USA > Texas > History of Texas : from 1685 to 1892, volume 1 > Part 16
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" ASSEMBLAGE OF THE FIRST CONVENTION EVER HELD IN TEXAS, BEGINNING ON MONDAY, THE IST DAY OF OCTOBER, 1832, IN THE TOWN OF SAN FELIPE DE AUSTIN, AND COM- POSED OF DELEGATES ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE DIF- FERENT DISTRICTS.
Official Proceedings - The Journals.
" In compliance with an official request and public notice to the authorities and inhabitants of Texas, issued by the first and second Alcaldes of the municipality of Austin, the follow- ing members, representing the different districts of Texas, met in general convention, at San Felipe de Austin, on Monday, the 1st day of October, 1832.
" From the district of San Felipe de Austin - Stephen F.
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Austin, Wiley Martin, Francis W. Johnson and Luke Lesassier.
" From the district of Victoria (really Brazoria ) - George B. Mckinstry, William H. Wharton, John Austin and Charles D. Sayre.
" From the district of Mina, or Bastrop - Ira Ingram, Silas Dinsmore and Eli Mercer.
" From the district of Hidalgo - Nestor Clay and Alex- ander Thompson.
" From the district of San Jacinto - Archibald B. Dobson, George F. Richardson and Robert Wilson.
" From the district of Viesca -Jared E. Groce, William Robinson and Joshua Hadley.
" From the district of Alfred ( now parts of Fayette and Lavaca counties ) - Samuel Bruff, David Wright, William D. Lacy, William R. Hensley, and Jesse Burnham.
" From the district of Lavaca - James Kerr, Hugh Mc- Guffin, Joseph K. Looney, William Menefee and George Sutherland.
" From the district of Gonzales - Henry S. Brown and Claiborne Stinnett.
" From the district of Mill Creek - John Connell and Samuel C. Douglass.
" From the district of Nacogdoches - Charles S. Taylor, Thomas Hastings and Truman Hantz.
" From the district of Ayish Bayou - Philip A. Sublett, Donald McDonald, William McFarland, Wyatt Hanks and Jacob Garrett.
" From the district of Snow ( Neches) river - Thomas D. Beauchamp, Elijah Isaacs, Samuel Looney and James Looney.
" From the district of Sabine - Benjamin Holt, Absalom Hier and Jesse Parker.
" From the district of Tenaha ( now Shelby County ) - William English, Frederick Foye, George Butler, John M. Bradley and Jonas Harrison.
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" From the district of Liberty - Patrick C. Jack, Claiborne West and James Morgan.
" Thus fifty-six delegates appeared and took their seats.
" Several gentlemen were nominated for president of the convention, when an adjournment till 3 p. m. took place.
" On re-assembling at 3 p. m. a ballot for president gave :
" For Stephen F. Austin votes.
" For William H. Wharton. 15
" And for secretary, Francis W. Johnson .34
" And for secretary, C. D. Taylor. .11 66
" Mr. Austin, after returning thanks and referring to the object of the assemblage, took the chair.
" On motion of Mr. Lesassier a committee of five was ap- pointed to prepare a memorial to the Federal ( Mexican ) gov- ernment, praying for the repeal of the 11th article of the law of the sixth of April, 1830 (prohibiting the further immi- gration of North Americans into Texas), and also to set forth to the government the toils, difficulties and dangers encountered by the colonists of Texas, and their respect for and attachment to the constitution and laws of the Republic.
" Messrs. William H. Wharton, Luke Lesassier, George Sutherland, Jonas Harrison and Patrick C. Jack were ap- pointed, and Mr. Wharton was made chairman at the request of the mover of the resolution.
" A committee was appointed consisting of Messrs. Charles D. Sayre, James Morgan, Jared E. Groce, Charles S. Taylor and Joseph K. Looney, to which Henry S. Brown, George B. Mckinstry and John Austin were added, to draft a petition to the Federal government, praying for a reduction of duties on articles of first necessity imported into Texas, and showing that the reduction would increase the revenue of the govern- ment.
" On the second day a committee of ten was appointed to take into consideration the land business to the east of the
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San Jacinto river, and to report to the convention such memorial or memorials to be submitted to the State or general governments, or both, as might be deemed necessary.
" Messrs. Jonas Harrison, William McFarland, William English, Philip A. Sublett, Jacob Garrett, Charles S. Taylor, Benjamin Holt, Wyatt Hanks, Frederick Foye and Elijah Isaacs, with James Morgan added, were appointed said committee.
" William R. Hensley, Henry S. Brown, Samuel Looney, Nestor Clay and Jesse Burnham were appointed a committee to inquire into the Indian affairs of Texas and propose some plan for the protection of the frontiers.
" John Austin, Nestor Clay, James Kerr, William McFar- land, Wiley Martin and George Sutherland were appointed a committee to report the best mode of regulating the custom- house offices in Texas, until such offices should be filled and regulated by the general government. (The disorganization of the custom-houses resulted from the battle of Velasco and the trouble at Anahuac in the previous June. )
" A committee, consisting of Messrs. Luke Lesassier, Will- iam McFarland, William Menefee, Samuel Bruff and Thomas Hastings was appointed to prepare a petition to the State government of Coahuila y Texas, for a donation of land to Texas for the purpose of creating a fund for the future establishment of primary schools, and to report the same to the convention.
" On the third day Mr. McFarland submitted a resolution providing that a committee of two delegates from each dis- trict be appointed to report the expediency or inexpediency of petitioning for a State government -that is, a State government for Texas distinct from Coahuila.
" On this motion, Mr. Clay demanded the yeas and nays and they stood for the motion : Messrs. Henry S. Brown, Thomas D. Beauchamp, John M. Bradley, Samuel Bruff, John Connell, Silas Dinsmore, Samuel C. Douglas, Wm. English,
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Frederick Foye, Truman Hantz, Joshua Hadley, Thomas Hastings, Wyatt Hanks, Benjamin Holt, Absalom Hier, Elijah Isaacs, Ira Ingram, F. W. Johnson, James Kerr, Luke Lesassier, Joseph K. Looney, Samuel Looney, George B. Mckinstry, Eli Mercer, Hugh McGuffin, William Menefee, Donald McDonald, William McFarland, James Morgan, Jesse Parker, Philip A. Sublett, Claiborne Stinnett, Charles S. Taylor, William H. Wharton, Robert Willson, and Claiborne West- 36.
" The nays were, Messrs. John Austin, George Butler, Jesse Burnham, Nestor Clay, A. B. Dobson, Jared E. Groce, Wm. R. Hensley, Wiley Martin, George F. Richardson, Will- iam Robinson, George Sutherland and Alex. Thompson - 12.
" Following this decisive vote in favor of petitioning for a separate State, for such was its object, the following gentle- men were appointed on said committee, viz .: Messrs. John Austin, Henry S. Brown, Burnham, Butler, Bradley, Clay, Connell, Dinsmore, Dobson, Douglas, Groce, Hensley, Hantz, Hanks, Holt, Hier, Isaacs, Lesassier, Samuel Looney, Mar- tin, Eli Mercer, McFarland, Menefee, Morgan, Richardson, Robinson, Sutherland, Stinnett, Thompson, Taylor, Wm. H. Wharton, and West.
" Messrs. McFarland, Hanks, Clay, Groce, John Austin, Southerland, Johnson and J. K. Looney, were appointed a committee to recommend a uniform plan for organizing the militia.
" Messrs. Beauchamp, James Kerr, Groce, Ingram and Charles S. Taylor, were appointed to prepare a petition to the State government asking that a law be passed authorizing the use of the English language in Texas in all transactions and obligations, excepting in those which have an immediate con- nection with the government.
" Messrs. Charles S. Taylor, McFarland, Harrison, Martin, John Austin, Bradley and Hanks were appointed to memorial- ize the State government on the subject of lands ' granted to
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and petitioned for by the North American tribes of Indians;' so as to remove much anxiety evinced by them, which is founded on misrepresentation.
" Report on the Tariff.
" Mr. Jared E. Groce, Chairman of the Committee on the Tariff, reported the following
" Memorial.
" To the Congress of the United Mexican States:
" The inhabitants of Texas, assembled in general convention, by means of delegates, at the town of San Felipe de Austin, respectfully represent that the duties on articles of the first necessity to the inhabitants, which are not and can not be manufactured in Texas for several years to come, are so high as to be equivalent to a total prohibition ; that many other articles which are prohibited by the tariff are of the first necessity to the settlers of the country, and as the people in this section of the Republic are yet almost without resources and are generally farmers who make their support by culti- vating the soil, and have no manufacturing establishments yet erected within the limits of Texas, they respectfully petition the general government to grant for three years 1 the privi- lege of introducing free of duty, such articles as are indis- pensable to the prosperity of Texas, among which this con- vention begs leave to enumerate thefollowing, viz. : provisions,
1 The modest request for so short a time as three years was palpably dictated by the apprehension that a more just and reasonable request would be rejected. Even in the very infancy of their settlement, as will be seen by the memorial, the people of Texas realized the iniquity and baneful effect of a high tariff on foreign imports and its tendency to impoverish the multitude for the enrichment of an insignificant number of persons and associations engaged In certain pursuits. In the United States it has been carried to a fearful extent under the delusive and exploded plea of protecting American working people.
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iron and steel, machinery, farming utensils, tools of the various mechanic arts, hardware and hollowware, nails, wagons and carts, cotton bagging and bale-rope, coarse cotton goods and clothing, shoes and hats, household and kitchen furniture, tobacco in small quantities for chewing, powder, lead and shot, medicines, books and stationery.
" The foregoing articles include the principal imports made use of and wanted by the inhabitants of Texas. Many of them are prohibited and on those which are allowed to be introduced, the duties are so high that they amount to prohi- bition. The trade of Texas is small and the resources limited, but if fostered by a liberal policy on the part of the general government, it will in a few years yield a revenue of no small importance."
This brief, pointed and sensible memorial, after due delib- eration, was adopted by a substantially unanimous vote.
William H. Wharton, chairman of the committee appointed to prepare a memorial to the Federal Mexican Congress pray- ing for the repeal of the eleventh article of the law of the sixth of April, 1830, prohibiting citizens of the United States of America from settling in Texas, submitted a memorial which, after being read and considered, was adopted by a unanimous vote. It is a State paper of dignity, ability and historic value, which, though heretofore published in no work on Texas, should be familiar to every student of Texian history, and is therefore inserted in full :
" To the Federal Congress of Mexico:
"Your memorialists, representatives of all the Anglo- Americans in Texas, in General Convention met, taking advan- tage of that sacred and Republican privilege of making known their wants and grievances, which is guaranteed them by the constitution of their adopted country, respectfully represent that they have viewed, and still view with sentiments of
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deepest regret and mortification, the passage and present ex- istence of the eleventh article of the law of the sixth of April, 1830. This law is obnoxious to your memorialists, for many reasons. Independent of its withering influence on all the hopes of Texas, it implies a suspicion of our fidelity to the Mexican constitution. Such suspicion we humbly conceive to be utterly unwarranted; and we will endeavor to prove it so, by taking a review of our conduct from the passage of the first colonization law up to the present time.
" In the year 1823 the Congress of the Mexican nation in- vited the citizens of the United States of the north to become inhabitants of Texas, giving to each family one sitio of land for so doing. This donation of land sounds large at a distance. Considering, however, the difficulties with which the taking possession of it is environed, it will not be thought so munifi- cent a bounty, nor so entire a gratuity. Had these lands been previously pioneered by the enterprise of government, and freed from the insecurities which beset a wilderness trod only by savages ; had they been in the heart of an inhabited region, and accessible to the comforts and necessaries of life; had the government been deriving an actual revenue from them ; could it have realized a capital from the sale of them, then we admit the donation would have been unexampled in the history of national liberality. But how different from all this was the real state of the case? The lands in question were situated in a wilderness of which the government had never taken possession. They were not sufficiently explored to obtain that knowledge of their character and situation, which would be necessary to a sale of them; they were in the occupancy of savages; they were shut out from all commer- cial intercourse with the world and inaccessible to the com- monest comforts of life; nor were they brought into possession and cultivation without much toil and privation, patience and enterprise, loss of lives from Indian hostilities and other causes. Under the smiles of a beneficent heaven,
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however, the untiring perseverance of the immigrants triumphed over all natural obstacles ; it reduced the forest to cultivation; made the desert smile, established commercial intercourse with the rest of the world, and expelled the savages, by whom the country was infested.
"From this, it must appear, that the lands of Texas, although nominally given, were in fact really and dearly bought. It may be here premised that a gift of lands by a nation to foreigners, on condition of their becoming citizens, is immensely different from a gift or sale from one individual to another. In the case of individuals, the donor or seller loses all further claims upon the lands parted with; but in this case, the government only gave wild lands, that they might be redeemed from a state of nature, that the obstacles to a first settlement might be overcome, and that they might be placed in a situation to augment the physical strength, power and revenue of the nation. Is it not obvious that Mexico now holds the same jurisdiction over the colonized lands of Texas, that all nations hold over nineteen-twentieths of their terri- tory? For the first six or seven years after the commence- ment of our settlements in Texas, we gratefully admit that our enterprise was animated, and our hardships alleviated by the liberality and kindness of the Mexican government. We insist, however, that this beneficent disposition of the govern- ment, was followed by gratitude and loyalty on our part.
" The only portion of our conduct, during this period, that could be tortured into anything like disloyalty, was the Fre- donian disturbance in Nacogdoches in 1826. And, when it is considered by whom these disturbances were originated and by whom quieted, instead of exciting the suspicion of the govern- ment, we respectfully conceive that the transaction should have confirmed its confidence in our patriotism.
" The disturbances alluded to, originated with some fifteen or twenty infatuated individuals. The great mass of the set- tlers were opposed to their mad design, which opposition they
.
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testified by capturing the conspirators and putting them in custody, before the arrival of a single Mexican soldier. Was there anything in this calculated to awaken the suspicions of the government? Bad and desperate men there will always be found in every community. There will always likewise be a portion capable of being easily misled, and is it not really a matter of astonishment, that in this instance, the bad, the desperate, the dissatisfied and the misguided were limited to so insignificant a number?
" Excepting this disturbance, which was opposed by ninety- nine hundredths of the settlers and which was quieted by their zeal and patriotism, we repeat it, that up to the passage of the law of April sixth, 1830, our conduct was orderly and patriotic.
" The passage of this law was a mortifying and melancholy occurrence for Texas. It was mortifying to us, because it must have been founded on a suspicion that we were disposed to rebel. Such suspicion did us great injustice, for we had uniformly exhibited strong proofs of our attachment to the Constitution. It was a melancholy event for us, for it blasted all our hopes, and was enough to dishearten all our enterprise.
" It was peculiarly mortifying because it admitted into Texas all other nations except our friends and countrymen of the United States of the north -except the fathers and brothers of many of us, for whom we had emigrated to pre- pare comfortable homes, and whose presence to gladden our firesides we were hourly anticipating. Yes, this law closed the door of immigration on the only sister republic worthy of the name, which Mexico can boast of in this new world. It. closed the door on a people among whom the knowledge and foundations of national liberty are more deeply laid, than among any other on the habitable globe. It closed the door upon a people who have brought with them to Texas, those ideas of Republican government in which from birth they had
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been educated and practiced. In short, it closed the door upon a people who generously and heroically aided Mexico in her revolutionary struggle, and who were the first and foremost to recognize and rejoice at the obtainment of her independence.
" Is it for a moment to be supposed that the European par- asites of power, to whom, now alone the door of immigra- tion is left open -that those who have been taught from infancy to disbelieve in the natural equality of mankind, who have been unacquainted with constitutions, even in name, who, politically speaking, have never been accustomed to think or legislate for themselves; who reverence the arm of mon- archical rule, who pay adulation at the feet of an hereditary nobility and who have contemplated republics only in theory and at a distance; is it, we repeat, to be supposed that immigrants of this description will contribute more to the advancement of liberty and the welfare of the Republic than immigrants from that land of liberal sentiment, that cradle of freedom, that mother of constitutional heroes, the United States of the north? If such be the fact, habit and education must go for nothing and all experience is set at naught and contradiction.
" Your memorialists having, as they trust and respectfully conceive, shown to your honorable bodies that their conduct up to the time of the passage of the law of the 6th of April, was orderly and patriotic, will now turn your attention to their conduct since that period.
" This law was sufficient to goad us on to madness, inasmuch as it blasted all our hopes and defeated all our calculations, inasmuch as it showed to us that we were to remain scattered, isolated and unhappy tenants of the wilderness of Texas, compelled to gaze upon the resources of a lovely and fertile region undeveloped for want of a population, and cut off from the society of fathers and friends in the United States of the north, to prepare homes and comforts suited to whose age and infirmities many of us had patiently submitted to
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1
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every species of privation. But what was our conduct ? As peaceful citizens we submitted. The wheels of government were not retarded in their operation by us. Not a voice nor an arm was uplifted. We had confidence in the correct inten- tions of government and we believed and hoped that when the momentary excitement of the day had subsided, a return- ing sense of justice and liberality would give this law a brief duration. For more than two years we have remained in this peaceful, this unmurmuring attitude. In this time the heroic and patriotic General Santa Anna arose as the vindicator of liberty and the constitution. We had confidence in the purity of his motives. We believed that the evils which he battled to redress were of an alarming and crying magnitude, of no less magnitude than an utter disregard of the constitution, on the part of the Vice-President and his ministers. With Gen- eral Santa Anna we united as fellow-laborers in the same sacred cause, preferring rather to perish in defense of the violated charter of our rights than to live in acquiescence with acts of arbitrary and unconstitutional power. What we have done in this matter is known to the government and to the world. It was all in defense of the rights, liberties and guaranties that were spurned and trampled upon.
" Here we would ask, what was there in all this to induce suspicion of our disloyalty to the constitution ? Was it in our remaining quiet for more than two years after the passage of the law of the 6th of April? Was it in declaring for the con- stitution and hazarding all we held dear in its defense? Would it not have been as easy to have taken advantage of the troubles in the interior, and to have declared and battled for independence? Was there ever a time more opportune and inviting? Why did we not then declare for independence ? Because in the honest sincerity of our hearts, we assure you, and we call Almighty God to witness the truth of the asser- tion, we did not then, and we do not now, wish for independ- ence. No! there is not an Anglo-American in Texas whose
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heart does not beat high for the prosperity of the Mexican Republic; who does not cordially and devoutly wish that all parts of her territory may remain united to the end of time ; that she may steadily and rapidly advance in arts, arms, agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and in learning ; in virtue, freedom and all that can add to the splendor and hap- piness of a great nation. As an evidence that we wished not for independence nor for coalescence with the United States of the north, your memorialists would respectfully refer your honorable bodies to the following fact, viz .: A short time since it was rumored among us that the President of the United States of the north expressed a determination to make the Neches river instead of the Sabine the line between the two Republics. This hitherto unheard of claim provoked the indignation of every inhabitant of Texas, and our constituents have with one voice, called upon us to memorialize your hon- orable bodies on the subject of the injustice of such a demand. May it please your honorable bodies your memorialists trust that they have conclusively shown that the whole tenor of their conduct has been characterized by good order and patriotism.
" The destructive influence of the law of the 6th of April, 1830, upon the prospects of Texas, has only been incidentally alluded to, the effect of that law being too obvious to require expatiation or argument. The law is likewise as injurious to the national revenue at large, as to us individually, for it is evident that the greatness, the power, the wealth and the inde- pendence of a nation, depend upon a proper development of its resources. Can the resources of Texas be properly developed with this law hanging over it? We believe not. We believe under such circumstances, it would remain the comparative wil- derness it now is. Experience shows that native Mexicans will not settle in it; but should they do so it would not augment the physical force of the nation, for it would only be taking population from one part of the Republic to place them in
14
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another. Will Europeans settle it? We believe Europeans of the right description, to benefit the country, will not, for many reasons. Our hopes then for the development of the resources of Texas, are naturally turned to the United States of the north, to a people who have been trained in the school of Republicanism, whose physical constitutions are adapted to the climate and who have been brought up to the cultivation of such articles as will always be the staples of Texas. Against them alone, however, the door is closed, which we contend is equally injurious to us and to the national revenue. Another point of view in which the law of the 6th of April is objec- tionable and has been productive of numberless difficulties, is this : the garrisons with which all parts of Texas have been lately crowded, must have grown out of this law and have been sent here to enforce it. They could not have been sent here for our protection, for when they came we were able to protect ourselves, and at the commencement of the settlements when we were few, weak and scattered and defenseless, not a garrison, no, not a soldier came to our assistance. In the presence and vicinity of these garrisons, the civil arm has generally been paralyzed and powerless, for many of the officers were law-despisers, who set the political authorities at defiance, brought them into contempt and trespassed in every respect upon the rights and privileges of their fellow-citizens. When all of these things are considered, we can but believe that the former characteristic justice and liberality of your honorable body will return to our aid, and bring about an im- mediate repeal of this, to us, ever to be deprecated measure.
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