Texas Almanac, 1859 Page: 111
[224] p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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EARLY HISTORY OF TEXAS.
ing to local circumstances. In some parts every one was left to do what seemed
good in his own sight, subject only to an occasional visit from that notable per-
sonage, Judge Lynch. In Austin's Colony there was a tolerable organization
The trial by. jvy had been practised, but owing to the small number and
sparsity of the population, the old patriarchal number was omitted, and seven
substituted, the concurrence of five to make a verdict in civil cases; unanimity
being required in criminal prosecutions. In April, 1834, a law was passed re-
organizing the administration of justice within the Department. Texas was
formed into one Supreme Judicial Circuit. The trial by jury was authorized on
the common law numeral, the joint opinion of eight to make a verdict. Thomas
J. Chambers, of Austin's Colony, was present at the passage of the law, and is
supposed to have had some instrumentality in it.c; The Circuit was divided into
three Districts, Bexar, the Brazos, ahd Nacogdoches.
Santa Anna was now in the full exercise of dictatorial powers, but still pro-
fessing fidelity to the Constitution. In conformity to the plan of Cuernahuata,
he summoned a new Congress. The centralists being decidedly in the ascend-
ant, it was composed of his own partisans, with few exceptions. It met on the
at of January, 1835. One of its first acts was to reduce the civic militia of the
several States to one in every five hundred, and to disarm the remainder,
which, as Mr. Kennedy well says, "amounted to the annihilation of that con-
stitutional force." It soon became manifest that the Federal Constitution was
to be overthrown and a stringent central government was to be established in
its stead. The publication of Col. Almonte's report of his visit to Texas had
revealed the fact that the government designed the acquisition of the lands
bordering on the United States of the North, to colonize them with their retired
military, as was indicated in the decree of 6th April, 1830. They rescinded the
four hundred league sale of land made by the authority of the State, on the
ground of incompetency, alleging that the State was chargeable with a propor-
tion of the national debt.
The federalists began with zeal, but too late, to oppose the progress of cen-
tralism. Several States expressed their dissatisfaction. Zacatecas refused to
disband her militia, and proceeded to organize an army, under the command of
its worthy Governor, Don Francisco Garcia, a civilian of fair abilities, but an
inexperienced general. Santa Anna marched against him, and in May, 1835, a
severe battle ensued, in which the Zacatecanos suffered a terrible defeat and
heavy loss. The victor took possession of the Capital, and the power of the
State was crushed. The report of these disastrous events elicited an universal
feeling of indignation in Texas. The most persistent and conscientious advo-
cates of peace now joined heart and hand in preparing to resist the encroach-
ments of a despotism assuming the two-fold terrors of the sword and the mitre.
Soon after the escape of Santa Anna from his simulated arrest, Governor
Zavala was dismissed into honorable exile, by being appointed Ambassador
to the Court of France. Learning, in Paris, the deposition of Farias, and the
dissolution of the Federal Congress, of which he was a member at the time of
his diplomatic appointment, he resigned in disgust, and repaired to New York,
where he had married a lady, Miss Emily White, in the year 1830. From thence
he proceeded to Texas, the only portion of Mexico over which the banner of the
Constitution was floating, in the summer of 1835.
In April, 1835, another legislative emeute occurred at Monclova. The deputies
of Saltillo again withdrew and pronounced in favor of the new policy initiated
at Mexico. Gen. Martin Prefecto de Cos, the Commandant of the Eastern
Military District, and brother-in-law of Santa Anna, openly countenanced the
defection of the recreant deputies, and moved his troops from Matamoros to-
wards the State Capital. On the 8th April, the Legislature had formally pro-
tested against the limitation of an act of indemnity for political offences,
recently passed by the General Congress, which was restricted to natives ex-
'Thormas J. Chambers was appointed Superior Judge, and David G. Burnet, without his
knowledge, was appointed District Judge, for the District of the Brazos. The Superior Court was
never organized, never "verified;" because (as fMr. Yoakum alleges) "such vas the confusion inci-
dent to the approachingn revolution that the law became useless." But Mir. Toakum's book is often
in conflict wit truth. The District Judge held his regular sessions at San Fellfpe, for three or four con-
secutive terms, and disposed of many cases without let or molestation. The Superior Judge has re-
ceived thirty leagues of land for his judicial services. The District Judge has received literally
ot~ing-no land, and not money enough (a few perquisites) to defray his traveling expenses Trutn
belongs to history, falsehood to fictiou.
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Texas Almanac, 1859, book, 1859~; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth123765/m1/112/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.