ready to resignall the blessings the constitution of eighteen twenty-four promised her.For peace she is willing to have a dictator in Santa Anna."
"If Mexicans want a dictator let them bow down to Santa Anna! But do youthink the twenty thousand free-born Americans in Texas are going to havea dictator? They will have the constitution of eighteen twenty-four--orthey will have independence, and make their own constitution! Yes, sir!"
"You know the men for whom you speak?"
"I have been up and down among them for two years. Just after I cameto Texas I was elected to the convention which sent Stephen Austin toMexico with a statement of our wrongs. Did we get any redress? No, sir!And as for poor Austin, is he not in the dungeons of the Inquisition? Wehave waited two years for an answer. Great heavens Doctor, surely thatis long enough!"
"Was this convention a body of any influence?"
"Influence! There were men there whose names will never be forgotten.They met in a log house; they wore buckskin and homespun; but I tellyou, sir, they were debating the fate of unborn millions."
"Two years since Austin went to Mexico?"
"A two years' chapter of tyranny. In them Santa Anna has quiteoverthrown the republic of which we were a part. He has made himselfdictator, and, because our authorities have protested against thechange, they have been driven from office by a military force. I tellyou, sir, the petty outrages everywhere perpetrated by petty officialshave filled the cup of endurance. It is boiling over. Now, doctor, whatare you going to do? Are you with us, or against us?"
"I have told you that I have been with my countrymen always--heart andsoul with them."
The doctor spoke with some irritation, and Houston laid his closed handhard upon the table to emphasize his reply:
"Heart and soul! Very good! But we want your body now. You must tuckyour bowie-knife and your revolvers in your belt, and take your rifle inyour hand, and be ready to help us drive the Mexican force out of thisvery city."
"When it comes to that I shall be no laggard."
But he was deathly pale, for he was suffering as men suffer who feel thesweet bonds of wife and children and home, and dread the rending ofthem apart. In a moment, however, the soul behind his white face madeit visibly luminous. "Houston," he said, "whenever the cause of freedomneeds me, I am ready. I shall want no second call. But is it notpossible, that even yet--"
"It is impossible to avert what is already here. Within a few days,perhaps to-morrow, you will hear the publication of an edict from SantaAnna, ordering every American to give up his arms."
"What! Give up our arms! No, no, by Heaven! I will die fighting formine, rather."
"Exactly. That is how every white man in Texas feels about it. And ifsuch a wonder as a coward existed among them, he understands that hemay as well die fighting Mexicans, as die of hunger or be scalped byIndians. A large proportion of the colonists depend on their rifles fortheir daily food. All of them know that they must defend their ownhomes from the Comanche, or see them perish. Now, do you imagine thatAmericans will obey any such order? By all the great men of seventeenseventy-five, if they did, I would go over to the Mexicans and help themto wipe the degenerate cowards out of existence!"
He rose as he spoke; he looked like a flame, and his words cut like asword. Worth caught fire at his vehemence and passion. He clasped hishands in sympathy as he walked with him to the door. They stood silentlytogether for a moment on the threshold, gazing into the night. Over theglorious land the full moon hung, enamoured. Into the sweet, warm airmockingbirds were pouring low, broken songs of ineffable melody. Thewhite city in the mystical light looked like an enchanted city. It wasso still that the very houses looked asleep.
"It is a beautiful land," said the doctor.
"It is worthy of freedom," answered Houston. Then he went with long,swinging steps down the garden, and into the shadows beyond, and Worthturned in and closed the door.
He had been watching for this very hour for twenty years; and yet hefound himself wholly unprepared for it. Like one led by confused anduncertain thoughts, he went about the room mechanically locking up hispapers, and the surgical instruments he valued so highly. As he did sohe perceived the book he had been reading when Houston entered. It waslying open where he had laid it down. A singular smile flitted overhis face. He lifted it and carried it closer to the light. It was hiscollege Cicero.
"I was nineteen years old when I marked that passage," he said; "and Ido not think I have ever read it since, until to-night. I was reading itwhen Houston came into the room. Is it a message, I wonder?--
"'But when thou considerest everything carefully and thoughtfully; ofall societies none is of more importance, none more dear, than thatwhich unites us with the commonwealth. Our parents, children, relationsand neighbors are dear, but our fatherland embraces the whole round ofthese endearments. In its defence, who would not dare to die, if only hecould assist it?"