qualified elector, except United States soldiers, marines, and seamen. The judiciary consists of a Supreme Court, composed of a chief and 2 associate judges; and of 20 District Courts, held twice a year in each county. There is also a county court in each county. All the judges of Texas are elected by the people for 6 years, but the Governor can, on address from two-thirds of each house, remove the judges of both courts. HISTORY. The present State of Texas formed, previous to the revolution of 1836, the whole of the Mexican province of Texas, together with portions of the States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Chihuahua, and New Mexico. In consequence of the inducements held out to settlers, an extensive emigration to this region from the United States commenced in 1821, which had swelled to sufficient amount in 1832 to induce the inhabitants to demand admission as an independent member of the Mexican Confederacy; which being refused, resulted in a declaration of independence, that, after various contests in arms, was completely achieved by the defeat and capture of the Mexican President, Santa Anna, at San Jacinto, in 1836. Up to 1845, Texas remained an independent republic, modeled after the Government of the United States. In 1846 it was admitted a member of the North American Confederacy, reserving the right to be divided into five States, with the institution of negro slavery. Disputes arising with Mexico as to the boundary, (Mexico claiming to the Nueces and the United States to the Rio Grande del Norte,) war ensued, in which General Taylor gained two battles within the limits of the present State of Texas. The treaty with Mexico, at the close of this war, assigned to Texas the Rio Grande as its south-west boundary. By the Compromise Act of 1850, the boundaries of Texas were somewhat modified, she conceding to New Mexico a portion of her northern territory, in consideration of $10,000,000 to be paid by the United States Government. The inhabitants of the west and north-west portions of Texas are subject to frequent inroads from the Camanches, Apaches, and other warlike tribes, who destroy property, murder, or carry into captivity, their defenseless victims, and drive off their horses, sheep, and cattle. CITIES AND TOWNS.-Galveston, a port of entry, the seat of justice of Galveston County, and the most populous and commercial city of Texas, is situated on an island at the mouth of a bay of its own name, about 450 miles west by south of New Orleans, and 230 miles southeast of Austin city. Latitude 29° 17′ north, longitude 94° 50' west. The Island of Galveston, which separates the bay from the Gulf of Mexico, is about 30 miles in length and 3 miles in breadth. The surface is nearly level, and has a mean elevation of only 4 or 5 feet above the water. The bay extends northward from the city to the mouth of Trinity River, a distance of 35 miles, and varies in breadth from 12 to 18 miles. The harbor of Galveston, which is the best in the State, has 12 or 14 feet of water over the bar at low tide. Galveston is one of the most flourishing ports on the Gulf of Mexico, and carries on an active trade. Steamboats make regular passages to New Orleans, and to the towns in the interior of Texas. Three or four newspapers are published here. The city contains a fine market-house, a town-hall, about eight churches, and several large hotels. The private houses are mostly of wood, and painted white; the streets are wide, straight, and rectangular, and bordered by numerous flower-gardens. Railroads are constructed from Galveston to Houston and other points. First settled in 1837. Population in 1860, 7,307. Houston, a city and the capital of Harris County, is situated at the head of steamboat navigation on Buffalo Bayou, 45 miles above its mouth on Galveston Bay, and 200 miles east-south-east from Austin. It lies on the left side of the bayou, surrounded by a fine grazing country. By steamboats it has an easy communication with Galveston, distant about eighty miles, and the principal shipping point for several of the neighboring counties. The Houston and Texas Central Railroad opens a communication between Houston and the northern parts of the State; a branch extends from Houston to the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Road, and the Galveston, Houston and Henderson Road, fifty miles in length, connects Houston and Galveston. Houston contains quite a number of churches and schools, several newspaper offices, iron-foundries, machine-shops, cotton-presses, and manufactories of various kinds. It was settled in 1836, and during the ensuing year was temporarily the seat of government. Its population in 1850 was 2,300; in 1860, 5,000 to 6,000. San Antonio, or San Antonio de Bexar, the capital of Bexar County, lies on one of the head streams of the San Antonia River, 110 miles south-west of Austin. It has a United States arsenal, and Methodist, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic churches. San Antonio has been the scene of several battles, including the massacre of the Texan patriots of the Alamo in 1836. It was originally settled by the Spaniards, and is one of the oldest towns in North America. The population in 1850 was 3,488; in 1860, it was 8,274. The San Antonio River is formed by the Medina and Salarbo Rivers, about 15 miles south-west of San Antonio, and flows into Espiritu Sante Bay, after a course of about 150 miles, generally to the south-west. Austin, the capital of the State and of Travis County, is situated on the north side of the Colorado River, 230 miles west-south-west of Galveston. The Colorado is navigable in winter for steamboats to Austin. The environs of Austin are said to be highly picturesque. It contains the State and county buildings, and the sessions of the Supreme Court of the State are held here annually. The seat of the Texas Government was fixed at Austin in 1844. Brownsville, formerly Fort Brown, is the capital of Cameron County, situated on the left bank of the Rio Grande, opposite Matamoras, and about forty miles from the Gulf of Mexico. It is easily accessible by steamboats; and its advantageous situation and trade with Mexico have rendered it one of the most prosperous and populous towns of the State. Fort Alamo is in Bexar County, near San Antonio. Here, on the 6th of March, 1836, a small garrison of Texans bravely resisted a body of Mexicans, ten times their number, and perished to a man. Hence this spot has been called the Thermopyla of Texas. |