Fellow members of the San Antonio Historical Society and People, Anywhere:
We are assembled this night within "The Cos House" and within "La Villita." My subject is "The Battle of San Antonio" in 1835. In this same House of General Martin Perfecto de Cos were signed "The Articles of Capitulation," which was a treaty or agreement between the Texans and the Mexicans, bearing the date of December 11, 1835, which articles contained the provisions terminating the battle. In this battle, the Texans were victorious; that is the reason we have a place to sit in comfort tonight.
The importance of battles are often miscalculated because of heavy troop movements, ambitious generals, writers, and large casualty lists. The Battle of San Antonio, however, with its few hundred soldiers and handful of casualties, is important on account of the significance of the constitutional events that preceded it and because of its vast consequences. Likewise, the Battle of San Antonio is important as a pilot laboratory, that is, a real working laboratory, the experiences of which can give us rules of how to pilot the problems today.
Now, in the writing or telling of history, there are in my mind two elements: First, facts; and it is the duty of one to relate these truthfully and accurately. Second, are opinions. Here it is the liberty of the narrator to offer his own opinions and interpretations. But under our free system, the reader or listener need not be disturbed because all may form their own opinions. Everything becomes history as fast as it happens -- what I just said, a second ago, is history.
Now the strictly military history of the Battle of San Antonio has been told in great detail a good many times. Unfortunately, the social, philosophical, political, and constitutional phases surrounding the conflict, a thousand times more important, have not been told. Therefore, because the details of the battle itself have been so well told, I will principally emphasize specific constitutional aspects surrounding the event and will also give some details of the provisions of the Articles of Capitulation, interpreting them, and presenting certain comparisons. Likewise, I will comment on the cultural, physical, and geographical effects of the Battle.
The Battle of San Antonio lasted only four days in early December, 1835, some 116 years ago, the year now being 1952. Notwithstanding so short a battle, it deserves to rank among the decisive encounters of American, and even of world, history.
Wherein is the greatness of the Battle of San Antonio? The following are important factors:
First: The Declaration or the Consultation of San Felipe de Austin, November 7, 1835, which promulgated of liberty and independence, and where demand for constitutional freedom was made by the Texans. The nature of the Consultation and previous assemblies was known to all our soldiers before the Battle of San Antonio, and the principles of freedom enunciated were implicit in the battle itself and furnished the aim, point, and end sought in the battle, which the men volunteered to serve.
Second important factor: The actual victory of the Texans at San Antonio, December 9, 1835, coupled with the contents and meaning of the historic "Capitulation," December 11, 1835, which was a worthy and important document, and was signed on a dirt, not this nice tile floor you see now but exactly where we now sit.
Third: Reconciliation by Mexico and Texas became impossible because of this victory by the Texans. The final results were independence for Texas, the Annexation of Texas to the United States, war with Mexico, and the acquisition of the Southwest and California by the United States and the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. It can also be said that the power and might of America plus our advanced democracy, science, education, industrial and agricultural techniques, our superlative prosperity, might never have been established except for this seemingly unimportant battle.
The fourth important factor was that we were wise enough to adopt the best features of Spanish-Mexican institutions and culture. These included enlightened community property laws far better than the Anglo-American property laws where women had few rights; simple court procedures, and many other enlightened rules of government; but we kept our own great jury and judicial precedents as well. Culturally, there was benefit in art, music, dress, manners, customs, language, and a Mexican psychology of kindness. Agriculturally, we gained knowledge of irrigation and the conservation of water and land which had originated on the deserts of Arabia, brought to Spain by the Mohammedans. The contribution of Spanish-Mexican-Aztec culture continues, through San Antonio, to all of the United States of America, to this very hour; to some extent the vehicle of our present friendly interchange in this Cos House and La Villita.
Now the Battle of San Antonio has been ignored because it was not long and bloody; the victors were led by a private, Ben Milam, not even Corporal Milam. In fact, he wasn't even a private, just old Ben Milam, a man, a volunteer. Ben Milam was killed, and the battle didn't cost the United States or Texas a dollar. Yet I believe it was more important than the Battle of Verdun, where hundreds of thousands within the grace of the gentle Galilean -- and free enterprise, and Western civilization, heroically laid down their lives in the blessed pursuit of killing each other, under the leadership of gentlemen in frock coats who remained back home. There was prodigiously brave death and sacrifice at Verdun in 1916, all slaughtering and maiming each other in the name of our Saviour, I have seen the hundreds of thousands of graves and memorials. But I hope I am not disrespectful to the millions of dead, when I say that the constitutional principles were actually more important at the Battle of San Antonio, and the results more widespread, and more beneficient, to the tens of millions living and to live.
Let us review specific events in Texas preceding the Battle of San Antonio. In November of 1835, just before the Battle of San Antonio, the Consultation of San Felipe took place.
The Consultation at San Felipe de Austin was not the first, but the third deliberative body organized under American auspices in Texas. The gathering followed colonial meetings, newspaper controversies, deliberation, consideration, and call. The meeting grew out of long and careful conclusions upon discriminations in trade against them, the Texans; the denial of a free school system, freedom of religion, right of trial by jury, and a general usurpation of their liberties.
The Assembly at San Felipe de Austin was organized November 3, 1835. Let me repeat, this was all before the Battle of San Antonio, just as the Battle of San Antonio was before the Battle of the Alamo. The Declaration was adopted November 9th, 1835. This Declaration is the spiritual but revolutionary expression of serious men who searched for a way to preserve their rights. Because of their sincerity of purpose, they did not declare for independence but adhered in their loyalty to the Mexican Constitution of 1824. They expressed a desire to live whithin the authority of this Mexican Constitution provided its provisions were obeyed by the Mexican government; but the great Mexican people were being betrayed by General Lopez de Santa Anna, the Dictator-President. All the facts, and the principles of the Consultation were actually in the minds of the Americans as they gathered for the attack upon San Antonio.
Because the Consultation formed the aim of the Battle of San Antonio, I will quote some of its words:
It states that the "...good people of Texas, availing themselves of their natural rights, SOLEMNLY DECLARE: (Gammel's Laws)
"That they have taken up arms in defense of their rights and liberties...and in defense of the federal constitution of Mexico of 1824."
"That Texas is no longer morally or civilly bound by the compact of union; yet, stimulated by the generosity and sympathy common to a free people, they offer their support and assistance to such of the Mexican Confederacy, as will take up arms against military despotism." (This latter was the exact offer made to Canada in 1774 by the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, with a promise to the British people to stay also with Britain if the Colonies were granted the constitutional liberties of other Englishmen.)
At San Felipe, they further declared: "(we)...will continue faithful to the Mexican government as long as that nation is governed by the Constitution."
Now let us analyze the psychological and tactical aspects of the Battle of San Antonio. The volunteer troops of Texas were in great confusion. There was not much discipline. As often among robust men, there was quarreling. This undisciplined situation is a matter of detail which requires another study, and is only mentioned because the final result was last minute unity among the common soldiers and an enthusiastic urge to capture San Antonio against all their own commanding officers except one.
On the morning of December 3rd, 1835, Messrs. John W. Smith, Holmes, and Samuel Augustus Maverick, all Americans, who had been under surveillance inside San Antonio under General Cos, escaped San Antonio to the camp of the Texans near the "Old Mill." They gave information of General Cos's military situation and urged they be accepted as guide for the army of volunteers, expressing the opinion that Cos could be defeated. But the Texan officers decided to abandon San Antonio instead of fighting. Colonel Frank Johnson alone voted to attack the city.
Then in the afternoon of December 4th, a deserter of the Mexican Army, came in camp. He said that an attack might be successful. He emphasized that the Mexican garrison was in a state of disorganization and that its fighting abilities had been overestimated. Colonel Johnson, hearing the words of the Mexican, urged Ben Milam that the time to attack had come.
Concerning the Battle of San Antonio, these are some of my grandfather's notes:
December 1. (Maverick says:) "Left town...After leaving town, cannons fired from both parties."
December 2. "Smith and myself urged an assault." (Here follows a general statement that the officers oppposed an attack on San Antonio.) "Another faux-pas is made," he writes, concerning the refusal of the officers to fight. Then he writes this in clear handwriting: "The volunteers curse the officers...All day we get more and more dejected."
Maverick then speaks of the Mexican deserter coming into camp, apparently on the 4th. In his diary, he writes as follows: "Near dark, and by the animating manner and untiring zeal of Col. Milam, these trivial matters are turned to account. An impulse is given, and received; the men fall into ranks to see if we are strong enough. The mere fragment of the 700, say 250, volunteer to make the attack. Next morning 2000 had, from time to time, been in camp."
Further entries are of acting as guide for Milam and then he only mentions that Johnson of the officers came with him. He speaks also of "The White Flag" of surrender sent him. As a matter of fact, Major Austin joined the attack, and a few of the officers. Most of them, however, remained behind.
The various accounts tell of Ben Milam who, late in the evening of December 4th, rose and said, "Who'll follow Old Ben Milam into San Antonio?" These throbbing words of a man of the people brought a tumult in the camp, and decision from the men. With most of the officers still advising against attack and holding back, this democratic and determined force began preparation on their own for the battle at once. Early next morning, December 5th, with no blaring trumpets or material standards of battle but with simple determination in their hearts, the men assembled at the Old Mill, under the command of Old Ben Milam, and the attack began, still not led, blessed, or participated in by the principal officers.
The Texans advanced with their muzzle loaders and tiny, inadequate artillary. They fought systematically by military plan, and hard. They cut through adobe houses. They fought bitterly in the wet, cold streets in that December, down Soledad and Main Avenue (then Acequia Street) moving in a southerly direction toward what is now Main and Military Plazas....And Old Ben Milam, whom they dubbed a Colonel -- for he never was commissioned a Colonel, and was really just a brave man -- who was loved by all the men, was killed while advancing forward from his battle position over to the Veramendi House on Soledad. He died in the arms of his guide, Sam Maverick. Milam's death will always be known as memorable and heroic. For it was this humble and rugged fellow who led a little revolution within a revolution in which the officers insisted upon retreat, and with spirit and courage he turned the tide of American history, dying in carrying out American ideals. He left a vast heritage of freedom, property, and happiness to tens of millions after his death. His death was not useless, but worthwhile. And as we ponder it, making a contemporary analogy, our hearts and minds must surely also ponder our young men, our 18-year-olds who are now dying in the brutal bare hills of red and bloody snow of far distant Korea.
Now, here in San Antonio, by the 8th of December, 1835, the Texans had won the battle. On the 9th, at 6:30 in the morning, as the rays of the sun began to show a little bit on the miserable, muddy, poverty-stricken little Mexican village of San Antonio, General Cos raised the white flag of surrender from the walls of the Alamo.
Among those participating with the Texans were six Englishmen, a Nova Scotian, one or two Germans, one Welshman, and Americans of seventeen of the then twenty-four states of the United States, the entire force totaling three hundred and one. The predominating psychology of this revolutionary force was that of men who had been reared upon the concepts of contitutional, parliamentary, free elective governments; their objectives were clear, and that is why they fought as they did. It must not be forgotten that some of those in the attack were Mexicans, who clearly understood the constitutional aims.
The capture of San Antonio by the Texans was unpardonable to the Dictator-President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. He proclaimed that there must be a war of extermination. This was especially so since the defeated general, Martin Perfecto de Cos, his brother-in-law, and all Mexican troops, had been expelled from Texas in humiliating and decisive defeat.
The Battle of San Antonio was of great strategic importance and military benefit to Texas. As a matter of strategic importance, the occupying forces of the Mexicans having been expelled, other Mexican military forces were held back from invading Texas for two-and-a-half months (until the Battle of the Alamo), and the total sacrifice at the Alamo held the Mexicans a few weeks longer. Those events gave the Texans valuable time to organize on sea and land, and politically. The Mexicans were weak at sea, and Texas began to create a little Navy. General Cos with headquarters at Matamoras had ordered the Texans there to explain their grievances, then he transported his expedition by sea to Matagorda Bay through the Mexican Navy, and then marched his trooops to San Antonio. It was the Battle of San Antonio that gave Texas a breathing spell in which to organize sea power; and after that, no more Mexicans landed by sea but had to march over the deserts. Thus the "Texas Navy" is no joke, but was an important, really essential force in the final victory of Texas. During this early dark period, the spirit of our people was maintained -- and the vital spirit of constitutionalism continued to grow through these experiences in organized forms and institutions. This breathing spell or organizational period was made possible by the Battle of San Antonio.
Now let us carefully analyze "Capitulation" and its meanings. It was a well-written, humane, and intelligent document entitled for all time to a high place in history....It was a polite document....It was written without big obscure words; there was no diplomatic fol de rol, no excellencies, no protestations of virtue and piety, no hypocritical calls upon God....Moreover, the Capitulation accurately followed the principles of American constitutionalism pertaining to the preservation of liberty and the protection of property of all people, including our enemies. The provisions included the principles of International Law as it pertained to the conduct of war and honorable peace. The document is worthy of study in these confused days.
Listen to the preamble of the Capitulation: it says that one of the purposes was, and I quote, "of preventing the further effusion of blood and the ravages of war..." It seems to me that the negotiators of both sides of Panmunjom in Korea might at least agree on these words.
To proceed -- as a matter of common sense, in Article 2, the Agreement permitted General Cos to leave for Mexico with artillery and sufficient rounds of ammunition for his protection against the Indians. He retired on parole of honor (Article 1), agreeing that he and his officers and soldiers would never violate the Mexican Constitution of 1824...(Cos did violate his parole, as more or less expected), but the moral position of the Texans was made solid, and this moral position had much to do with the eventual victory of the Anglo-Saxon cause.
In Article 14, the Mexican command was further provided with feed and provisions at reasonable prices by the Texans. This was fair and honest dealing.
In Article 15, the sick and the wounded of the defeated Mexicans were permitted to remain in San Antonio or Texas with the protection of the Texans, or to leave whenever they wished -- this certainly was humane, decent, and common sense.
In Article 6, it was provided "all private property is to be restored to the proper owners."
In Article 13, all citizens should be protected in "their persons and property."
In Article 16, it was provided, "No person, either citizen or soldier, to be molested on account of political opinions hitherto expressed."
The foregoing provisions protected property as well as civil freedoms. They were in the face of the fact that almost the entire citizenship of San Antonio had by sympathy, deed, and bloody acts of war, opposed the Texans. The population was bitterly hostile. But the Texans believed in freedom, as well as intelligent clemency and consideration, and offered all this to their enemies, thereby making friends, or at least establishing our prestige by being humane and doing right whether the enemy did right or not. I am frankly emphasizing this because I believe these principles of our forefathers are still good; today there is peace and good will among Texans, that is, all Americans and Mexicans, everywhere, following the precedents begun at the Battle of San Antonio.
Throughout the whole document called the Capitulation there is a note of common courtesy, thoughtfulness, and kindness worthy of brave soldiers and decent men. Today the writing of such a splendid and simple-hearted document might well cause a newsreporter on the make to cable back for shouting headlines that a truce was being cooked up by a "bunch of suckers" and that we were throwing "money down a rat hole" -- and that the population was hostile as indeed they were here in 1835, and as they are in Korea, today. Or some Senator or Congressman in a safe steamheated chamber would rise and bravely trumpet for boys of 18 to go forth and die in the cold and wet and misery and death of war, to make "further effusions of Blood" and "to carry on the ravages of war."
Today as yesterday, there are paradoxes in life: returning good for evil, especially when one is strong, as this great nation is, may in the end really be common sense and the building of real power, and not even generosity, much less weakness. It is indicated in The Book, and in many scriptural and philosophical writings, that trusting one unworthy of trust may seem incredibly foolish, but in the end may prove not only great moral victory but bring the actual fruits of victory as well. Wars or battles are military symbols of crisis, or change, but God or Moral Power must decide in the end. Fortunately at the Battle of San Antonio, Moral Power coincided with victory, followed by clemency and consideration.
In our reasoning today, we Americans have become brittle and apparently lack understanding of the revolutionary forces which are widespread throughout the world. We have become so powerful that we are afraid to think or if we think, we are afraid to speak out. The problems our forefathers faced were not simple as we are given to thinking; their problems under conditions then existing, were as hard for them as ours are today. Their problems were, as a matter of fact, complicated and extremely difficult -- there were none of the great labor saving, or superbly beautiful technical devices of killing that we have today...nothing, in 1835, but the lone prarie in a too cold, or too hot, sparse, and miserable land. But these intrepid pioneers saw a future land in which to strike their plows, a green land, The Promised Land.
Now, throughout this talk, I have stated facts and also some opinions. We feel the beauty of sentiment; but now, we must think. What I now state is opinion, but I believe it is really fact, and accepted generally as truth. It is this:
In my opinion, and I believe this is factual, World Wars I and II were not successful to any side, any government, or any people, and especially not beneficial to the so-called "victors," under any philosophy, ideas, or statement of facts. I am not a pacifist. I do not renounce war and am agreeable to pay heavy taxes for war preparation. As a fighting Infantry soldier with my own blood on the soil of France, I participated in World War I. I have been awarded the Silver Star, Purple Heart, and the Legion of Honor of France. I honor my medals, I love America -- but I want to save our country and Western civilization, and my conclusions about war are as stated.
For some strange reason, we thought in World War II that if we "pinpointed" and destroyed vast areas of structures, property, and industry built up over the long centuries, we would "win." But Stop. Pause!! What does Win mean? We didn't destroy the German or Japanese people, although we made war on civilian populations and destroyed hundreds of billions of dollars of property; now we call upon the Germans and Japanese to save us. Today we have destroyed every single city in Korea by air warfare; daily our headlines say we "bagged" so many Communists the night before; we have killed at least two million non-combatant civilians, men, women, and little children, some think four or five million. Notwithstanding all this, we have not "won" the Korean War; if we do win, it will be no such victory as at San Antonio, San Jacinto, or Yorktown; we have not gained the love of the peoples of Asia and its one billion, two hundred million people. We do not even prepare for Peace; if we win, we do not know what to do with the victory. In the Battle of San Antonio, there was a purpose, a reason, a constructive end, and we knew what to do with the Victory.
Now in modern war, the total vastness, the vastness of enormous destruction of lands, forests, cities, clinics, churches, hospitals, schools, farm houses, homes, roads, railroads, electric plants, industries -- the destruction by all sides of humanity -- are now bringing victories to the point of no return, and certainly a return of subtle enmity by hundreds of millions of people against the land we love. We have a Battle of Flowers to commemorate San Jacinto, Americans and Mexicans celebrating together. How soon will we celebrate the Korean War with a Battle of Flowers, and will the Asians celebrate with us?
In the Battle of San Antonio, there was an aim, which was to get land; a point, which was to obtain liberty; and an end, which was to finish the affair, and stay home, in Texas, on farms and ranches forever. In comparison, some do not understand the Korean War. The aim certainly is not to get land for our farmers; the point about liberty is six thousand miles beyond the seas and certainly, the constitutional or libertarian ideal is not clear. And the end...it is endless! Certainly the end is not to stay in Korea either as citizens, farmers, soldiers, policemen, or Christian soldiers with guns and blood forever in a cruel, brutal, and permanently hostile land; for let me state this emphatically: Korea is not of strategic value, and is not necessary for the welfare and protection of America or the Western Hemisphere, or Europe, or Africa.
Now, fellow Americans, we actually still have the physical courage today equal to that of our soldiers at the Battle of San Antonio. And apparently we are willing for our sons to lie in Korea, for none speak out against it, and certainly the young men dying in Korea and those that have died in our modern wars have shown superb courage in their service, supreme patriotism, and sacrifice.
We, in this historic little house, are not afraid of military death, not even if bombs rain down on us. Nor do we lack the will to inflict death on a monumental scale against our enemies, which we are doing.
But the question is, are we able to use our intellects to think, and to exercise our moral and Christian precepts? Are we willing to look God straight in the face? Have we courage enough, like the Christians in the catacombs, to be called names, even to be told we have no courage, when indeed, we do? The World Revolution today is partly force, but if we have any brains at all, we must realize it is more of propaganda, than force. And I repeat for the third time, war, as the history of mankind knows it, is no longer effective. And atom bombs, and guns, cannot kill propaganda, or ideas.
Question: Can we win our permanent place in history by atomic bombs alone?
No, no....No! Our forefathers had the intellect here back in 1835 and on through 1846 in this underpeopled land to figure out constitutional, moral, and physical principles; they did it with far less proportional physical power than we have against our opponents today.
Did we win against the Mexicans from 1835 through 1846 because we had more guns? No, no!
Did we defeat the Mexicans at the Battle of San Antonio because we had better logistics -- to use a very big word of a very big general? The answer is we had no logistics whatever -- that means no Quartermaster nor Ordnance Corps, no Medical Corps, no yak-yak Hollywood entertainers exempt from draft, nor bars and untaxed whiskey for our generals and VIPs, no butter, no fat advertising men brought down from New York to write what soldiers should think, no organized Supply, and not just a little money, but no money at all!
Therefore, we wonder; because somehow, in 1835 and 1836, we did have enough physical force to win, while we were outnumbered in population some two hundred to one, and the Mexicans were good people, too -- and always we were outnumbered overwhelmingly in trained soldiers and officers, plus overwhelming and better armament, food, equipment, and military organization. The answer is we had the moral and spiritual -- and brain power; we were sure we were right, and we had aim, point, end. The Mexicans were Christians, like us, but their own liberties had been usurped. They, in effect, were invading Texas, first over seas, then over deserts, far distant from their homes -- but! -- the Texans had strong convictions, and the Mexican soldiers could not, and did not, have strong convictions under the circumstances.
Now to return to results of the Battle of San Antonio; why can it justly be called "great?" Forces were set in motion which led to the cession of vast territories from Mexico to the United States in 1848, along with a vigorous marching population imbued with the spirit of true American constitutionalism.
It must be clearly borne in mind that a Mexican vitory at San Antonio might well have altered the entire course of events for long years following, probably forever.
Now, please let me make a personal diversion. I take great pride in mentioning this "Cos House" and La Villita because as Mayor of San Antonio from 1939 to 1941, I had the high honor to begin the re-creation and restoration of these areas, with the backing of the City Council, and the able assistance of Mr. Hamilton Magruder, who is still the able and inspired manager. Everybody helped; we had the assistance and cooperation of all the people of San Antonio, the National Youth Administration, W.P.A., all Texans, the San Antonio and Texas Historical Societies, the Daughters of the Texas Republic, the San Antonio Conservation Society, and many other individuals and organizations.
We in this room, a small group, must remember the world faith engendered by the Christians in the catacombs. We, here assembled, have a mission. We, the people of this City of St. Anthony, have a mission, a special mission, and that mission is Peace, the Peace of Villita, the Little Village, as of Bethlehem; of St. Anthony, the Patron of God's little children, for all children are the Children of God, all over the world. We locally must specifically remember that by Declaration, Ordinance, Resolution, and Public Opinion, La Villita, of San Antonio, Patron of Little Children, was established as a Community Center devoted to Happiness and Peace, and that the whole world, everywhere, must become a Community Center of Peace.
These are times that try men and women's brains, their courage to think.
Our problem of existence, which is called government, political science, international affairs, includes hundreds of complicated and desperate questions; none of these can be solved by any simple formulas, slogans, or smart sayings of public relations men. Our problems require all our brains, all our study, application, moral force and restraint, and all our knowledge of science, and the knowledge of mankind, but especially the sympathy for mankind. The problems of the world can not be solved by any casual remark about an atomic bomb, especially since both sides have it and can only destroy each other if they are crazy and savage enough.
We must remember that no pep squads, no Texas Brags, no hoopla, ever built a nation, nor libraries, nor churches, nor research laboratories, nor the spiritual things in life, nor human betterment. I am not against pep squads. But this very building, this Cos House, and this Villita, were originally slowly built through centuries of hardship, revolutions, work, wars, depressions, and sacrifices. It was restored when we had the benefit of the National Youth Administration of our great United States Federal Government through a lot of young working people, but also a lot of brain cells, smart engineers, architects (among the architects, our friend, O'Neill Ford), plumbers, planners, painters, and I am sure you will forgive me if I use the word -- of politicians! Indeed, all people, good, bad, and indifferent, full-witted or half-witted, dumb bells and society belles, people of all races and creeds, love Villita, this Cos House; and our River, the only park of its kind in the world. We sit in inspired surroundings.
We must always stand against the disciples of doom now everywhere who cast allusions upon the patriotism of our government -- who drag down, and who know nothing except carping criticism and mean personalities. We ourselves, the people, must have a revival, a revival of democracy and republicanism; I say these words with a small d and a small r, without reference to party politics. I believe if we Americans will only speak out fearlessly, America can do its part in the successful solution of the principal problems of the world. And this small group can have great influence as we sit, re-assembled with the spirit of the soldiers who assembled here, and while we hear a paraphrase of the words of Old Ben Milam: "Who'll follow Old Ben Milam into the world of new thought; who is brave enough to help intelligently in preserving our country, to help make a new democratic world, and preserve the Peace of the whole World?"
Through such a revival we can continue to exist with true liberty. Moreover, we can bring this Torch with honor and dignity to both our state and nation and to all the world.
We are assembled this night within "The Cos House" and within "La Villita." My subject is "The Battle of San Antonio" in 1835. In this same House of General Martin Perfecto de Cos were signed "The Articles of Capitulation," which was a treaty or agreement between the Texans and the Mexicans, bearing the date of December 11, 1835, which articles contained the provisions terminating the battle. In this battle, the Texans were victorious; that is the reason we have a place to sit in comfort tonight.
The importance of battles are often miscalculated because of heavy troop movements, ambitious generals, writers, and large casualty lists. The Battle of San Antonio, however, with its few hundred soldiers and handful of casualties, is important on account of the significance of the constitutional events that preceded it and because of its vast consequences. Likewise, the Battle of San Antonio is important as a pilot laboratory, that is, a real working laboratory, the experiences of which can give us rules of how to pilot the problems today.
Now, in the writing or telling of history, there are in my mind two elements: First, facts; and it is the duty of one to relate these truthfully and accurately. Second, are opinions. Here it is the liberty of the narrator to offer his own opinions and interpretations. But under our free system, the reader or listener need not be disturbed because all may form their own opinions. Everything becomes history as fast as it happens -- what I just said, a second ago, is history.
Now the strictly military history of the Battle of San Antonio has been told in great detail a good many times. Unfortunately, the social, philosophical, political, and constitutional phases surrounding the conflict, a thousand times more important, have not been told. Therefore, because the details of the battle itself have been so well told, I will principally emphasize specific constitutional aspects surrounding the event and will also give some details of the provisions of the Articles of Capitulation, interpreting them, and presenting certain comparisons. Likewise, I will comment on the cultural, physical, and geographical effects of the Battle.
The Battle of San Antonio lasted only four days in early December, 1835, some 116 years ago, the year now being 1952. Notwithstanding so short a battle, it deserves to rank among the decisive encounters of American, and even of world, history.
Wherein is the greatness of the Battle of San Antonio? The following are important factors:
First: The Declaration or the Consultation of San Felipe de Austin, November 7, 1835, which promulgated of liberty and independence, and where demand for constitutional freedom was made by the Texans. The nature of the Consultation and previous assemblies was known to all our soldiers before the Battle of San Antonio, and the principles of freedom enunciated were implicit in the battle itself and furnished the aim, point, and end sought in the battle, which the men volunteered to serve.
Second important factor: The actual victory of the Texans at San Antonio, December 9, 1835, coupled with the contents and meaning of the historic "Capitulation," December 11, 1835, which was a worthy and important document, and was signed on a dirt, not this nice tile floor you see now but exactly where we now sit.
Third: Reconciliation by Mexico and Texas became impossible because of this victory by the Texans. The final results were independence for Texas, the Annexation of Texas to the United States, war with Mexico, and the acquisition of the Southwest and California by the United States and the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. It can also be said that the power and might of America plus our advanced democracy, science, education, industrial and agricultural techniques, our superlative prosperity, might never have been established except for this seemingly unimportant battle.
The fourth important factor was that we were wise enough to adopt the best features of Spanish-Mexican institutions and culture. These included enlightened community property laws far better than the Anglo-American property laws where women had few rights; simple court procedures, and many other enlightened rules of government; but we kept our own great jury and judicial precedents as well. Culturally, there was benefit in art, music, dress, manners, customs, language, and a Mexican psychology of kindness. Agriculturally, we gained knowledge of irrigation and the conservation of water and land which had originated on the deserts of Arabia, brought to Spain by the Mohammedans. The contribution of Spanish-Mexican-Aztec culture continues, through San Antonio, to all of the United States of America, to this very hour; to some extent the vehicle of our present friendly interchange in this Cos House and La Villita.
Now the Battle of San Antonio has been ignored because it was not long and bloody; the victors were led by a private, Ben Milam, not even Corporal Milam. In fact, he wasn't even a private, just old Ben Milam, a man, a volunteer. Ben Milam was killed, and the battle didn't cost the United States or Texas a dollar. Yet I believe it was more important than the Battle of Verdun, where hundreds of thousands within the grace of the gentle Galilean -- and free enterprise, and Western civilization, heroically laid down their lives in the blessed pursuit of killing each other, under the leadership of gentlemen in frock coats who remained back home. There was prodigiously brave death and sacrifice at Verdun in 1916, all slaughtering and maiming each other in the name of our Saviour, I have seen the hundreds of thousands of graves and memorials. But I hope I am not disrespectful to the millions of dead, when I say that the constitutional principles were actually more important at the Battle of San Antonio, and the results more widespread, and more beneficient, to the tens of millions living and to live.
Let us review specific events in Texas preceding the Battle of San Antonio. In November of 1835, just before the Battle of San Antonio, the Consultation of San Felipe took place.
The Consultation at San Felipe de Austin was not the first, but the third deliberative body organized under American auspices in Texas. The gathering followed colonial meetings, newspaper controversies, deliberation, consideration, and call. The meeting grew out of long and careful conclusions upon discriminations in trade against them, the Texans; the denial of a free school system, freedom of religion, right of trial by jury, and a general usurpation of their liberties.
The Assembly at San Felipe de Austin was organized November 3, 1835. Let me repeat, this was all before the Battle of San Antonio, just as the Battle of San Antonio was before the Battle of the Alamo. The Declaration was adopted November 9th, 1835. This Declaration is the spiritual but revolutionary expression of serious men who searched for a way to preserve their rights. Because of their sincerity of purpose, they did not declare for independence but adhered in their loyalty to the Mexican Constitution of 1824. They expressed a desire to live whithin the authority of this Mexican Constitution provided its provisions were obeyed by the Mexican government; but the great Mexican people were being betrayed by General Lopez de Santa Anna, the Dictator-President. All the facts, and the principles of the Consultation were actually in the minds of the Americans as they gathered for the attack upon San Antonio.
Because the Consultation formed the aim of the Battle of San Antonio, I will quote some of its words:
It states that the "...good people of Texas, availing themselves of their natural rights, SOLEMNLY DECLARE: (Gammel's Laws)
"That they have taken up arms in defense of their rights and liberties...and in defense of the federal constitution of Mexico of 1824."
"That Texas is no longer morally or civilly bound by the compact of union; yet, stimulated by the generosity and sympathy common to a free people, they offer their support and assistance to such of the Mexican Confederacy, as will take up arms against military despotism." (This latter was the exact offer made to Canada in 1774 by the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, with a promise to the British people to stay also with Britain if the Colonies were granted the constitutional liberties of other Englishmen.)
At San Felipe, they further declared: "(we)...will continue faithful to the Mexican government as long as that nation is governed by the Constitution."
Now let us analyze the psychological and tactical aspects of the Battle of San Antonio. The volunteer troops of Texas were in great confusion. There was not much discipline. As often among robust men, there was quarreling. This undisciplined situation is a matter of detail which requires another study, and is only mentioned because the final result was last minute unity among the common soldiers and an enthusiastic urge to capture San Antonio against all their own commanding officers except one.
On the morning of December 3rd, 1835, Messrs. John W. Smith, Holmes, and Samuel Augustus Maverick, all Americans, who had been under surveillance inside San Antonio under General Cos, escaped San Antonio to the camp of the Texans near the "Old Mill." They gave information of General Cos's military situation and urged they be accepted as guide for the army of volunteers, expressing the opinion that Cos could be defeated. But the Texan officers decided to abandon San Antonio instead of fighting. Colonel Frank Johnson alone voted to attack the city.
Then in the afternoon of December 4th, a deserter of the Mexican Army, came in camp. He said that an attack might be successful. He emphasized that the Mexican garrison was in a state of disorganization and that its fighting abilities had been overestimated. Colonel Johnson, hearing the words of the Mexican, urged Ben Milam that the time to attack had come.
Concerning the Battle of San Antonio, these are some of my grandfather's notes:
December 1. (Maverick says:) "Left town...After leaving town, cannons fired from both parties."
December 2. "Smith and myself urged an assault." (Here follows a general statement that the officers oppposed an attack on San Antonio.) "Another faux-pas is made," he writes, concerning the refusal of the officers to fight. Then he writes this in clear handwriting: "The volunteers curse the officers...All day we get more and more dejected."
Maverick then speaks of the Mexican deserter coming into camp, apparently on the 4th. In his diary, he writes as follows: "Near dark, and by the animating manner and untiring zeal of Col. Milam, these trivial matters are turned to account. An impulse is given, and received; the men fall into ranks to see if we are strong enough. The mere fragment of the 700, say 250, volunteer to make the attack. Next morning 2000 had, from time to time, been in camp."
Further entries are of acting as guide for Milam and then he only mentions that Johnson of the officers came with him. He speaks also of "The White Flag" of surrender sent him. As a matter of fact, Major Austin joined the attack, and a few of the officers. Most of them, however, remained behind.
The various accounts tell of Ben Milam who, late in the evening of December 4th, rose and said, "Who'll follow Old Ben Milam into San Antonio?" These throbbing words of a man of the people brought a tumult in the camp, and decision from the men. With most of the officers still advising against attack and holding back, this democratic and determined force began preparation on their own for the battle at once. Early next morning, December 5th, with no blaring trumpets or material standards of battle but with simple determination in their hearts, the men assembled at the Old Mill, under the command of Old Ben Milam, and the attack began, still not led, blessed, or participated in by the principal officers.
The Texans advanced with their muzzle loaders and tiny, inadequate artillary. They fought systematically by military plan, and hard. They cut through adobe houses. They fought bitterly in the wet, cold streets in that December, down Soledad and Main Avenue (then Acequia Street) moving in a southerly direction toward what is now Main and Military Plazas....And Old Ben Milam, whom they dubbed a Colonel -- for he never was commissioned a Colonel, and was really just a brave man -- who was loved by all the men, was killed while advancing forward from his battle position over to the Veramendi House on Soledad. He died in the arms of his guide, Sam Maverick. Milam's death will always be known as memorable and heroic. For it was this humble and rugged fellow who led a little revolution within a revolution in which the officers insisted upon retreat, and with spirit and courage he turned the tide of American history, dying in carrying out American ideals. He left a vast heritage of freedom, property, and happiness to tens of millions after his death. His death was not useless, but worthwhile. And as we ponder it, making a contemporary analogy, our hearts and minds must surely also ponder our young men, our 18-year-olds who are now dying in the brutal bare hills of red and bloody snow of far distant Korea.
Now, here in San Antonio, by the 8th of December, 1835, the Texans had won the battle. On the 9th, at 6:30 in the morning, as the rays of the sun began to show a little bit on the miserable, muddy, poverty-stricken little Mexican village of San Antonio, General Cos raised the white flag of surrender from the walls of the Alamo.
Among those participating with the Texans were six Englishmen, a Nova Scotian, one or two Germans, one Welshman, and Americans of seventeen of the then twenty-four states of the United States, the entire force totaling three hundred and one. The predominating psychology of this revolutionary force was that of men who had been reared upon the concepts of contitutional, parliamentary, free elective governments; their objectives were clear, and that is why they fought as they did. It must not be forgotten that some of those in the attack were Mexicans, who clearly understood the constitutional aims.
The capture of San Antonio by the Texans was unpardonable to the Dictator-President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. He proclaimed that there must be a war of extermination. This was especially so since the defeated general, Martin Perfecto de Cos, his brother-in-law, and all Mexican troops, had been expelled from Texas in humiliating and decisive defeat.
The Battle of San Antonio was of great strategic importance and military benefit to Texas. As a matter of strategic importance, the occupying forces of the Mexicans having been expelled, other Mexican military forces were held back from invading Texas for two-and-a-half months (until the Battle of the Alamo), and the total sacrifice at the Alamo held the Mexicans a few weeks longer. Those events gave the Texans valuable time to organize on sea and land, and politically. The Mexicans were weak at sea, and Texas began to create a little Navy. General Cos with headquarters at Matamoras had ordered the Texans there to explain their grievances, then he transported his expedition by sea to Matagorda Bay through the Mexican Navy, and then marched his trooops to San Antonio. It was the Battle of San Antonio that gave Texas a breathing spell in which to organize sea power; and after that, no more Mexicans landed by sea but had to march over the deserts. Thus the "Texas Navy" is no joke, but was an important, really essential force in the final victory of Texas. During this early dark period, the spirit of our people was maintained -- and the vital spirit of constitutionalism continued to grow through these experiences in organized forms and institutions. This breathing spell or organizational period was made possible by the Battle of San Antonio.
Now let us carefully analyze "Capitulation" and its meanings. It was a well-written, humane, and intelligent document entitled for all time to a high place in history....It was a polite document....It was written without big obscure words; there was no diplomatic fol de rol, no excellencies, no protestations of virtue and piety, no hypocritical calls upon God....Moreover, the Capitulation accurately followed the principles of American constitutionalism pertaining to the preservation of liberty and the protection of property of all people, including our enemies. The provisions included the principles of International Law as it pertained to the conduct of war and honorable peace. The document is worthy of study in these confused days.
Listen to the preamble of the Capitulation: it says that one of the purposes was, and I quote, "of preventing the further effusion of blood and the ravages of war..." It seems to me that the negotiators of both sides of Panmunjom in Korea might at least agree on these words.
To proceed -- as a matter of common sense, in Article 2, the Agreement permitted General Cos to leave for Mexico with artillery and sufficient rounds of ammunition for his protection against the Indians. He retired on parole of honor (Article 1), agreeing that he and his officers and soldiers would never violate the Mexican Constitution of 1824...(Cos did violate his parole, as more or less expected), but the moral position of the Texans was made solid, and this moral position had much to do with the eventual victory of the Anglo-Saxon cause.
In Article 14, the Mexican command was further provided with feed and provisions at reasonable prices by the Texans. This was fair and honest dealing.
In Article 15, the sick and the wounded of the defeated Mexicans were permitted to remain in San Antonio or Texas with the protection of the Texans, or to leave whenever they wished -- this certainly was humane, decent, and common sense.
In Article 6, it was provided "all private property is to be restored to the proper owners."
In Article 13, all citizens should be protected in "their persons and property."
In Article 16, it was provided, "No person, either citizen or soldier, to be molested on account of political opinions hitherto expressed."
The foregoing provisions protected property as well as civil freedoms. They were in the face of the fact that almost the entire citizenship of San Antonio had by sympathy, deed, and bloody acts of war, opposed the Texans. The population was bitterly hostile. But the Texans believed in freedom, as well as intelligent clemency and consideration, and offered all this to their enemies, thereby making friends, or at least establishing our prestige by being humane and doing right whether the enemy did right or not. I am frankly emphasizing this because I believe these principles of our forefathers are still good; today there is peace and good will among Texans, that is, all Americans and Mexicans, everywhere, following the precedents begun at the Battle of San Antonio.
Throughout the whole document called the Capitulation there is a note of common courtesy, thoughtfulness, and kindness worthy of brave soldiers and decent men. Today the writing of such a splendid and simple-hearted document might well cause a newsreporter on the make to cable back for shouting headlines that a truce was being cooked up by a "bunch of suckers" and that we were throwing "money down a rat hole" -- and that the population was hostile as indeed they were here in 1835, and as they are in Korea, today. Or some Senator or Congressman in a safe steamheated chamber would rise and bravely trumpet for boys of 18 to go forth and die in the cold and wet and misery and death of war, to make "further effusions of Blood" and "to carry on the ravages of war."
Today as yesterday, there are paradoxes in life: returning good for evil, especially when one is strong, as this great nation is, may in the end really be common sense and the building of real power, and not even generosity, much less weakness. It is indicated in The Book, and in many scriptural and philosophical writings, that trusting one unworthy of trust may seem incredibly foolish, but in the end may prove not only great moral victory but bring the actual fruits of victory as well. Wars or battles are military symbols of crisis, or change, but God or Moral Power must decide in the end. Fortunately at the Battle of San Antonio, Moral Power coincided with victory, followed by clemency and consideration.
In our reasoning today, we Americans have become brittle and apparently lack understanding of the revolutionary forces which are widespread throughout the world. We have become so powerful that we are afraid to think or if we think, we are afraid to speak out. The problems our forefathers faced were not simple as we are given to thinking; their problems under conditions then existing, were as hard for them as ours are today. Their problems were, as a matter of fact, complicated and extremely difficult -- there were none of the great labor saving, or superbly beautiful technical devices of killing that we have today...nothing, in 1835, but the lone prarie in a too cold, or too hot, sparse, and miserable land. But these intrepid pioneers saw a future land in which to strike their plows, a green land, The Promised Land.
Now, throughout this talk, I have stated facts and also some opinions. We feel the beauty of sentiment; but now, we must think. What I now state is opinion, but I believe it is really fact, and accepted generally as truth. It is this:
War, as the history of mankind has shown it and as we know it, is no longer effective.Let me repeat this:
War, as the history of mankind has shown it and as we know it, is no longer effective.The above has been shown in two World Wars; they did not bring peace, and Korea is this day an added postscript.
In my opinion, and I believe this is factual, World Wars I and II were not successful to any side, any government, or any people, and especially not beneficial to the so-called "victors," under any philosophy, ideas, or statement of facts. I am not a pacifist. I do not renounce war and am agreeable to pay heavy taxes for war preparation. As a fighting Infantry soldier with my own blood on the soil of France, I participated in World War I. I have been awarded the Silver Star, Purple Heart, and the Legion of Honor of France. I honor my medals, I love America -- but I want to save our country and Western civilization, and my conclusions about war are as stated.
For some strange reason, we thought in World War II that if we "pinpointed" and destroyed vast areas of structures, property, and industry built up over the long centuries, we would "win." But Stop. Pause!! What does Win mean? We didn't destroy the German or Japanese people, although we made war on civilian populations and destroyed hundreds of billions of dollars of property; now we call upon the Germans and Japanese to save us. Today we have destroyed every single city in Korea by air warfare; daily our headlines say we "bagged" so many Communists the night before; we have killed at least two million non-combatant civilians, men, women, and little children, some think four or five million. Notwithstanding all this, we have not "won" the Korean War; if we do win, it will be no such victory as at San Antonio, San Jacinto, or Yorktown; we have not gained the love of the peoples of Asia and its one billion, two hundred million people. We do not even prepare for Peace; if we win, we do not know what to do with the victory. In the Battle of San Antonio, there was a purpose, a reason, a constructive end, and we knew what to do with the Victory.
Now in modern war, the total vastness, the vastness of enormous destruction of lands, forests, cities, clinics, churches, hospitals, schools, farm houses, homes, roads, railroads, electric plants, industries -- the destruction by all sides of humanity -- are now bringing victories to the point of no return, and certainly a return of subtle enmity by hundreds of millions of people against the land we love. We have a Battle of Flowers to commemorate San Jacinto, Americans and Mexicans celebrating together. How soon will we celebrate the Korean War with a Battle of Flowers, and will the Asians celebrate with us?
In the Battle of San Antonio, there was an aim, which was to get land; a point, which was to obtain liberty; and an end, which was to finish the affair, and stay home, in Texas, on farms and ranches forever. In comparison, some do not understand the Korean War. The aim certainly is not to get land for our farmers; the point about liberty is six thousand miles beyond the seas and certainly, the constitutional or libertarian ideal is not clear. And the end...it is endless! Certainly the end is not to stay in Korea either as citizens, farmers, soldiers, policemen, or Christian soldiers with guns and blood forever in a cruel, brutal, and permanently hostile land; for let me state this emphatically: Korea is not of strategic value, and is not necessary for the welfare and protection of America or the Western Hemisphere, or Europe, or Africa.
Now, fellow Americans, we actually still have the physical courage today equal to that of our soldiers at the Battle of San Antonio. And apparently we are willing for our sons to lie in Korea, for none speak out against it, and certainly the young men dying in Korea and those that have died in our modern wars have shown superb courage in their service, supreme patriotism, and sacrifice.
We, in this historic little house, are not afraid of military death, not even if bombs rain down on us. Nor do we lack the will to inflict death on a monumental scale against our enemies, which we are doing.
But the question is, are we able to use our intellects to think, and to exercise our moral and Christian precepts? Are we willing to look God straight in the face? Have we courage enough, like the Christians in the catacombs, to be called names, even to be told we have no courage, when indeed, we do? The World Revolution today is partly force, but if we have any brains at all, we must realize it is more of propaganda, than force. And I repeat for the third time, war, as the history of mankind knows it, is no longer effective. And atom bombs, and guns, cannot kill propaganda, or ideas.
Question: Can we win our permanent place in history by atomic bombs alone?
No, no....No! Our forefathers had the intellect here back in 1835 and on through 1846 in this underpeopled land to figure out constitutional, moral, and physical principles; they did it with far less proportional physical power than we have against our opponents today.
Did we win against the Mexicans from 1835 through 1846 because we had more guns? No, no!
Did we defeat the Mexicans at the Battle of San Antonio because we had better logistics -- to use a very big word of a very big general? The answer is we had no logistics whatever -- that means no Quartermaster nor Ordnance Corps, no Medical Corps, no yak-yak Hollywood entertainers exempt from draft, nor bars and untaxed whiskey for our generals and VIPs, no butter, no fat advertising men brought down from New York to write what soldiers should think, no organized Supply, and not just a little money, but no money at all!
Therefore, we wonder; because somehow, in 1835 and 1836, we did have enough physical force to win, while we were outnumbered in population some two hundred to one, and the Mexicans were good people, too -- and always we were outnumbered overwhelmingly in trained soldiers and officers, plus overwhelming and better armament, food, equipment, and military organization. The answer is we had the moral and spiritual -- and brain power; we were sure we were right, and we had aim, point, end. The Mexicans were Christians, like us, but their own liberties had been usurped. They, in effect, were invading Texas, first over seas, then over deserts, far distant from their homes -- but! -- the Texans had strong convictions, and the Mexican soldiers could not, and did not, have strong convictions under the circumstances.
Thus our duty today is to face the new system of revolutionary warfare or aggression, and I think the conflict can be won to a great extent in the same way: that is, we need not necessarily go bankrupt in the production of arms and destroy ourselves by wars of diversions, plus inflation, but we can better be honest at home, use our brains, our international tact and moral force, altough we must always be prepared for war.Santa Anna tried to either exterminate or choke the people of Texas into being little colonies of slaves, the slaves of a dictatorship, military and clerical. Thus today we as Americans, learning from our ancestors, must stand for the principles of the Declaration of Independence of the United States and of Texas, independence for all peoples, throughout the whole world. That means we must stand specifically for the abolition of colonies anywhere in the world (we clearly remember Texas was a series of little colonies); we must stand for the equality of humanity, all being the Children of God. In this way only can we defeat the specter of Communism and violent world revolution.
Now to return to results of the Battle of San Antonio; why can it justly be called "great?" Forces were set in motion which led to the cession of vast territories from Mexico to the United States in 1848, along with a vigorous marching population imbued with the spirit of true American constitutionalism.
It must be clearly borne in mind that a Mexican vitory at San Antonio might well have altered the entire course of events for long years following, probably forever.
Now, please let me make a personal diversion. I take great pride in mentioning this "Cos House" and La Villita because as Mayor of San Antonio from 1939 to 1941, I had the high honor to begin the re-creation and restoration of these areas, with the backing of the City Council, and the able assistance of Mr. Hamilton Magruder, who is still the able and inspired manager. Everybody helped; we had the assistance and cooperation of all the people of San Antonio, the National Youth Administration, W.P.A., all Texans, the San Antonio and Texas Historical Societies, the Daughters of the Texas Republic, the San Antonio Conservation Society, and many other individuals and organizations.
We in this room, a small group, must remember the world faith engendered by the Christians in the catacombs. We, here assembled, have a mission. We, the people of this City of St. Anthony, have a mission, a special mission, and that mission is Peace, the Peace of Villita, the Little Village, as of Bethlehem; of St. Anthony, the Patron of God's little children, for all children are the Children of God, all over the world. We locally must specifically remember that by Declaration, Ordinance, Resolution, and Public Opinion, La Villita, of San Antonio, Patron of Little Children, was established as a Community Center devoted to Happiness and Peace, and that the whole world, everywhere, must become a Community Center of Peace.
These are times that try men and women's brains, their courage to think.
Our problem of existence, which is called government, political science, international affairs, includes hundreds of complicated and desperate questions; none of these can be solved by any simple formulas, slogans, or smart sayings of public relations men. Our problems require all our brains, all our study, application, moral force and restraint, and all our knowledge of science, and the knowledge of mankind, but especially the sympathy for mankind. The problems of the world can not be solved by any casual remark about an atomic bomb, especially since both sides have it and can only destroy each other if they are crazy and savage enough.
We must remember that no pep squads, no Texas Brags, no hoopla, ever built a nation, nor libraries, nor churches, nor research laboratories, nor the spiritual things in life, nor human betterment. I am not against pep squads. But this very building, this Cos House, and this Villita, were originally slowly built through centuries of hardship, revolutions, work, wars, depressions, and sacrifices. It was restored when we had the benefit of the National Youth Administration of our great United States Federal Government through a lot of young working people, but also a lot of brain cells, smart engineers, architects (among the architects, our friend, O'Neill Ford), plumbers, planners, painters, and I am sure you will forgive me if I use the word -- of politicians! Indeed, all people, good, bad, and indifferent, full-witted or half-witted, dumb bells and society belles, people of all races and creeds, love Villita, this Cos House; and our River, the only park of its kind in the world. We sit in inspired surroundings.
We must have new courage to face new problems. Likewise, although we live in the Age of Monstrous Insult, Excessive Villification, and Dirty and Cowardly Name Calling, we must remain confident and true to our own heritage. We must maintain our own internal liberties, even in the days when it becomes necessary to wage war against false and wicked philosophies, and against nations denying liberty.We, as people, are certainly not afraid to die...But let us live, and not surrender to fear of any kind, or fear of name calling. I speak of mental and moral fear, where we are afraid to speak about principles. Nobody, whether they consider themselves political or non-political, rich or poor, must ever surrender to fear.
We must always stand against the disciples of doom now everywhere who cast allusions upon the patriotism of our government -- who drag down, and who know nothing except carping criticism and mean personalities. We ourselves, the people, must have a revival, a revival of democracy and republicanism; I say these words with a small d and a small r, without reference to party politics. I believe if we Americans will only speak out fearlessly, America can do its part in the successful solution of the principal problems of the world. And this small group can have great influence as we sit, re-assembled with the spirit of the soldiers who assembled here, and while we hear a paraphrase of the words of Old Ben Milam: "Who'll follow Old Ben Milam into the world of new thought; who is brave enough to help intelligently in preserving our country, to help make a new democratic world, and preserve the Peace of the whole World?"
Through such a revival we can continue to exist with true liberty. Moreover, we can bring this Torch with honor and dignity to both our state and nation and to all the world.
Maury Maverick, February 15, 1952
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