"David G. Burnet united the perferfidium ingenium of the Scotch character with the unbending sternness of principle of an old covenanter.  Old John Knox would have hugged such a character with grim delight.  It does not detract from the virtures of this gentleman that he neither possessed eminent administrative capacity, nor in a high degree that knowledge of human nature and tact in managing men which inferior men often acquire; nor that political wisdom and statesmanship accorded to but few"--Ashbel Smith in Reminiscences of the Republic, 1876.

David Gouveneur Burnet, son of a revolutionary surgeon, was born at Newark, New Jersey, April 4th 1788. His family ranked high for intelligence and moral worth. His elder brother, Jacob, was senator from Ohio and many years Chief Justice of that State. Another brother, Isaac, was long Mayor of Cincinnati. David G. received a thorough education and when in his eighteenth year, on the 1st of January, 1806, joined in New York, the expedition of Gen. Francisco de Mirando, a native of Venezuela, for the liberation of that country from Spanish bondage. On that day he received from that patriot chief a commission as Second Lieutenant of infantry, the original of which is in my possession, a gift from him in 1869. The sons of many noted families of New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, including a grandson of President John Adams, were in the expedition. The invading squadron entered the Gulf of Venezuela, accompanied by the British frigate Buchante, whose launch boat was commanded by Lieut. Burnet, under whose orders the first gun was fired in behalf of South American liberty. This was in an attack on the fort protecting La Villa de Coro on that gulf. The assailants carried the fort, its occupants retiring to the interior. At Porto Caballo, a number of the invaders were captured ten of whom were slaughtered, some condemned to the mines, and others died. The death of Pitt, Premier of England and patron of Mirando, caused an abandonment of the enterprise and the return of the survivors to New York. In 1808 Mirando renewed the contest and secured a position on the coast. Burnet hastened to him, but he was persuaded by the patriot chief to return home. Soon afterwards Mirando was captured and sent to Spain, where he died in prison. Various thrilling incidents are omitted.

Burnet, a few years later, went to Cincinnati, and early in 1817, to Natchitoches, Louisiana. Threatened with consumption, in the autumn of that year, he went among the wild Comanches and lived about two years with them, recovering robust health, and having as a companion for a part of the time Ben R. Milam, who went among those wild people to exchange goods for horses, furs and peltries. On leaving them Burnet gave the Indians all his effects in exchange for a number of Mexican women and children held captives by them, all of whom he safely returned to their people, refusing all offers of compensation. For the seven succeeding years, in Texas, Louisiana and Ohio, he devoted his time to the study and practice of law. Marrying a lady, whose memory is fondly cherished wherever she was known, in 1826, he became a permanent citizen of Texas, on the San Jacinto river, near Galveston Bay, introducing a steam saw mill, which proved a failure for want of people to buy lumber. In 1833 he was a member of the convention which drafted and sent to Mexico a proposed constitution for Texas as a State, and a long and able memorial praying for its adoption. Gen. Sam Houston was chairman of the committee which drew the constitution; Burnet wrote the memorial, and Austin, as commissioner, carried both to Mexico. The base imprisonment of Austin and utter refusal to adopt the constitution and allow Texas to have a separate State government from Coahuila were the causes, direct and indirect, of the Texas revolution.

In 1834 a law was passed establishing a Superior Court in Texas, with a judge, and three districts with a judge each---Bexar, Brazos and Nacogdoches. Burnet was appointed judge of the district of Brazos, that is, all of Central Texas. He held terms of court until superseded by the revolutionary provisional government in November, 1835, and was the only person who ever held a court of law in Texas prior to that time. The convention which declared Texas independent and established its government as such, on the 18th day of March, 1836 (the last of its session), elected David G. Burnet, President; Samuel P. Carson, Secretary of State; Thomas J. Rusk, Secretary of War; Robert Potter, Secretary of the Navy, Bailey Hardeman, Secretary of the Treasury, and David Thomas, Attorney General. The presidency of this ad interim term continued till the 22d of October, when it was succeeded by officers elected by the people under the constitution, Gen. Houston becoming President and Mirabeau B. Lamar, Vice-president.

The fame of President Burnet very largely rests upon his administration through those eight months of peril, gloom, disaster and brilliant success. The Alamo had fallen twelve days before. The butchery of Fannin and his 345 men occurred nine days later. Houston was then retreating before Santa Anna. The sun of San Jacinto rose in splendor and went down in blood thirty-four days after Burnet's election, but its rays were reflected over a land won to freedom. Then followed grave problems. First the disposition to be made of Santa Anna; second, the maintenance of an army in the field, without money, supplies or resources in a country from which the inhabitants had recently fled and were returning without bread---the condition soon aggravated by men poorly fed and idle in camp; third, the creation of a navy against Mexican cruisers; fourth, Indian ravages on the frontier; and fifth, the regular organization of the Republic, by elections under and the ratification of the constitution. Passions ran high; demagoguery had its votaries, and nothing short of superhuman power could have escaped unjust criticism. But to men of enlightened minds and just hearts it has long been evident that the administration of this over-burdened first President was wise and eminently patriotic. It wilt bear the most rigid scrutiny and be pronounced a durable monument to the head and heart of its chief. After remaining in retirement two years he became Vice-president by a large majority in December, 1838, and served three years, several months of the time as President. He participated in the Cherokee battles of 1839, and was wounded. With 1841 he retired to private life, but served as Secretary of State through 1846 and 1847, with Governor J. P. Henderson. In 1866 he was elected to the United States Senate, but was denied a seat on account of the question of reconstruction.

The close of the war found him alone in the world. His wife and three children lay buried on his San Jacinto farm. His last child, the gallant Maj. Win. E. Burnet, had fallen in the battle of Spanish Fort, near Mobile, March 31, 1865---a noble young man worthy of his noble parents. President Burnet was not only a learned, wise and upright man, but a man of sincere and profound religious convictions, from which, neither in youth nor manhood, did he ever depart. He was tendered and accepted a home in the generous and estimable family of Mr. Preston Perry, in Galveston, but in 1868 his kindred in Newark, tendered him a home among them, on his native spot. The affections of childhood returned and he concluded to go. This becoming known in Galveston, on the 23d of May 1868, a farewell letter was addressed to him signed by ninety-eight gentlemen and twenty-seven ladies, embracing some of the most eminent names in the State. That letter, now before me, is touchingly beautiful and as true as beautiful. It is too long for this place, but I want young people to read at least its concluding paragraph. Here it is:

"Texas, whom you have loved and served, sends you today from her mountain tops to her sea board, from both sexes and all ages her affectionate greeting and farewell. It comes alike from the few feeble voices that long ago, in the day of youth and strength, elevated you to the supreme authority in the Republic of Texas; the heroic few that won her independence and accepted her destiny as their own; from the lispings of childhood, who have learned from parental lips the value of your services, and beauty of your character; and from strangers, too, who have learned to love in you all that is pure, unselfish, and noble in man. And that God, in his goodness, may bless and preserve you, is the earnest and universal prayer of Texas and her people."

This letter to President Burnet, in its entirety, with the names attached, is a proud monument to his memory.

He went to his native place, but did not long remain. The changes there had removed the scenes of childhood and he moved among strangers. The love of Texas---the product of fifty years' association in manhood and its trials--came upon him, by contrast, with resistless force. He came back to die in the land of his love, and then to sleep beside his wife and children. Peacefully, on the 5th day of December 1870, he departed from life, aged eighty-two years and eight months, in the home of Mrs. Preston Perry of Galveston, who was to him all that a daughter could be. From The Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas by John Henry Brown.