The Tri-Weekly Times. (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 3, Ed. 1 Wednesday, July 23, 1856 Page: 3 of 4
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ords ®f the country, he will find many
other like losses. There are various causes
in that statute mentioned, for which a
parent may disinherit his child. But
suppose he disinherits a child, and he
may mention and set forth some or all of
these causes, and may state them in in-
definite terms, or may state them all suf-
ficiently, as he believes, to disinherit the
child. Yet the child makes issue with
him after his death, and brings the estate
into court, and the estate will be wasted
before ever it gets out of the court; for,
by the statute that this bill proposes to
repeal, the child that is disinherited has
four years after the probate of the will in
which he may make up an issue in court,
and disprove the facts recited in the will
as the grounds of his disinherison; or he
has'the right, rather, to call upon the
person claiming under the will to prove
that just cause did exist; and if he fails
to prove this existence, he loses the es-
tate. I know of h case in my county,
where a man made a will, in which he set
o«t the causes for disinhei i ting one child.
That estate, I understand, is to go into
court, and though it is a fine estate, it
may come out insolvent. The child does
not think the cause set forth in the will
to be sufficient.
Here I will answer another argument,
urged by the gentlemen who tell you to
look at the common law reports in the
common law States, and the courts of
England; to examine the reports of the
cases in common law countries, and com-
pare with our cases here. I should sup-
pose, sir, that in the course of centuries
we may find more cases in those respects
than in ours, for five, six, eight, or ten
years. When this law was first adopted,
there was very little property in the coun-
try, and very few men had property
enough to render it necessary for them
to make a will; and many Wills made
immediately after the time of its adoption
may not hare come into litigation, but
may yet come in hereafter. And a great
many have been held up in the courts for
years, and are not yet decided and re
ported, which will, when decided swell
the list of reported cases. That is the
reason why our reports are not yet filled
with cases.
But now, as the statute is beginning to
be understood, our courts are beginning
to be filled with litigation upon the sub-
ject of wills.
Another argument used by the gentle-
man from Nacogdoches is, that by this
bill the parent who has brought children
into existence, can relieve himself of the
trouble and expense of supporting them.
Not so; this bill interferes with none of
the rights of a child to a support and ed-
ucation from the parent.
This bill does not go to alter the law
relating to the rights of parent and child,
so far as subsistence and support is con-
cerned. By the common law the parent
is bound to support and educate his child,
in a degree suited to his estate and con-
dition. This bill does not propose to al-
ter this law.
The main reliance of the gentleman to
defeat this bill, is upon the prejudice ex-
isting against the common law—tliat old
tyrannical common law. Now, sir, what
is the comm a law? Is it a tyrant?—
the edict of a British King, or the enact-
ment of a British Parliament? No, sir, it
is neither, it is the will of the English
people. It stands as the barrier behind
which the English people entrench them-
selves against the usurpations of the
King or Parliament. The common law
is the common will and reason of the
realm. It is the common will of the peo-
ple as to individual rights, and rights of
property, and are not the enactment of a
British Parliament, nor the cdict of a
British King, but the very opposite of
both. The common law is the reason
and will of the people of the country, ex-
pressed and declared through their judi-
cial tribunals, in contradistinction to the
enactments of Parliaments, or the edicts
of Kings. If a law in England has the
mark of the finger of the British King, or
, the footprint of a British Parliament up-
on it, it is a British statute, and not the
Rnrrliali cmrimnn law. That which trivia
taking the vote without making a single
remark even in favor of the minority re-
port.
House op Representatives, \
Austin, July 9, 1856. J
After the reading and reference of pe
titions, bills and resolutions being in
order,
Mr. ADRIAN offered the following
resolution:
Resolved, That the House go into an
election of Chaplain, to fill the vacancy
of the Rev. II. L. Powell.
Mr. LOCKE moved to strike out the
latter part referring to a vacancy.
Mr. OCHILTREE called for the read-
ing of the letter of Rev. H. L. Powell,
declining the office of Chaplain.
Mr. SMITH of Harris, objected to the
reading, on the ground that in that letter
Mr. Powell, instead of simply declining
the office, had presumed to instruct the
members of the Legislature as to their
duties, and to tell them that in electing a
Chaplain they had travelled altogether
out of their sphere.
The yeas and nays were called for on
the question of reading the letter.
Mr. ADRIAN, when his name was
called, said,
Mr. Speaker: I am opposed to the
reading of that letter by the clerk of this
House, from the fact that a copy of that
letter has been spread upon the journals
of this House during the former part of
the present session. I believe that every
honorable member is in possession of a
copy of said journals, and we can read
the said letter at our leisure, and not con-
sume the time of the House by having it
read by the clerk. For these reasons I
vote no!
The House ordered the reading by a
vote of 46 yeas to 27 nays.
The letter was then read.
Mr. DANCY offered the following as
a substitute for the resolution:
Resolved, That the chief clerk be re-
qnired to read the concluding prayer of
H. L. Powell's letter every morning as
soon as the House assembles, as a substi-
tute for prayers by a Chaplain.
Mr. ADRIAN moved to lay the sub-
stitute on the table.
Mr. OCHILTREE moved to lay the
resolution aud substitute on the table.
A division of the question was called
for; and Mr. Dancy's substitute was laid
on the, table by a, rntr -nf ao y-"
nays.
The question recurring on laying the
original resolution on the table,
Sir. WEST asked if this resolution
could be acted on again at this session.
He thought the same or a similar one had
been laid on the table before.
Mr. MERRICK understood that this
entire matter had been disposed
this session.
The yeas and nays were called for.
Mr. BONNER, when his name was
called, said he would like to give the rea-
sons for his qotc. At the winter session
he had voted for the election of Chaplain,
and he had seen that the object of those
who voted with him on that question had
been completely defeated. He thought
something like the same thing would be
enacted now. And for this reason he
was satisfied to vote aye—to lay the res-
olution on the table.
The resolution was laid on the table
by a vote of 13 yeas to 30 nays.
The act relating to wills being under
consideration,
Mr. LAWIIORN said : This matter
seems to command a good deal of interest
in this body, and well it may. Parents w
being the natural guardians of their chil- please ?
dren, it becomes necessary that we should
look into the natural law that governs the
case, and follow it out a3 nearly as we
can, as by so doing wo shall approximate
more nearly to the correct course than we
could probably do by every other means.
Thorn ü natural law implanted in the
those principles in their conduct, they
would have less perplexity, less animosity,
and fewer lawsuits.
I am much astonished to hear gentle-
men say that they can see no defects in
the present law as it stands on our statute
book. Now, sir, I would not speak with
too great a degree of confidence in rela-
tion to a subject so extensive as this, and
especially one upon which gentlemen of
the legal profession are so much divided
in opinion. But I can just imagine that
the best thing that can possibly be done,
in this matter as well as others of a similar
character, is to do away with men's im-
aginary systems and artificial fabrications
and fix down upon the true and eternal
principles implanted in their bosoms by
the God of Nature.
Now, sir, the natural internal principle
of a man will induce him to do justice, if
the eleménts of justice are properly cul-
tivated within him. In order that this
principle shall be cultivated, you must
give him latitude. Give him the power
to exercise his own privileges, and leave
him free to transact his own business,
and manage all the affairs that, come with-
in the purview of his own rights of action,
by the judgment which he possesses; and
you have then fixed the best basis you
can possibly establish as the rule of action
by which men shall be governed.
This law, Mr. Speaker, which it is the
object of the bill to repeal, gives rise to
more business for lawyers than any law
upon our statute book. You trammel a
man, and when he can't do his business
in his own way, he is liable to commit a
thousand errors. Men will make efforts
all the time to accomplish an object which
cannot be legally attained under the
present law. Every man believes that he
has the right to dispose of the property
which he has labored and toiled for, and
perhaps spent his life in accumulating.
And he certainly has the right, the natu-
ral right to dispose of it. Every man
feels within himself that he has that right,
and we find him accordingly on his dying
bed making efforts to fix his property in
a way that he feels to be in consonance
with justice and equity.
Now, it is certainly a hard case that
we should trammel men in this matter b
a universal law, because some men wi
occasionally do wrong. Let us rather
assume, Mr. Speaker, that the great mass
of men are inclined to do right, and that
-the laws of nature are properly fixed by
the wisdom of God. Let us not take it
upon ourselves to restrict them, and to
fix down a rule by which they are to be
governed, contrary to their own will and
desire, and very likely contrary to jus-
tice.
And again, Mr. Speaker, we are as
much bound to establish such laws as will
of for 1 prevent litigation and avoid perplexity
and collusion in the human family and
among the citizens of our common coun-
try, as we are to look to the attainment
of any of the other great objects of legis-
lation. It is our imperative duty, and
we certainly ought to attend to it. We
ought to pass such laws as will forestall
lawsuits, and promote quietude and peace.
We may expect occasional cases to oc-
cur, of a character that might apparently
justify the interposition of such a law as
that at present in force. But can the
occurrence of these few or occasional
cases be properly argued as a sufficient
reason that we should trammel the whole
community in this matter—as a sufficient
reason that it should become a fixed prin-
ciple that men should be trammeled, and
that it should be put beyond their power
dispose of their property as they
Under the present law giving the right
to the parent to deprive the child of his
property by his will for the causes therein
set forth, he will endeavor to do it when-
ever he takes an idea that the child has
deserved his anathma; and the conse-
quence is we have lawsuits upon lawsuits
breast of man by the great Creator, to and contentions and perplexities innu-
^ o y w~
direct him in his course, and especially
in all that relates to his family. And I
am conscientiously of the opinion, that if
men were left more to the guidance of
that natural líiw tlinn la t.hn pnafnm o nil
-^•"o —7 o # — ~ —
w man the rishtto dispose of his property practice of our age and country, we
— ~ "o * r * f j
by will is the common reason and the
common sense of the people of Englund,
and is the law of most of the civilized na-
tions and States of the world. I do not
think it necessary to discuss this question
further, it is so plain a matter. The en-
tire question turns upon a question of
right and wrong. It is the right of indi-
viduals to make wills; and it is wrong to
deprive them of that right; and this
must strike every member of this House
go forcibly, and I think discussion entire-
lv unnecessary, and think we might risk
|- - -— - -—- — - — — — «* <3 * V VVI i« W * J J II V
would have a better state of affairs, and
a more wholesome system of laws, with all
the happy consequences that would follow
in their train.
If men are left to themselves, and no
improper influences are brought to bear
upon them, there is no probability of their
committing injustice, or deviating very
widely from that principle by which they
i should be governed in all the acts of life.
erty but our children. In the case to
which allusion has been made, of the
prodigal son, who acted in such a man-
ner as to show that he does not deserve to
have the control of property—who is a
gambler, a drunkard and a., debauchee—
the father sees that his means would be
in jeopardy in his hands—that giving
them into his possession would be the
same as throwing them into the great
deep, or scattering them to the four
winds—and he ought to be enabled to
preserve them from such a total waste.
But the present law will not secure his
property in such a case; and it very often
does go into the hands of the prodigal to
be squandered. And then there is no
good, but evil grows out of it; it becomes
a curse instead of .i blessing. Now I say
further, that when a man's prudence and
industry have enabled him to make
money, it ought to be in his power to
place it in the hands of his prudent and
properly behaved children. And as to
the prodigal son, whom the father loves,
however prodigal, and however miserably
he acts, the proposed law will enable the
parent to make provision for him eventu-
ally, instead of as now, letting his prop-
erty go into his hands at once, and go off
with a dash, without producing the slight-
est benefit to any body, and leaving
scarcely a trace behind.
From the Statesman.
Railroad Meeting In Falls County.
1. Resolved that the people of Robert-
son, Burleson, Brazos and Milam counties
in common with their fellow-citizens in
this quarter of the State, feel the deepest
interest in the early enactment of a law
by the legislature pledging loans of from
six to ten thousand dollars per mile to
legally authorized corporate ccmpanies,
such as may afford safe guarantees for the
judicious employment of said loans, in the
speedy constructien of several main trunk
lines of Railroad:
5. Resolved, That we are opposed to
embarking the State in the practical busi-
ness of Railroad constructions, while the
same can be prosecuted with so much
more efficiency and expedition by mesne
of individual enterprize and economy
acting tlxxough the customary forms of
corporate associations, and without refer-
ence to other more serious and radical
considerations, in the present depressed
and embarrassed condition of the indus-
trial interests of the people, arising from
want of means of transportation—thej
regard as a weighty objection to the State
system, the loss of time, and delays un-
avoidably incident to its efficient instal-
lation. Deep-rooted convictions existed
in the public mind at the formation of the
constitution, and continues to exist at this
day, against involving the state in any
such enterprize as banking and railroad
making, and it would only be after
surrender of all hope, of the adoption of
other means that the people could be in-
duced to adopt the State system, under
any form in which it has been presented.
Having the power in their own hands,
they do not see that such alternative need
be presented, and therefore, we, the peo-
ple of Falls county, as part of the people
of the State, claim of the Legislature the
early adoption of the loan policy, that
all doubts may be removed and efficient
progress insured in the speedy construc-
tion of the three great lines of road men-
tioned.
Resolved, That we are willing to tax
ourselves to raise funds for this purpose
—and we further claim of the Legislature
the enactment of a law by which the peo-
ple of the different counties, in their
capacity of county corporations may be
authorized to subscribe stocks to the roads
in which they are directly interested, and
to levy upon themselves and property,
within their limits, the taxes necessary to
pay such subscription, securing to each
tax-payer, an individual property in the
amount of stock his taxes may suffice to
pay. In this way Internal Iinprovemnt
taxes would be paid by those interested
in, and benefitted by such improvements,
and by labor upon such works, and s^lc
those enlaced therein, maim-íals
the State, whilst subjected to the burthens
it imposes. We are prepared to submit
to necessary and unavoidable inequalities
as to the time of fruition by those along
the lines of road, and which arise from a
near or remote location from our neigh-
borhoods of our country of the road de-
signed for our accommodation. But we
remonstrate against inequalities that are
unnecessary, gratuitous and onerous. In
the forms of the State system published
in the papers, it is specially provided,
that the roads from Matagorda Bay to
San Antonio, and from Galveston Bay,
to Austin, shall be prosecuted to comple-
tion first—that the funds of the State
shall be expended upon these works ex-
clusively first, until they are completed,
and then, and not till then, shall a com-
mencement be made on the roads to con-
nect the Brazos and Trinity valleys and
Eastern Texas with the Gulf coast—thus
postponing for an indifinite period of time,
the occasion when the people inhabiting
these sections of the State are to be re-
lieved from the great embarrassments
under which they labor, arising from
want of railroad facilities. If the State
system is to be adopted we claim a parti-
cipation in all its benefits, equal in all
respects to what it dispensed to others,
and when the roads to San Antonio and
Austin are commenced, those for the ac-
commodation of the Brazos and Trinity
valleys and Eastern Texas shall also be
commenced and that they shall go on to
their completion pari passu.
5. Resolved, That prudent loans to
well organized companies engaged in the
construction of judiciously located roads,
would, in the estimation of this meeting,
afford the safest and most productive,
and wisest investment of all education
funds at the command of the State.
It was further
Resolved, That a copy of these reso-
lutions be transmitted to our Senator and
Representative to be regarded as instruc-
tions from part of their constituency ;
and that copies hereof be also sent to the
Houston Telegraph, and all the Austin
papers for publication.
pleases he will genera .y oe gov- to t nose engaged tnerein ox materials; Locates, Redeems, Pays Taxes
by the fixed and established prin-. and provision, the people thus interested ¡ obtains Patents, Investigates and Perfect*
which the God of Nature has im- would find facilities to pay a larger I Titles to Land in tbe State of Texas.
i • i • i* A l.l *11 . .1 J_ i _ - ,1 Opts nnt Unit/id St-IÍPQ Unnnlr T.onH War.
merable. Whereas, if you give a man
the power of disposing of his propertv
as he pleases, he will generally be gov-
erned
ciples „..v v. —— — | — — — r-j, - —o-
planted within him. And there will not ¡ amount of tax, and subscribe individually
be one case in a thousand scarcely, where j larger amounts of stock with less burthen
he will alienate his property, or deprive ! upon themselves, than if their taxes were
his child of the effects he has acquired, j imposed by the legislature to be expended
It therefore becomes our duty, as I i upon works at a distance from them in
conceive. Mr. Speaker, to h-ave men to which they would not be at liberty to take
HENRY A. 8AMP80N. BENJ. A. BOTTS.
tl"ENRY SAMPSON & CO., Forwarding and
1 Commission Merchants,
uston, Texas; Dealari in Groceries, Liquors,
Segara, Tobacco, Dry Goods, Hardware, Bagging,
Rope, and .general Plantation Supplies.
gggr advances made on Cotton, Wool,
Hides, Ac., consigned, on storage or for shipment
to Boston, New York, or New Orieans.
june 10. 28:ly
NOTICE.
THE Accounts due the Times Office prior to
the 19th January, 1856, having been placed
in the hands of the undersigned for collection, no-
tice is hereby given that all persons who fail to
liquidate the Claims against them on the presen-
tation of their accounts will be sued. Fork over
and save costs. JOHN T. PRUITT, Agent.
June 7, 1856; n26—tf
A Business Stand For Sale.
A GOOD STORE HOUSE, DWELLING HOUSE
&c., are offered for sale for what they cost.
Situate about twenty-five miles from Austin, fif-
teen miles from any competition. Has a good run
of trade. The stock on hand is small, aDd would
be sold with the premises. The proprietor wishes
to engage in a different pursuit on account of ill
health. Enquire at this Office, either by letter or
otherwise. June7 n26—tf
W. H. jonxson. G. F. LAMPEIS
Dental Notice.
DRS. JOHNSON & LAMPK1N,
EG LEAVE TO CALL THE ATTENTION
of the citizens of Austin and the surround-
ing country, to the patent of Dr. N. B. Slayton,
which tbey have purchased at a great expense, for
mounting artificial teeth, from one to an entire
set, with or without continuous gum, on gutta per-
cha base. By this method we are enabled to ex-
tract the natural organs, and restore them in
three days almost as perfect as Nature in point of
service, and far exceeding Nature herself in point
of beauty.
The Public is respectfully invited to call at
their office on Pecan street, second door from the
Postoffice, and sec for themselves. Calls from a
distance promptly attended to.
Acbtix, May 27, 1856. May31 «15
J. DOUGLASS BROWS,
GENERAL LAND AGENT
—AND—
| Collector of Claims against the State
Texas, and the Government of
the United States,
GENERAL LAND AGENCY OFFICE,
AVTST1W . - TRY A
R
Oi
Gets out United States Bounty Land War
rants, or Texas Land Certificate^ buys, sells, or
has the same located.
BfQr, Superintends the investigation and per-
fection of Land Titles in any of the States of tne
Union.
Collects soldiers' pay and pensions, and
prosecutes ererv class of Claims against the
; State of Texas, or the United States.
UV1IVV.A V Vj A'Al • ^J7VUI V * ^ • ' v ' - J
themselves in this matter—to change that stock individually or otherwise
law, and to give the man who has made Resolved, That we protest most earn-j REFERS TO
the property the right to dispose of it as ! estly against that feature of the State j Thc neadg of Dep¡rtmcnt> Aostin C[tJi Texaa
he may see fit, under the circumstances system in all the forms in which we have the Members of the Legislature, Business ao<5
of the Particular case, and there is no seen it published, by which the people of Professional Gentlemen in Western Texas, th«
1 lUIWIVUOl VIVUMVUISU 1U ■ -i - ' «.v
Representatives and Senators in Congress from
" "" " *"*7 7l .V" i Texas and Kentucky, Hob. Joliu Henry Brown,
make a proper disposition of it. >\e postponed-m the equal benehts they are Galveston, Texas, and Hon. Andrew Neili, Seguip,
want no other persons to have our prop- entitled to receive from the legislation of Texas. June 7, issg, n2.6—
c ui uiv • ui tUC pai tu uiai taou, aim v cvv.. «v ~ j
If men could be brought to a proper un- danizer but that he will then ordinarily middle and Eastern Texas, are to be
derstandingof the fundamental principles
of their nature, and a strict iulhornnpf to
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The Tri-Weekly Times. (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 3, Ed. 1 Wednesday, July 23, 1856, newspaper, July 23, 1856; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth181796/m1/3/?q=+date%3A1845-1860: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.