Biographies - Ex-Governor O. M. {Oran Milo} Roberts

Source: "Types of Successful Men of Texas, Pages 1 - 58"
Author; L. E. Daniell
Published By The Author
Eugene Von Boeckmann, Printer and Bookbinder
1890
Submitted by: Charlie Vines

The father was of Welsh, and the mother of Scotch-Irish descent. Her father, Sam Kwing, was a Captain of cavalry during the whole of the Revolutionary War, and died a few years after peace, from exposure in the service.

Oran was only thirteen years old when his father died, after which he lived with his mother and older brother on a farm near Ashville, Alabama, cultivated by the two boys and a few good slaves. Having previously gone to old field schools, at the age of sixteen he was started to an Academy in Ashville, taught by James Lewis, who, in six months, abandoned the school; after which Ralph P. Lowe, a graduate of Miami University, and afterwards Governor of Iowa, took him, with three other boys, into his law office, where, by the study of Latin and Greek, he was prepared to enter the University of Alabama, which he did on the 13th of February, 1833, joining the Freshman class, then four months advanced in the session. He graduated in December, 1836, having studied law also in the latter part of the session. After the first two sessions he had ample time to devote himself to general reading, which was facilitated by his being librarian during the senior year. The society of Tuscaloosa, then the Capital of the State, and the meeting of the Legislature every year, together with his association with the professors and students, enabled him to acquire a greatly enlarged idea of men and things, very different from that of a mountain-raised boy.

His professor in Latin and Greek was Henry W. Tutwiler, one of the first, if not the first graduate of the University of Virginia, who became a distinguished educator in different schools in Alabama, which continued until the time of his death, only a few years ago, revered and honored by all who knew him.

In the class of 1836 were graduated also Franklin W. Bowdon, one of the greatest orators of his day, and Washington D. Miller, distinguished in Texas history, both of whom immigrated to Texas in early life and died here.

Young Roberts, in 1837, studied law with Judge Ptolemy Harris, of St. Stephens, teaching his three boys, and afterwards with Wm. P. Chilton, a distinguished lawyer at Taladega, Alabama, who was subsequently on the Supreme Bench of Alabama, and a member of the Confederate Congress. Being examined by his preceptors only once in several weeks, he adopted the plan of taking notes, after repeated perusals, of every law-book that he studied, which greatly aided in the retention of what he read, by which he was enabled to stand a searching examination by Hon. Eli Shortridge, Circuit Judge, by whom, joined by Judge Wm. D. Pickett, he was granted a license to practice law, 22nd of September, 1837.

Having commenced the practice of law at once in Taladega, he soon removed to Ashville, St. Clair county, where he was raised, and did reasonably well in that and in the adjoining mountain counties, continuing his study of the law, until he moved to Texas in the fall of 1841.

In less than two months after obtaining his license, he married in Ashville, Miss Frances W. Edwards, the daughter of Major Peter Edwards, of that place, to whom he had long been attached, while both of them were quite young. They lived together forty-six years, she having died in November, 1883. They raised seven children, all of whom except one are still living, and in Texas; and now they have seventeen grandchildren. Her sense of duty and kindness made her a good wife and mother, always respected by her neighbors, wherever they lived.

During his three years residence in Ashville as a lawyer, he was elected Colonel of the regiment, and Representative in the State Legislature for St. Clair county.  He soon found, however, that military and legislative honors, and residence in a mountain region, where matters litigated were generally small in amount, offered but slight inducements to a young lawyer who had spent his patrimony to get an education and a profession.

Therefore he set his face towards the young Republic of Texas, and moved there with his family, his mother, and his father-in-law and his family, and finally all of his near relatives came to Texas.

He settled in San Augustine, partly because it was within ten miles of his uncle, Nathan Davis, senior, a respected old resident, who had been the first Alcalde of the municipality of Tenehaw, but mainly because it was then one of the principal legal and political centers of the whole surrounding country, in which resided some of the most eminent lawyers and statesmen of the Republic, and was surrounded by much wealth.

There he had the good fortune to have been examined for a license to practice law by J. Pinckney Henderson and Royal T. Wheeler, upon whose recommendation he was granted a license by the District Judge of the Fifth Judicial District, Hon. Wm. B. Ochiltree, on the 7th of February, 1842. He had found out that there were much odds in favor of a lawyer by his hailing from a place of importance, if his ability proved to be adequate to the expectation produced by it, and that an association with a strong bar of varied ability would furnish a valuable schooling in the law, as well as would stimulate a laudable ambition for excellence in the profession, and so it proved to be in his case.

He at once followed the circuit with the judge and other lawyers, as was then the custom, extending through central eastern Texas, from the Sabine to the Trinity rivers. Notwithstanding he had to learn a new system of pleading and practice, and of laws generally, he made such progress in his profession as to be appointed District Attorney by President Houston on the 6th of February, 1844, just two years and two months after he came to Texas, and that without his having been a candidate for the office, and knew nothing of his selection until his commission was delivered to him by N. H. Darnell, Member of Congress from San Augustine county. Then it was that he had to stand alone in the court houses in prosecuting criminal, forfeiture and revenue cases, against a body of lawyers of peculiar ability, natural and acquired, then residing in the old Fifth and adjoining districts, many of whose names have become historic, such as Rusk and Henderson, Royal T. Wheeler and K. L. Anderson, Thos. J. Jennings, S. L. B. Jasper, Amos Clark, David S. Kaufman, Richardson and William Scurry, Benj. Burke, A. W. O. Hicks, Bennet Martin, Ardrey & Payne, Lemuel Dale Evans, Isaac VanZandt, General J. L. Hogg and George Lane, most of whom possessed distinctive traits of excellence, with a marked individuality of personal character. Opposing such an array of talent brought out all of his capacity as a lawyer, and his independence as a man amongst men. In 1844 Wm. B. Ochiltree, and in 1845 Royal T. Wheeler was the District Judge under whom he prosecuted.

He was much engaged in prosecutions and civil suits for the violation of the revenue laws upon the eastern frontier of the Republic, especially for violations of laws imposing duties on foreign importations. This led him to give much reflection upon the subject of taxation, which he developed in articles published in the Red Lander, a newspaper of extensive circulation, wherein it was argued that the only true principle of taxation was attained by a poll tax, and an ad valorem tax upon property. He was assured by a distinguished member of the Convention of 1845, that these articles had no little influence in establishing the system of ad valorem tax upon property, which, though then new, has continued in this State up to the present date.

He also voluntarily made reports to the Attorney General of the prosecutions and convictions in his District, which set an example that caused a law to be passed requiring it to be done.

His success in that position was sufficiently attested by the fact that General Henderson, who had practiced in the same courts with him, upon being elected the first Governor of the State, tendered him the appointment of District Judge, without any solicitation by him, or by his friends, so far as he was informed. His appointment was unanimously confirmed by the Senate, and he entered upon the discharge of the duties of the office in April, 1846, then not thirty-one years of age.

James M. Ardrey was appointed District Attorney, and after one year was succeeded by Richard S. Walker, who for many years continued to fill that office with ability.

The Fifth Judicial District had been changed so as to exclude from it its western counties, and add to it Panola, Harrison, Cass and Upshur counties. This caused the Judge to meet in courts with other lawyers than those before named, as Pinckney Hill, Mr. Arrington, John Taylor, Chesley Adams, Colonel Clough, Thomas and Jas. H. Rogers, Judge Todd, and Judge Morrill. He held the first courts ever held in Newton, Cass and Upshur counties.

Having exchanged districts with Judge Buckley, of Houston, in the fall of 1847, he met in courts with General T. J. Chambers, General James Davis, Judge Branch, Judge B. C. Franklin, Henry Potter, Peter W. Gray, Mosely Baker, James W. Henderson, Berry Gillespie, Judge Williamson, Judge Johnson ("ramrod" so called), Mr. Shepperd and others. This district extended from Jefferson to Grimes counties, including Harris county.

In the fall of 1850, having exchanged districts with Judge Bennet Martin, he held the courts from Crockett to Fort Worth, in the counties of Kaufman and Henderson, in the woods under trees, and at Fort Worth in a little store house, down upon the bank of the river. In this district he met with Colonel Yoakum, George F. Moore, Reuben Reaves, John Reagan, John Cravens, Jack Fowler and others. He also held court for Judge L,. D. Evans in Rusk and Smith counties, where he met with Colonel Steadman, Judge Ector, Colonel James H. Jones, Stockton Donley and Stephen Hollingsworth. The court at Tyler was held by him in June, 1848, in a little log cabin on the north side of the square, surrounded by native brush and woods. In 1848 the Fifth District was again changed, leaving off the four northern counties, and adding to it the counties of Angelina and Nacogdoches, where T. J. Jennings, Wm. B. Ochiltree, Amos Clark, R. S. Walker and Chas. S. Taylor then resided.

This reference is made to the holding of the courts in the eastern, southeastern and middle portions of the State, to show what an array of talented and learned lawyers were, at that early day, practicing in those courts; to whom the District Judges were much indebted for the aid given them in the administration of the laws, in the new State of Texas.

At that time there were few good law libraries, and until the decisions of the Supreme Court of the State, composed of Chief Justice John Hernphill, and Associate Justices Abner S. Lipscomb and Royal T. Wheeler, were beginning to be published and circulated, the judge's traveling library, carried in his saddlebags, consisted of the constitution and laws of the Republic and State of Texas, and a manuscript copy of the synopsis of the few decisions of the Supreme Court of the Republic.

The position of the District Judge was made arduous and difficult, from the conglomeration of laws, and system of laws, that had then and previously been introduced into Texas, upon all of which rights had arisen, and were then arising, that had to be adjudicated in the courts. Up to 1840, when the common law of England was adopted, the Spanish civil law prevailed, with modifications and additions, by the constitutions and laws of Mexico, and the State of Coahuila and Texas, and by the consultation, and the constitution and laws of the Republic of Texas, which had also introduced the code of Louisiana in regard to Probate matters.

The adoption of the common law in 1840, brought with it the equity jurisprudence, and made it necessary otherwise to adopt numerous statutes supplemental thereto, to meet the modern view of the system of law, and to retain certain features of the Spanish civil law, relating to pleadings, to marital rights, to descents and distributions of estates, to homesteads, and to exemptions from debt.

The annexation of Texas in December, 1845, introduced the constitution, laws and treaties of the United States, making it necessary to pass laws adapting the State to its changed condition as one of the States of the Federal Union. To all which may be added the law of nations, when applicable.

The effort to form a consistent line of decisions upon rights of persons and of property, arising out of such heterogeneous mass of institutions and laws, had to receive its incipiency, and shape, in the District Courts, to be perfected by the wisdom and legal learning of the Supreme Courts of the State, and of the United States. It required of the District Judge a broad, comprehensive and, at the same time, a critical and exhaustive examination into all parts of the combination, and a mental power of construction to initiate the building up of a harmonious and correct system in the adjudication of the great variety of cases that necessarily would be brought in his courts for determinations under such state of things.

An extract of a short biography of Judge Roberts, written in 1852 by a good lawyer, who had for years practiced in the courts of his district, may be given as indicating his course upon the bench, and the effect of it. After detailing the complication of the various.laws and systems of laws introduced in Texas previous to 1846, he said: "It was at this period that Judge Roberts went upon the bench to aid in giving consistency to chaos, pari passu with the ultimate expounders of the law, and without their light, (with the other District Judges of the State), in giving the rudimental shape to that which the highest court polished and remodeled. This was a field in which the talents of but few jurists could have shown brighter, or rendered more efficient aid. His mind possessing those peculiar qualities which distinguish him for that character of judicial labor.

"Judge Roberts brought to the bench a mind trained by study and discipline, the natural bias of which was peculiarly philosophical, and reflective. His mind is never content with a superficial view of any subject,—hence his studies and experience had made him familiar, not only with the abstract propositions, or truths of the law, but with their origin, their history, and their philosophy.

"His decisions on the bench were distinguished for their clearness, and the lucid exposition of the principles involved. In his official position he was independent of men, and of public opinion.

"He rigidly adhered to the law as the rule of decision. He never bent it to accomplish even a public good. No motives of good policy dissuaded him from preserving intact the judicial integrity. And by whatsoever combination of public interest, or prejudices, any cause might be surrounded, either party felt alike secure that the temple of justice was not invaded by either. His inflexible course silenced malignity itself from questioning the integrity of his decisions, or any improper bias of his mind.

"With such views of judicial propriety, and such mental qualities, he seemed peculiarly fitted to adorn that important branch of the government, and he retired from his position of usefulness with a character as a jurist as enviable as any judge, who has yet presided under the Republic or State of Texas.

"The deportment of Judge Roberts, while on the bench, was affable, patient and conciliatory. He presided with unostentatious firmness and graceful dignity. His manners, simple and unassuming, attracted to him the members of the bar,—between whom and himself the most agreeable relations always existed.

"His taste for polite literature, fondness for polite intercourse, a vein of well-timed humor, a lively imagination, and descriptive powers of a high order, rendered him engaging in society and gave a finish to his sterner accomplishments."

During the time he was District Judge he was strongly solicited to become a candidate for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, in different parts of the State, the object of which was to defeat Justice Lipscomb, as it was generally understood. He published a refusal to permit his name to be used for such a purpose. During the same time, also, Governor Bell tendered to him the appointment of Attorney General of the State. From some accident or other cause, never more than suspected, the letter never reached him until the Legislature had adjourned, and Governor A. J. Hamilton had been appointed. After which, learning that Governor Bell was displeased that his letter remained unanswered, Judge Roberts made haste to inform him of the unaccountable delay of the letter, with his thanks for the compliment.

After leaving the bench he became a candidate for Congress, there being then but two members to be elected in Texas, first in 1851, when there being a number of Democratic candidates in the field, and one Whig candidate, he declined in the interest of his party; the second time in 1853, when a full convention met, which gave him a large majority, but owing to a misunderstanding of his principles, a combination was formed of just enough delegates to prevent his nomination, the leaders in which, the very next day, upon being properly informed, expressed their regret that he was not the candidate chosen, at the same time giving assurance of their support for any office he might seek, which was subsequently fully redeemed.

He had, in the first instance, reluctantly consented to become a candidate for Congress, and upon his failure to get a nomination, backed as he was by so large a majority, he in person, upon leave granted, gave notice to the Convention that he no longer wished to be considered an aspirant for a political office, which he did not do from chagrin, or feelings of resentment, but simply to preserve his own self-respect.

From 1851 to 1856 he practiced law in parts of two districts and in the Supreme Court at Tyler, living most of the time on his farm in the southern part of Shelby country. He was for the most part engaged at the instance of other lawyers, to act with them in important cases, both civil and criminal, and especially in cases where powerful influences of favor or prejudice had to be met and opposed. During that period he, in 1855, took an active part in opposing the secret political societies, called Know Nothing societies, that had been privately spread over the State, before they had attracted the attention of the leading public men of the Democratic part.

In the fall of 1856 Justice Abner Lipscomb died, while the Supreme Court was in session at Austin, and was buried in the State cemetery. Chief Justice Hemphill then resided in Austin, and Justice R. T. Wheeler in Galveston. Conventions had not then made nominations for judicial officers. The lawyers then in attendance upon the court, at a meeting in Austin, presented Judge Roberts' name to fill the vacancy, which was responded to favorably by nominations in other places, and by numerous personal solicitations in other parts of the State. He had never been at Austin or in Western Texas, and had no expectation of filling another office, satisfied to live on his farm and practice law, as he had been doing successfully. But he changed his purpose under an invitation so flattering and unexpected. A special election was ordered to be held on the 1st of February, 1857.

His opponents were Judge Peter W. Gray, of Houston; Judge Benj. C. Franklin, of Galveston; Col. Thos. J. Jennings, of Cherokee county, and John Taylor. Judge Roberts was elected, getting a few hundred votes over Judge Gray, and took his seat in the Supreme Court at Tyler in April, 1857, being then forty-one years old, and having had such experience at the bar and as District Attorney and as District Judge, as qualified him to take at once a respectable position in that high office. In two years afterwards Chief Justice Hemphill left the bench, having been elected Senator in Congress, and Royal T. Wheeler became Chief Justice and James H. Bell Associate Justice by election.

Judge Roberts had now arrived at an age when his mental powers had matured by a continued active life of study and practice in his profession. He had laid a broad foundation to make himself useful in a more extended sphere of action than he had previously occupied. He had lived long enough in Texas to properly understand its people, their motives of action, and the various material interests pertaining to them, by which he was enabled to fully comprehend the significance of the facts, separately, and in combination, that were involved in the litigation to be determined in the court of last resort. His opinions run through 18 volumes of Texas Supreme Court Reports, having been placed on that court four times, three of them as Chief Justice, commencing in 1857 and ending in 1878, though he was not on the bench continually during that time. A reference to those volumes will show, from first to last, that his efforts were confined to no special class of cases, but that his discussions of subjects were equally elaborate and perspicuous, relating to the governments to which Texas was or had been subject, or to their constitution, and the laws peculiar to them, or to common law, or to equity, or to criminal law, or statutory law, embracing the whole range of jurisprudence applicable to Texas.

To appreciate his usefulness on the Supreme Bench, it is necessary to understand the character and tendency of the decisions of the old court, as it has usually been termed, composed of Chief Justice Hemphill, and Associate Justices Lipscomb and Wheeler. The State is greatly indebted to those judges for the wisdom and legal learning displayed by them in initiating a system of Texas jurisprudence. Chief Justice Hemphill was largely devoted to special subjects, such as related to the Spanish civil law, to marital rights, to homesteads and exemptions, and was strongly disposed to harmonize the existing conflicting elements in our laws, into a system, peculiar to itself, founded on a policy adapted to the condition of the country. Justice L,ipscomb, possessing a vigorous mind, was a strong common law lawyer, having had long experience in a common law State (Alabama), as a lawyer, as Circuit Judge, and as Chief Justice of its Supreme Court. Justice Wheeler had been a lawyer of high standing amidst an able bar in Eastern Texas, a District Attorney and a District Judge. His legal learning was general, and he possessed indomitable energy, and untiring industry, in a conscientious investigation of the law and facts of his cases. By his extreme sense of justice and keen apprehension of giving the least encouragement to wrong of any sort in human transactions, he exerted a powerful influence in the court, which gave to its discussions a tendency to meet the court's ideas of the justice of every case, and to so construe the law, and the authorities referred to, as to accomplish that object. There was no discussion between the justices upon the points of a case under consideration in coming to a conclusion upon it, nor were the opinions of each one read to the others until delivered in open court. The only concurrence, therefore, was in the point or points decided in each case, and not in the reasons given for it. Consequently each opinion was plainly stamped with the peculiar bent of mind and general views of law that pertained to the justice who delivered it. The result of this tended to produce uncertainty in the minds of counsel as to what would be decided in cases of much complication; and it, not unfrequently, misled lawyers who gave their attention to the arguments in the opinions, without noticing closely the real points decided in the cases, which only had been agreed to as a conclusion by the whole court, and for which alone the court, as a court under the mode of proceeding, was responsible.

Very soon after Judge Roberts was placed on the Supreme Court, it was discovered by the bar of the State, that he habitually exhibited the principles of action as a judge on a larger scale, that had distinguished his course on the District Court bench, that he was blind to men and things outside of the case considered, —blind to consequences, to policy, to prejudices and influences, and followed the law as his sovereign guide, —the law, as announced upon the highest authority, —the law, as it was written, interpreted and construed according to its plain letter and true spirit, —the law, as construed by a broad common sense, in regard to the subjects to which it related, in the various and diversified cases that came before him for adjudication; the law, not construed to work a good result outside of and beyond the scope of its true purpose and intent, and not to denounce a wrong which it did not certainly provide for. Such a course by degrees tended to aid in shaping the decisions of the court, to relieve them of uncertainty, and to inspire a confidence in the impartial administration of the law in that court, which caused him, mainly through the influence of the lawyers of the State, to be so often placed upon the bench as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

His own views of his position and duty on the bench may be illustrated by an extract from his opinion in the case of Duncan vs. Magette, (25 Tex. Rep., 245,) argued by distinguished lawyers on each side, and presenting, on each side, grounds, which appealed strongly to a sense of justice for relief, but neither a legal ground for a cause of action, nor for a defense, which, being so decided, both parties desired a re-hearing of the cause, which was refused by the court, and in giving the reasons for the refusal, it was said in the opinion delivered by him in refusing a re-hearing of the case, as follows:

"Although the counsel on both sides rely upon the rules of law as respectively presented by them, it is obvious that the great argument, whether expressly developed or not, by which those rules are sought to be discovered, interpreted and enforced, consists in an appeal to the sense of justice of the court. The opinion of the court in this case does not yield to the force of that appeal. Having written it, I avail myself of the opportunity afforded by this application, to present my own views upon the foundation and force of this appeal to the sense of justice of the court, whether used as an influencing consideration, in interpreting and enforcing the rules of law, or directly urged as the basis of judicial action. A frequent recurrence to first principles is absolutely necessary in order to keep precedents within the reason of the law.

"Justice is the dictate of right, according to the common consent of mankind generally, or of that portion of mankind who may be associated in one government, or who may be governed by the same principles or morals. Law is a system of rules, conformable, as must be supposed, to this standard, and devised upon an enlarged view of the relation of persons and things, as they practically exist. Justice is a chaotic mass of principles. Law is the same mass of principles, classified, reduced to order and put in the shape of rules agreed upon by this ascertained common consent. Justice is the [virgin gold of the mine, that passes for its intrinsic worth in every case, but is subject to a varying value, according to the scales through which it passes. Law is the coin from the mint, with its value ascertained and fixed, with the stamp of government upon it, which insures and denotes its current value.

"The act of moulding justice into a system of rules, detracts from its capacity of abstract adaption in each particular case; and the rules of law, when applied to each case are most usually but an approximation to justice. Still, mankind have generally thought it better to have their rights determined by such a system of rules, than by the sense of abstract justice, as determined by any one man, or set of men, whose duty it might have been to adjudge them.

"Whoever undertakes to determine a case solely by his own notions of its abstract justice, breaks down the barriers by which rules of justice are erected into a system, and thereby annihilates law.

"A sense of justice, however, must and should have an important influence upon every well organized mind in the adjudication of causes. Its proper province is to superinduce an anxious desire to search out and apply in their true spirit, the appropriate rules of law. It cannot be lost sight of. In this, it is like the polar star that guides the voyager, although it may not stand over the port of destination.

"To follow the dictates of justice, when in harmony with the law, must be a pleasure; but to follow the rules of law in their true spirit, to whatever consequences they must lead, is a duty.

"This applies as well to rules establishing remedies, as to those establishing rights. These views will, of course, be understood as relating to my own convictions of duty, and of being the basis of my own judicial action."

In 1860, when the news reached Texas that Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States, independence poles went up as if by magic in nearly every city, town and village in the State. It was a ground swell of the great mass of the people, not dictated by the political leaders, as has been ignorantly supposed, and declared in high places. At once discussions and work commenced to shape the course of the State. No one held too high or sacred a position for his sentiments not to be declared and publicly known. Judge Roberts had, during his summer vacation, examined the whole ground of the political controversy and the principles involved in it, and was ready for the issue, with word and action. He knew that there would be a difference of opinion in some sections of the State on the subject of secession, both as to principle and policy. He knew that Governor Houston and some other distinguished men of the State were opposed to secession, though the great majority of the people of all classes were prepared for it. There were then about twenty-seven hundred United States troops, of all arms, in Texas. He knew that most of the Slave States would secede at once. Texas was one of them in the South, identified with them in interest, and largely in the kindred of its people. It could not remain neutral in the war, which was sure to follow, even if she tried to do it. A successful effort to do it, inaugurated by those in authority, necessarily involve the people of Texas in a civil war at home, with the weaker portion backed by the Federal troops at hand. A united people in Texas became, therefore, the only palladium of safety, let the issue result as it might. A convention of the people, by delegates to express their will by a majority, was the only thing that could accomplish that object. He spoke and worked for that object, and to unite the destiny of Texas with that of the other Southern States,

At the request of a number of citizens, he delivered an address on the 1st of December, 1860, in which he discussed the whole subject then pending before the people, contending for the right of secession, and for its exercise as the means of preserving their rights, four thousand copies of which were circulated over the State.

While holding court at Austin, he acted with a number of gentlemen, who devised the plan for a call of the Convention, and, upon his suggestion, it was provided that double the number of the representation in the Legislature should be selected by the counties, which would enable others besides politicians to come to the Convention, and thereby make a large body of one hundred and eighty delegates, that would have greater weight and influence than a smaller body of men already engaged in public affairs.

The delegates were elected in that way, throughout the State. He, with John C. Robertson, George Chilton and Oliver Loftin, were elected delegates in Smith county, where he lived at that time. The delegates met in Convention in the city of Austin, on the 28th of January, 1861. After the usual preliminary steps preparatory to a regular organization, Judge Roberts was nominated for President of the Convention by Peter W. Gray, and was elected without opposition, by acclamation. He had been apprised of the general wish for him to preside over the body, but had prepared no address. Indeed, it was an occasion for work, and not for long, fine speeches. Upon being conducted to the stand by a committee, he spoke as follows:

"I bow to the sovereignty of the people of my State.

"All political power is inherent in the people. That power, (I assert), you now represent. We have been congregated in obedience to the public will, by the voluntary concert of the people of the State, to consider and dispose of questions equally as momentous and more varied than those that were solved by our Revolutionary forefathers of  '76.' The crisis upon us involves not only the right of self-government, but the maintenance of a great principle in the law of nations, (the immemorial recognition of the institution of slavery wherever it is not locally prohibited), and also the true theory of our general government as an association of sovereign States, and not as a blended mass of people in one social compact.

"However grave the issues presented may be, I trust this body will be fully adequate to their solution, in such manner as to preserve the rights of the State."

The first sentence of this address—his actions suited to the words of it—conceived and delivered impromptu, and inspired by the occasion, met with a response from the members and from the auditory that filled the whole house, resounding as the prolonged shout of a great victory.

That Convention consisted of an able body of men from all parts of the State. There were but a few leading objects to be accomplished by it, which were to pass an ordinance of secession, and submit it to the vote of the people, announce the result when the vote should be returned, and adopt such measures as would adapt the State to its changed condition, connect it as a State to the Southern Confederacy, and as soon as practicable have, in as peaceable manner as possible, the removal of the United States troops. Judge Roberts exerted all his influence to have these measures adopted, and to prevent the adoption of any of the many other measures which were liable to engender contention and opposition, irrelevant to the main purpose for which the Convention had been elected by the people of the State. The ordinance of secession was carried by a large majority, which, as was anticipated, served to unite the great mass of the people of the State in the subsequent efforts to maintain it.

Judge Roberts has written and preserved, in a large bound book, an outline of the history of this Convention, and of the subsequent occurrences pertaining to Texas, and to her citizens, and soldiers in the service, down to the close of the war. It is unnecessary here to refer to any part of that, except a very small portion of that which directly pertains to him.

In the latter part of 1861, the war having fairly progressed, and seeing the necessity of raising infantry troops for the service, he determined to resign the office of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and enter the army, which he did by raising a regiment early in 1862, it being organized at Houston as the 11th Texas Infantry Regiment. He served in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana, first under General McCulloch, and afterwards under General John G. Walker as Division Commanders. In the winter of 1862-3 he was detailed to take charge of a convalescent camp near Little Rock, in which there were, during fifty days, numbers of officers and soldiers taken care of ranging from eight to fifteen hundred. In the Summer of 1863 he was detailed to sit on a court-martial for one month in Opelousas, Louisiana, for the trial of General Sibley and another officer. Soon after taking charge of his regiment, he established a school of instruction in military discipline and drill, attended by the officers, and often by the Sergeants and Corporals, by which he had one of the best trained regiments in the division, it being composed in the main of good men, as citizens, officers and private soldiers. In the fall of 1863, he, with his regiment and two others, were detailed to act under General Green in following General Franklin's retiring army, 25,000 strong, when on the 3d of November, 1863, the battle of Bordeaux was fought below Opelousas a few miles, of which is the following report of Major-General Taylor:

             "THE BATTLE OF BORDEAUX, NEAR OPELOUSAS, LOUISIANA.

"MOUNDVILLE, LA., Nov. 10, 1863. 

"GENERAL ORDERS No.—

"The Major-General Commanding congratulates Brigadier-General Green, and the troops under his command, upon the brilliant feat of arms at the Bayou Bourbeux, on the 3d inst.

"A force, greatly inferior in numbers to the enemy, drove him from all his positions, taking and destroying the camp of the Thirteenth Army Corps of the United States, and bringing off from the field over six hundred prisoners, including many commissioned officers, seven regimental flags, and a considerable number of small arms.

"The veterans of General Green's Division proved themselves on this occasion worthy of the reputation won on former fields.

"The little brigade of infantry, consisting of Roberts' 11th, Spaight's 15th, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Harrison, and King's 18th Texas, the whole led by Colonel O. M. Roberts, and not carrying over 950 muskets into action, charged and broke the enemy's right wing tinder a heavy fire of musketry and a cross fire of artillery, and routed and dispersed a large cavalry force which endeavored to pierce their line. The number of their killed and wounded attest the spirit and gallantry with which this brigade performed their share of the work of this memorable day. With equal spirit and with like success Major's and Bagby's Brigades, the latter's including Waller's Battalion, forced the enemy's left and centre and compelled him to abandon the field.

"For the blow thus vigorously dealt to the enemy, the Major-General Commanding tenders his sincere thanks to Brigadier-General Green, to Colonels Major, Bagby and Roberts, and to all the officers and men who participated in the action.

"By command of Major-General Taylor.                                                                                                                           "[Signed.] WM. M. LEVY,

"A. A. and Inspector General."

Being sent on this detail with but little baggage, Colonel Roberts was much exposed for a month in attending to his wounded officers and men, of whom there were eighty, twenty others having been killed on the battle field,—and other arduous duties. He returned to the division at Simsport, at the mouth of Red River, where he was shortly afterwards taken sick, and the division having gone into winter quarters at Marksville, he returned home on leave of absence. He went back to the army, but being worn down and in general bad health, he did but little more service, and on that account, as he was credibly informed, missed being promoted at the death of the Brigade Commander, General Horace Randall. He was personally in two other small battles, one at Milligan's Bend, on the Mississippi river, and the other at the Great Mound, near that (Mississippi) river, but being a part of the reserve forces in both instances, he was but little exposed to the fire of the enemy.  Being forty-five years of age when he became a soldier of the war, he was not inspired with any idea of military renown to himself, but rather to give sanction and encouragement to the cause; to do the duty assigned to him faithfully and to set an example of training citizen soldiers without breaking down their spirit of manhood as mere machines.

Though disabled, and crippled and away, he sought in haste to reach the army at Mansfield, to see his men fight, if he could not command them, and reaching camp the night after the battle of Pleasant Hill, the next morning he was called on by General Randall, who had commanded them as part of his brigade, one of them being his own regiment, in the two battles just then closed, who said, with unaccustomed emphasis and animation: "Colonel Roberts, you have the best regiment in this division; they proved it in the two battles just fought." This was, as it was intended, a high compliment, as he had never before manifested any partiality for them or their Colonel.

"CAMP NEAR HARRISONBURG, LA., August 9, 1864. "

J. N. Dodson, Esq.:

"DEAR SIR —I hope I will be able to find a place in your columns for a line or two, expressive of the deep regret felt at the retirement of our noble Colonel O. M. Roberts, who has been called, however, by the voice of the people of Texas, to fill the chief place in the highest tribunal in the State.

"Colonel Roberts' health has been very bad for some time, caused by more than two years exposure, fatigue and active service in the field. He now retires from command, leaving one of the best regiments in the Trans-Mississippi department. There is no Colonel in the Confederate army, who has devoted greater pains to provide for the wants and necessities of his men than Colonel Roberts, or who has contributed more largely to the comfort and relief, while languishing on beds of sickness and affliction. He has invariably treated his men as they deserved to be treated,—his fellow-citizens while at home,—his fellow-soldiers in camp.

"I regard him as one of the best and greatest men in this department, and I sincerely regret that he retired from his command, though I am gratified to know that he leaves us only to enter another field of public usefulness. He will long live in the hearts of his men, who know how to appreciate the kind and noble qualities of his nature. He is an honor to any command or to any country.

"May God bless him and spare him for still further usefulness to his country.

"A MEMBER OF THE ELEVENTH TEXAS INFANTRY."

At the August election in 1864, Judge Roberts was elected Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, while he was still in the camp with his regiment near Alexandria in Louisiana. Judge Reuben Reeves had been elected Associate Justice at the same time. They, with Justice Geo. F. Moore, constituted the court in parts of 1864 and 1865, in which some important opinions were delivered, mainly upon questions relating to military service. Upon the close of the war, in 1865, they and other officers of the State ceased to hold office, without any formal ouster. For about three months there was no civil authority exercised and no government in existence in Texas, and strange to say, there less crime, violence and outrage of any sort than at any period of the same length, which exhibited the pacific character and moral rectitude of the Texas people in more perspicuous grandeur than it could have been done in any other way.

In pursuance of President Johnson's plan of reconstructing the Southern States, A. J. Hamilton, Provisional Governor of Texas, issued his proclamation on the 15th of November, 1865, ordering an election to be held for delegates to a Convention, to meet in Austin on the 7th of February, 1866. Judge Roberts and Benj. Selrnan were elected in Smith county.

The burden of his whole speech was a denunciation of Judge Roberts, as being the man, above all others, rnosy unfit to represent Smith county in that Convention, reviewing all his acts for years previously in the most unfavorable light he could, including his participation in getting up the Secession Convention, his being elected president of it, and his service in the army to maintain it. The court house was filled with citizens of the town, and from the country, mostly former secessionists, and persons who had served in the Confederate army, with comparatively few Union men, including those that had called him out. By the time he was through his tirade, Judge Roberts was fully aroused, and arising up in the stand, with all the fire and indignation of his nature beaming from his person, and assuming a defiant attitude, and stamping upon the floor of the stand, with a clear ringing voice, that filled the whole room, he said, "I take nothing back that I have said or done for Texas, in the cause of the South." That expression, with its manner and time of utterance, inspired a sentiment of patriotism, that went thrilling through every nook and corner of Smith county. Col. Whitmore was badly beaten in the election.

After some little contest J. W. Throckmorton was elected President, being supported by the great body of the former Secessionists, and by the modern Union men who could not harmonize with the extremists. This election was significant of what could be done, and what afterwards was done, in the election of State officers, by uniting the same political parties over the State, that had elected the President of the Convention. Judge Roberts saw it at once, and worked successfully for its accomplishment, during the whole session, and afterwards, during the canvass for State officers. He was appointed chairman of the judiciary committee, which was composed mostly of men who had been judges, to which many important matters were referred in addition to the work of'remodeling the judicial department of the new constitution. Judge Roberts has written and preserved, in a well-bound book, a full outline of the principal matters pertaining to the action of that Convention, and its subsequent results. It will suffice at present to state, that though he was anxious, at that time, to confine his efforts to the work of the committee of which he was chairman, there were circumstances unnecessary to be detailed here, which induced him to come to the front on the floor of the house in debate and action on two leading subjects. One of them was upon the ordinances offered to dispose of the ordinance of secession passed by the Convention of 1861, the controversy being, shall that ordinance be declared to have been null and void from the time of its adoption, that is ab initio as it was presented, which involved a governmental principle; or shall it be declared by the Convention that it is null and void, which would simply be the recognition of a fact then existing?

After a prolonged struggle, the ordinances contended for by him in his speech and by others who spoke, was passed by a respectable majority, partly by the influence of J. W. Throckmorton, who was sick and in bed at the time. The other one was upon an ordinance containing numerous provisions, (called the omnibus ordinance) drawn up by himself, and after passing his committee, was presented and maintained in argument on the floor of the convention until its final passage, the object of which was to place Texas during the war in the position of a State government de facto, in all of its acts, not inconsistent with the constitution of the United States.

During the struggle on the ab initio controversy, Judge Roberts was made aware of the position of the President, J. W. Throckmorton, on the issue, and visited him in his sick-room alone, and requested his consent to be the candidate for Governor, pointing out to him the necessity of it to combine the Secession and moderate Union elements in the election by the people as it had been done in his election as President of the Convention, to which, after some consultation, he consented. Soon after this, caucuses were formed by the several parties, the members of the Convention being arrayed into three distinct divisions, the former Secessionists, the moderate Unionists, and the Extremists, as they were styled, each looking to their probable influence in the approaching State election, it being impracticable, for want of time, to hold conventions to make nominations. The fact being understood, that James W. Throckmorton would be named by the Secession element as their choice for Governor, induced the moderate Union element to combine with it, in presenting a mixed ticket, as candidates for State officers. When the selection of candidates for the Supreme Court was reached, at once Judge Roberts' name was presented, which he as readily asked to be withdrawn, his reason for it being, that his having been President of the Secession Convention, and otherwise prominent in that cause, might be a ground of objection to the ticket by a class of persons who would otherwise support it. He was then asked to name a ticket for the Supreme Court Judges, when he promptly wrote and presented the names of George F. Moore, Richard Coke, George W. Smith, Wm. P. Hill and Stockton P. Donley, which were sanctioned without any dissent.

While at home at Tyler, Judge Roberts learned that he had been elected by the Legislature, then in session at Austin, Senator in the Congress of the United States, on the 21st day of August, 1866, without having previously solicited the place, or known of any intention on the part of any one to present, his name for it to the Legislature of Texas.

Judge Roberts was present, in company with Judge Evans, at the reception of Congress, ostensibly by the city authorities, but really understood to be by the Grand Army of the Republic, in the back ground. This was a great display of speeches, and otherwise, to indirectly manifest a defiant opposition to the view expressed, or strongly intimated, previously, by President Johnson, that the Congress would not be a constitutional body, unless the eleven seceding Southern States, then fully organized by him, were admitted to representation in the Senate and House of Representatives. He, on another occasion, happened to be in the gallery of the House, when some member that he learned was an obscure man, arose with great formality in manner and voice, and read from a paper: "I impeach Andrew Johnson, President of the United States," and proceeded with it in supposed imitation of Edmund Burke impeaching Warren Hastings, until it had more the appearance of a school boys' theatrical performance, than a grave charge against the highest officer in the government.

After making preparations to return home, Judge Roberts felt that there was something that had not been done, that ought to be done. The idea of the Representatives of Texas, as it were, creeping (incog.) to Washington, being ignored by Congress, and even by the Democrats in it, and then creeping back home, was so revolting to him that he determined, being there then alone, to speak out for Texas, so that it would be read, if not heard, in Congress and in the country, and at once set about preparing an address for publication, "To the Congress and People of the United States." By the time the address was completed, vindicating Texas and her people, and asserting the right of her people to be represented, as all of their other Federal relations had been resumed and then existed as perfectly as in any Northern State, other members of the Texas delegation had arrived, and the address, being read and signed by them, was published on the 10th of January, 1867, it being signed in the following order: O. M. Roberts and David G. Burnet, Senators-elect from Texas; B. H. Epperson, A. M. Branch and Geo. W. Chiltou, Representatives from Texas.

"THE DAILY PICAYUNE—TRIPLE SHEET. "

ADDRESS OF THE TEXAS DELEGATION.

"We this morning make room for the masterly address of the Texas Delegation, awaiting admission to Congress, to the members of the Senate and House of Representatives at Washington, and to the people of the United States generally. It is long, and we thought of cutting it down; but on reading it over we had not the heart to erase a line. We should almost as soon think of condensing the chapter xiii. of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, where St. Paul is speaking of charity, or the Declaration of Independence. The document is calm, straightforward, well-worded, dignified in tone, tolerant in spirit, charitable in intention, and tells the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, in as plain and as forcible English as we have lately read. We heartily commend a perusal of it to our readers in city and country. During the madness of the present hour, it may have little or no effect at Washington; yet the most ultra among the enemies of the South cannot get up and answer its calm, courteous, forcible and truthful arguments."

In the first days of 1868, Judge Roberts moved with his family to Gilmer, in Upshur county, to send his children to a good school, taught by Morgan H. Looney, and while there for three years practiced law and taught a law school. From this school were turned out a number of young men who have since made distinction, and a few of them held high offices in the State.

During that time he was under the disagreeable necessity, in 1869, of appearing before a Military Commission, whose proceedings were on the style of a court-martial, in defense of three men, Richard Long, Thomas Meadows and Robert P. Roberts (the last of whom was his son), upon the false charge of assault and shooting three Federal soldiers in the town of Tyler, with malicious intent to kill them. The trial was in Jefferson, and lasted four weeks, during which over fifty witnesses were brought from Tyler, and other places, a distance of eighty miles, at the government's expense. General Jas. H. Rogers was also employed in the defense, and so triumphantly was the innocence of these defendants exhibited on the trial, that when Judge Roberts' written address was published, as it was immediately, each one of the officers on the Commission expressed gratification upon receiving a copy of it, and these prisoners were allowed to go to their homes, and nothing more was heard of the case as to them.

There were other irritating causes of disturbance: by Federal troops being quartered over the country; by Freedmen's Bureaus, that claimed jurisdiction to try and punish white people for injuries to negroes, but not to try negroes for injuries to white people; by Governor Davis' traveling police, composed often of negroes and bad white men; by elections being held under the surveillance of an armed police guard; by the courts being filled often with incompetent officers, with their independence destroyed by a centralized party rule; by the reckless squandering of the people's money, wrested from them by exorbitant taxes; by an inefficient and expensive system of common schools, absolutely governed by the Central Board at Austin, organized and acting contrary to law, as it was afterwards decided by the Supreme Court; by Northern camp-followers and immigrant adventurers, and others no better, being foisted into profitable offices, and other positions, by their manipulation of the negro vote. Much of all this was doubtless well intended by those high in authority, but it was not adapted to the condition of the country.

That better day dawned on Texas, and arose to radiant brightness in the year 1873, when Richard Coke and Richard B. Hubbard bore aloft the banner of HOME RULE, BY THE PEOPLE OF THE HOME, to a most triumphant victory. It was so complete, that even the great central power at Washington shrank from the reversal of the people's verdict in Texas, by giving aid and comfort to the central power at Austin.

Upon hearing of his appointment, made without his solicitation, he left his home at Tyler, and repaired to Austin, where he took control of the office, and in a few days the court was organized, consisting of O. M. Roberts, Chief Justice, and George F. Moore, Thomas J. Devine, Reuben Reaves and W. P. Ballinger, Associate Justices. Justice Ballinger having resigned, Judge Peter W. Gray was appointed in his place, and he having resigned before the close of the term at Austin, where alone the court then was permanently held, Judge R. S. Gould was appointed to fill his place on the bench. After the close of that term in July, by an act of the Legislature the Supreme Court was held at Tyler in the fall, at Galveston in the winter, and at Austin in the spring. During that term the Chief Justice made a full report to the Governor of the condition of the business of the court, and of the state of the property under its control, as then found, showing that the library of books at Galveston had been disposed of by their predecessors, which report was submitted to the Legislature then in session.

There was then also existing an impediment to the dispatch of business, arising out of the great multiplicity, irregularity, and want of uniformity of pleading and practice in all the courts of record in the State, which made it necessary for the Supreme Court to exercise the power conferred upon it by the Constitution, in the formation and adoption of a set of rules, which, as far as practicable, would obviate this impediment.

What has been heretofore said in regard to Judge Roberts' opinions will make it unnecessary to do more here, than to refer to them in the nine volumes of the Supreme Court Reports, commencing with the 40th and ending with the 49th, delivered during the five years he was last on the Supreme Court Bench. It will suffice here to quote small extracts from a sketch of his life, published in June 1878 in a Texas newspaper, by some one unknown to him.

In the month of July, 1878, a Democratic convention was held in Austin for the nomination of State officers, it being composed of about fifteen hundred delegates. After a long struggle to select a candidate for Governor, in which the names of James W. Throckmorton, R. B. Hubbard, Thos. J. Devine and W. W. Lang had been voted for without any one of them getting a vote of two-thirds of the members of the Convention present, a joint committee of the contending parties recommended Chief Justice Roberts to the Convention as the candidate for Governor, who, the other names being withdrawn, was nominated by acclamation.

He had not sought the nomination either directly or indirectly, and had no reason to expect it at the time. He had often been solicited to become a candidate for Governor, but had always declined, believing that his fellow citizens generally preferred him to occupy a judical position rather than an executive office.

He was inaugurated in the old Capitol (that was burned in 1881), on the 21st day of January, 1879, and at once, in his inaugural address, announced the policy of the incoming administration to be to improve on what had already been commenced in the effort to establish permanently a good State government, economically administered. To accomplish this, he said "that the laws, organic and ordinary, should be so reformed and vigorously executed, as to more certainly and speedily protect the rights of persons, and of property, and that the expenses of the government should be so reduced that they can be paid by the taxes which the people are reasonably able to pay, and which may be collected, without increasing the public debt." He proceeded to exhibit the difficulties to be met and surmounted, arising out of the preceding events in our history, and from the inherent impediments to our progress under the existing condition of our public affairs. Notwithstanding this, he expressed an abiding confidence that a good work for the people of Texas could now be done, if those in authority would take hold of the matter before them, with a determination to courageously wield their power in the discharge of their duty to the State. In conclusion he said: "Standing in this place on the fourth day of March, 1861, as the President of the Seceding Convention, and acting by their authority, I proclaimed Texas a free and independent State. I did it in good conscience, believing it to be right. I now with the same good conscience, as Governor of the State, declare Texas to have been in good faith reconstructed into the Union by the voice of its own people, marching steadily on with her sister States in the new progress of national development, and standing ready to vie with any other State in advancing the prosperity and defending the honor of our common country.

It is true that there were sometimes wide differences of opinion about the means to be used, even to the extent of generating strong feelings of opposition; still the agreement upon the leading objects to be attained, so controlled their action, as to produce good results in the main, for which they are entitled to very great credit.

The pensions amounted annually to about $85,000.

The revenue in the Treasury subject to appropriation was about $10,000.

He called attention to the fact that the State had taken upon itself burdens not usually assumed by new States, over and above the ordinary support of a State government, by the support of frontier and police forces, a free public school, the free Asylums, and the pensioning of indigent war veterans.

He recommended the classification of school teachers into three grades, and their compensation according to grade. He pointed out the defects in our judiciary system, and suggested measures for its improvement.

He recommended the reduction of expenses generally, wherever it could be done consistently with the efficiency of the government, pointed out new subjects of taxation, and recommended laws that would better enforce the collection of taxes, and secure the payment of the money collected into the Treasury.

On the subject of finance, there was an unusual response, in the shape of the report of the Committee on State Affairs in the House of Representatives, as follows:

"COMMITTEE ROOM, AUSTIN, February 5, 1879. 

"Hon. John H. Cochran, Speakct House of Representatives:

"Your Committee on State Affairs, to whom was referred the following resolution offered by Mr. Fry:

"'WHEREAS, His Excellency, the Governor, has, in an able, fair and candid manner, made known, in a special message, the exact state of affairs as they exist; be it

" 'Resolved, That this House will take warning from the alarm his Excellency has sounded, and pledges itself to its greatest endeavors to co-operate with him in devising methods for the earliest possible relief;'

"REEVES, Chairman."

Numerous subjects were acted on in response to the recommendations of the Governor, all tending to improve the operations of the government, in its different departments.

Upon presenting the memorial of seven vice presidents of roads in the State, asking the restoration of the original rate of freight, intimating at the same time their right under their charters to claim the original freight of fifty cents, the Governor, said in answer to that claim: "The Legislature has the right to create artificial persons, and bestow on them franchises. It has also the right, as I believe, to regulate their conduct, the same as if they were natural persons. The doctrine that a privilege granted in a charter, creating an artificial person, constituted a contract, binding upon all future Legislatures, was judicially settled, when the subject was one of little importance in reference to the national interests of the country.

"While I recognize the power to regulate freights, I fully appreciate the necessity of very great caution in the exercise of it, and beg leave to ask of the Legislature a thorough examination into the subject, before the rates under which the roads were built shall be altered to their prejudice."

During the two years of his administration the greatest attention and effort was given to the improvement of the finances of the State, which was most successfully accomplished.

Other improvements were made also, in the judiciary, in the penitentiaries, in the quarantine, in the malitia organizations, in the practice of requisitions for pardons, and of remissions of fines and forfeitures, and in various other matters.

By the end of the first administration the results of the measures that had been adopted, were so fully recognized and appreciated by an intelligent public sentiment, that he was nominated for a second term in the Convention on the first ballot, having received fifty votes more than two-thirds of that body, and was re-elected.

The Governor found the Seventeenth Legislature fully impressed with the importance of following up the improvement of the operations of the State Government that had been so auspiciously commenced. He recommended that steps should be taken for an amendment of the Constitution to permit an exemption from taxation property that might be invested in this State for the manufacture of our cotton, wool and other raw materials, which, however, was not acted on by the Legislature. He delivered messages on the Judiciary, Education, Insurance, Railroads, Special School Fund loaned to Railroad Companies, upon the Sale and Exchange of Bonds, and upon other subjects. He explained how it was that a large amount of land had been taken from the University fund by the Convention of 1875, and recommended that two more millions of acres of public lands be appropriated to it, and also that the bonds classed as of doubtful validity, amounting to $134,000, be recognized as valid and the accrued interest be appropriated. On the subject of railroads he pointed out the injustice done to the people of Texas by their action on the subject of local and of through freights, and by their charges of fare for passengers so high as to enable a free passage to be given to favorites. A law was passed reducing the fare from five to three cents per mile of travel.

One subject may be referred to which was acted on then, out of the common course of governmental operations. The Comptroller, in January, 1882, came to the conclusion that the law making provision for the support o f the Colored Normal School at Prairie View was unconstitutional, and ceased to approve accounts and issue warrants for it. In order to prevent the dismissal of the colored teachers, and fifty colored pupils of both sexes in the middle of the session, the Governor had to exert his influence to have means furnished to support the institution until the action of the Legislature could be had at the called session. The necessary provisions were furnished by Messrs. Ellis & Carson, merchants at Houston, and the money necessary to defray the other expenses was furnished by Col. James M. Burrows, of Galveston, and Frank Hamilton, of the firm of Jas. H. Raymond & Co., bankers, of Austin, which were afterward paid by the action of the Legislature, by passing a law that was recognized as valid by the Comptroller. At the meeting of the regular session of the Legislature, there being a large surplus of revenue in the Treasury, the floating debt having been paid, also the sinking fund previously appropriated, and all warrants punctually paid when presented to the Treasury, an appropriation was made of one-fourth of the revenue for the support of the free public schools, showing that the appropriation of only one-sixth of it that was made at the special session of 1879 was under the apprehension that a greater amount would again prevent the revenue collected from being equal to the expenditures, the leading object then being to place the finances of the State upon the practical basis, and that with certainty, that the annual expenditures should not exceed the annual revenue.

Almost continually there were occurrences which were made exciting subjects of discussion. Among them were his commutations of the death penalty for life imprisonment in the penitentiary; his refusal to agree to make a proclamation for prayers and thanksgiving, as proposed by Gov. Foster, of Ohio, on account of the supposed approaching recovery of President Garfield,—not thinking it to be his duty as Governor to make appointments for religious exercises of any sort; his pardoning, annually, out of the penitentiary, boys under sixteen years, as well as long-time convicts for good behavior, and very often for not pardoning persons for whom large petitions had been presented to him; his veto of the appropriation for the free public schools at the close of the regular session of the Sixteenth Legislature; his participation, as one of the Directors, in reorganizing the Agricultural and Mechanical College, in the fall of 1879; his imputed old-fogyism generally, and rigidly practical views and actions; his supposed opposition to immigration, with which he really had nothing to do; his supposed opposition to the system of free public schools, when, in fact, he did more to perfect it than ever had been done before. Without attempting to give the various measures of his administration, it will be sufficient to give some extracts and references to his messages in January, 1883, upon his retiring from the office of Governor:

 To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives in the Legislature assembled:

Your fellow citizens feel assured that they, through your agency, shape the government to their own liking, according to the will of the majority, under the powers, limitations and restrictions of the Constitution.

In the pursuit of that policy, there has been in the main a harmonious co-operation by the Legislature and the executive officers, sanctioned by the general approbation of the people. Its results in so short a time have been remarkable.

The debt of the State has been reduced, approximately in round numbers, from $5,400,000, on the first of January, 1879, to $4,000,000, on the first of January, 1883, a difference of about $1,400,000. The interest thereof has been reduced proportionally greater, by calling in the 10 per cent, bonds, and issuing 5 per cent, bonds in place of them, in which there was an annual diminution of over $55,000 interest. The interest on the public debt was annually $368,000, on the first of January, 1879, and on the first of January, 1883, $227,000, making a difference of about $140,000 in the interest.

Our public credit has been so enhanced that it has been difficult to buy our 6 per cent, bonds at a premium of forty dollars to the one hundred dollars.

The permanent fund of the public free schools has increased by the sale of its lands from $1,629,000 to $5,361,000, on first January, 1883, with a probable increase shortly of over a million of dollars more by the sales of the reserved lands.

Two normal schools have been established, one for white and the other for colored pupils, whose expenses at the schools are borne by the State, in which there are now about two hundred pupils, who are being taught and trained to become teachers in onr public free schools.

It is proper here to note our obligations for the liberal contributions of the Peabody fund to our white normal school, to the summer normal institutes, and to other free schools in cities and towns in Texas.

The University of Texas, its main branch, its medical branch, and branch for colored youths, have been located by a vote of the people. One million of acres of land have been added to its fund, the building for the main University, at Austin, is now being erected, and it, with its branches, now awaits the intelligent recognition of the Legislature, in such liberal action as will meet the public demand for its adequate endowment and speedy organization.

The quarantine operations have been systematized and greatly improved, for the protection of life against the yellow fever, and, at the same time, ample preparations are being made to facilitate commercial intercourse with the tropical regions.

Three hundred leagues of land have been selected, surveyed, and set apart for the unorganized counties.

Permanent improvements have been made in all of the Asylums.

Railroads have been pushed into the heretofore unsettled territory of the State, until we have now almost no frontier, as it was formerly known.

Manufactories are starting up over the State, and commerce is enlarging its proportions to keep pace with the enlarged and varied industries of the countrv.

This result is due to the action of the Legislatures, the Executive and judicial officers, and employees of the government generally, to moral influences exerted, to the intelligence and energy of our citizens, to the excellent qualities of Texas, in its fertile soils, its climate, its vast extent, and its locality, and not a little to the fact, that other States, north and east of us, having been settled and developed, the time had arrived when Texas did, in her turn, become the inviting field of enterprise. It is a sufficient source of pride, and honor that each one of us, as a Texan, in the full measure of his sphere of action, whether high or low, has been an actor in this grand drama of events, and condition of things, through which Texas has been made to leap into a conspicuous career of solid progress, unequalled in any former period of her eventful history.

Report of the Comptroller.
Report of the Treasurer.
Report of the Attorney-General.
Report of the Commissioner of General Land Office.
Report of the Secretary of State.
Report of the Adjutant-General.
Report of the Commissioner of Insurance, Statistics and History.
Report of the Fish Commissioner.
Report of the Board of Education, including report of the Sam Houston Normal School.
Report of the Penitentiary Board.
Report of the Capitol Board on the temporary Capitol.
Report of the Capitol Commissioners, including acts of Capitol Board.
Report of the Printing Board.
Report of the Board for sale of judgments, explained in Attorney-General's report.
Report of the Board for State sewer.
Report of the Board of Managers and Superintendent of Lunatic Asylum.
Report of the Trustees and Superintendent of the Blind Asylum.
Report of the Trustees and Superintendent of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum.
Report on quarantine, by State Health Officer, Dr. Swearingen.
Report of President and Board of Regents of the University.
Report oi the President of the A. and M. College.
Report of the Principal of the Normal School at Prairie View.
Report of the Board for the selection of 300 leagues of land for unorganized counties.
Message accounting for the expenditure of money.
Special message upon the claim of Texas to Greer county.
History and status of Mercer colony suit, by the attorneys, Messrs. Peeler & Maxey.
Memorial of E. T. Moore, concerning suits for the State, and in escheats, referred to also in report of Attorney-General.

Having devoted much thought and effort upon a proper system of education in this State, he presented views upon the subject of which the following is an extract:

"They habitually devise plans for general education, irrespective of the school in which it is to be taught; whereas the object of the State in regard to each school is specific. For instance, the public free schools are instituted and regulated by the Constitution and law to teach the mass of people such branches only as are necessary for intelligent citizenship in a Republican government. Normal schools are instituted to train and perfect the education of pupils sufficiently to enable them to be competent teachers in the public free schools. Summer normal institutes are designed to train and improve teachers who are already engaged in the business of teaching.

"The Agricultural and Mechanical College is designed to teach learning in agriculture and mechanic arts, and the natural sciences connected therewith.

"The University is designed to teach the higher grades of learning and science, and to qualify persons for the learned professions.

He delivered a message also, in the shape of a legal argument, in favor of the right of Texas to the territory of Greer county, in which he showed, from the maps, and from the explorations by officers of the United States, that the Red River, that was known in 1819, when the treaty between Spain and the United States was made, was what is now called the north fork, and that the south fork was not known to white men for thirty years afterwards, was never when discovered called Red River, (or Rio Roxo, as the north fork was,) but by an Indian name, which when interpreted, is Prairie dog town rivet, and therefore whether it is now known as the principal fork or not, it cannot have been intended to be the river referred to in the treaty, as laid down in Milish's map which was made a part of it.

It was published and circulated in 1881, and though it was a work of small pretensions, he was pleased to know that it was read with some interest by many gentlemen, both in Texas and in other States; nor was he at all displeased that the dedication to the Texan farmers, in which the principle was announced "that the civilization of republican local self-government begins and ends with the plow," was misconstrued as an electioneering expedient.

And he was gratified that some of it was of a character to be understood by some editors, who furnished amusement to themselves, and perhaps to some of their readers, by witty references to the picture of the mule-eared rabbit, and the expressions as to how the acorn vegetates. It was a good hit to put something in the book within their comprehension. The cob-pipe was another imputed expedient for popularizing himself with the masses, and the little hair-trunk, tied with a rope, with which he traveled on several occasions was another, the great advantages to him of both of which he fell heir to by pure accidents, however much credit they gave him.

It was generally known that any witticism at his expense, equally with any opposition however strong, never disturbed his usual equilibrium. He habitually exercised a liberal toleration for differences of opinion; which freed him from any disposition to indulge in recriminations, and to harbor enmities.

His administration has left behind some monuments, that he actively participated in the inauguration of, which will redound to the credit of Texas, long after he may have been forgotten. They are the State Capitol, the State University, the State Normal schools, the completion of the two Penitentiaries, in one of which the iron industry was developed. The establishment of a disinfecting house in the port of Galveston, so as to put the commerce of the State with tropical countries, on terms of equality with that of Louisiana and New York; and last in the list, though not the least in importance, the establishment of the principle in the State government, represented by the expression, "pay as you go," which had not been attained in the admistration of the State government for thirty years previous to his being Governor. While he was Governor he was present and assisted in laying off the ground for the position to be occupied by the State Capitol in the Capitol grounds, and by the main University of the State on "College Hill" in Austin, and both of the buildings were in process of erection during his administiation.

"In leaving the office of Governor, with which 1 have been honored by the free choice of the people of Texas, I desire to express my grateful thanks to the members of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Legislatures, for their wise action in giving direction to public affairs during my administration as Chief Executive of the State; to the several heads of the Executive Departments, and the employees of the Government generally, for their active co-operation in the work that has been before us; and to my fellow citizens throughout all parts of the State for their favorable appreciation and confidence."

Governor Roberts having been selected, in connection with Ex-Chief Justice Robert S. Gould, a Professor in the Law Department of the University of Texas, returned to Austin and entered upon the discharge of his duties in that position at the first opening of the University, which took place in a room of its building on "College Hill," in Austin, on the 15th day of September, A. D. 1883. Having remained in that position, with Judge Gould, up to the present time, and its inauguration having commenced to be prepared for during his administration as Governor of the State, some account of it may be proper in this place.

In 1858, during the administration of Governor Runnels, an act of the Legislature was passed making provision for the establishment of a State University, setting apart to it the fifty leagues of land previously set apart for two colleges, one hundred thousand dollars in United States bonds then in the State Treasury, and one-tenth of the sections of land that had been, or should thereafter be surveyed and reserved for the use of the State "under the provisions of the act of January 30, 1854, entitled An Act to encourage the construction of railroads in Texas by the donation of land, and under the provisions of any general or special law heretofore passed granting lands to railroad companies, and under the provisions of the act of February 11, 1854, granting lands to the Galveston and Brazos Navigation Company. The Governor of the State shall select the sections hereby appropriated," etc. These tenth sections were never selected by the Governors of the State, as herein required. The Constitution of 1861 made no reference to this subject. In 1860 and 1861 certain University funds in the Treasury were appropriated to the support of the State government, with a provision that they should be returned. In the Constitution of 1866, in Section 3, Article X., it was provided that "all the alternate sections of land reserved by the State out of grants heretofore made, or that may hereafter be made to railroad companies or other corporations, of any nature whatever, shall be set apart as a part of the perpetual school fund of the State."

The Constitution of 1869 makes no reference to the University whatever, and defines the fund of the public free schools by including all lands previously set apart, and thereafter to be set apart for them, and all moneys that may be realized from the sale of any portion of the public domain of Texas. By this it was evidently assumed that the alternate sections in railroad surveys had been appropriated to the free public schools, which had never been done otherwise than by Section 3, Article X., of the Constitution of 1866.

The act of August 13, 1870, defined the permanent fund of the public free schools substantially in terms in accordance with the provision in the Constitution of 1869.

In the Constitution then formed provisions generally were made for the establishment of a University of the first class, in which its permanent and available funds were defined, and one million of acres of public lands were appropriated to it, as it may be presumed, in consideration of excluding from the permanent fund of the University the one-tenth of alternate sections in the railroad survey of land appropriated to it by the act of Feb. 11, 1858, which was expressly done in Sec. 11, Art. 7, of the Constitution. For thirty years before Governor Roberts became Governor of the State, public attention had been directed to the establishment of common schools, and with greatly increasing effort and engrossing interest since the civil war, without any effort to establish a State University, except in the two instances referred to, in 1858 and 1866, both of which failed, partly from want of public interest in it, and partly from the events succeeding them, which caused it to be lost sight of, and the acts to remain unexecuted, though never expressly repealed. This public impression of deferring the time of its establishment was manifested in the terms of the Constitution itself of 1876, providing for its establishment and organization only "as soon as practicable;" and, again, by the action of a body of eminent educators of the State who met in Austin, at the request of Gov. Roberts, on the 28th day of January, 1878, to give their assistance on the subject of public education, they being a committee of the State Teachers' Convention, composed of W. C. Crane, W. C. Rote, Milton Cooper, R. C. Burleson, T. L. Norwood and Oscar H. Cooper, who made a valuable report of the improvements which should be made in the laws relating to the free public schools, a normal school, and the A. & M. College, that had been previously established, which was submitted by the Governor to the Legislature. Though they discussed among themselves the subject of a University, they did not report any conclusion upon it, doubtless because its immediate establishment had not then become to be generally regarded as practicable, in view of the want of public interest in it.

In his message of the 5th of February, 1878, he said: "If steps should be taken now to have the one million of acres of public land set apart, and all the lands sold, as I have recommended, we may expect in a few years to have a University in Texas. This is equally as important as to have common schools, for while the one elevates the masses to a certain degree in the scale of civilization, the other is a necessity in this age to properly direct it in the progress to power and prosperity."

The State Teachers' Association of Texas was held in June, 1880, at Mexia, which Governor Roberts attended, and expressed his views upon the propriety of inaugurating a movement for the immediate establishment of the State University, and asked the countenance and assistance of that body in the effort,—not that the State was now able to establish it on a large scale, but that it could be started, and until it was started, it would never be known and appreciated what such an institution required for its successul operation. The subject was discussed by the members, and a Committee was raised to memorialize the Legislature, through the Governor, in favor of it. The Committee was composed of Oscar H. Cooper, Chairman; W. C. Crane, S. G. Sneed, R. W. Pitman, Smith Ragsdale, John G. James, and O. N. Hollingsworth. The memorial having been drawn up, was signed by the Committee and attested by A. J. Roberts, Vice-President Teachers' Association of Texas. It contained the recommendation of the main features of the bill that afterwards became a law passed for the establishment and organization of the University. Having been presented to the Governor by the Chairman, it was presented, accompanied by a message, to the Legislature, on the 28th of January, 1881.

The bill was drawn up by Prof. Oscar H. Cooper, assisted by one of the Committee, O. N. Hollingsworth, shown to the Governor, and given to Senator John Buchanan, of Wood county, who, being Chairman of the Committee on Education, introduced it in the Senate. The Journals of the Senate show that Senators Buchanan, A. W. Terrell, of Travis county, Wynne, of Rusk county, Gooch, of Anderson county, and Stubbs, of Galveston, were active in carrying it through in the shape it passed by a unanimous vote of the Senate. It passed in the House of Representatives without any serious difficulty. By an amendment of the bill passed the 1st of April, 1881, provision was made for the immediate appointment of eight Regents, selected from different portions of the State, pursuant to which the Governor nominated: "Hon. T. J. Devine, Dr. Ashbel Smith, Governor James W. Throckmorton, Governor Richard B. Hubbard, Dr. James H. Starr, Mr. N. A. Edwards, and Prof. Smith Ragsdale," who were confirmed by the Senate as Regents of the University.

They organized with Col. Ashbel Smith as President, and A. N. Edwards as Secretary of the Board, and after a laborious and interesting session, made a report to the Governor of the measures taken to establish the main University at Austin. Very soon a contract was made for the erection of the west wing of the building on "College Hill" in Austin, and at the laying of the corner-stone, speeches were made by the President, Ashbel Smith, by the Governor, and by the Attorney General J. H. McLeary, who officiated as Grand Master in the Masonic ceremony on that occasion.

Bills for these measures were introduced, and failed to be passed at that session; but at the next session, by the vigorous efforts and influence of A. W. Terrell in the Senate, and Representatives L. B. Johnson and Felix Smith, of Travis county, in the House of Representatives, and other active friends of the University, one million of acres of land was appropriated, and the said bonds were recognized as valid, and the accrued interest was appropriated. On the 15th of September, 1883, the Professors having been appointed, and the west wing of the University building having been sufficiently completed for the purpose, there was a formal opening of the University. The Regents then present were President Col. Ashbel Smith, T. M. Harwood, T. D. Wooten, E. J. Simpkins, James B. Clark, B. Hadra, Seth Shepard, and Geo. T. Todd, with A. P. Wooldridge, Secretary of the Board. The Professors were J. W. Mallet, Wm. Leroy Brown, Milton W. Humphries, Leslie Waggener, R. L. Dabney, H. Tallichet, and law Professors O. M. Roberts and R. S. Gould.

The law department has had an average of over seventy students a session up to the present time. The subjects taught are divided between the two Professors, and extend over an extensive range of legal education. There are two classes, Junior and Senior, alternately taught by each of the Professors. The course of study is during two sessions of nine months, and the methods of instruction contemplate the use of text-books, with daily examinations and oral explanations, also lectures and moot courts. Particular attention is given to Texas law, including pleading and practice.

After a few other remarks by Ex-Governor Roberts, the President, with that formal propriety that characterized his official conduct always, addressed the young gentlemen before him, telling them that they would be officers of the courts, and advocates for the people for the protection of their rights of person and of property in the courts of the country, and presented them separately their diplomas.

Ex-Governor Roberts, in order to aid in perpetuating the steps taken in the inauguration of this institution, and its commencement and progress, has had collected and bound in a volume the catalogues, speeches and circulars that give the desired information, which he placed in the library; and, also, has had put up in frames the photograph likenesses of the Professors and of the law students from the first session to the end of the sixth session of the University, and designs to do it while he remains in the institution. They may be seen in his class-room. Thus is Ex-Governor Roberts spending the evening of his life in a position that is not laborious to him, but one in which he can hope to be useful to the people of his State, by whom honors have been conferred upon him in various offices, almost from the time he entered the State as a young man.

Though now in his seventy-fifth year of life, Governor Roberts has health and vigor enough to earn an independent livelihood; has never lost confidence in his fellow-men, and still takes a lively interest in the prosperity of his State and country.

This site may be freely linked, but not duplicated without consent.
All rights reserved. Commercial use of material within this site is prohibited.
The copyright (s) on this page must appear on all copied and/or printed material.
© 2010 - Present by San Augustine County Trails To The Past Administrator