892
AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
Should the Comisario, from any cause, be unable to hold the Elec- tion, any :Member of Your Committee, together with a Citizen, are competent to hold the Election. The returns to be made as soor.. as possible after the Election. . GrYEN 1mder our hands, at the Town of San Felipe de Austin. this 20th day of November, 1832. AT a numerous meeting of Citizens, at San Felipe de Austin, con- vened for the purpose of expressing their sentiments in relation to the then pending execution of Delaney, Mr. InA INGRAM availed him- self of the opportunity, to introduce a Resolution, which led to the following REPORT: l\Ir. Chairman :-The Committee to whom was referred the resolution rela- tive to the " expediency, or inexpediency, of calling a Convention of the people of Austin's Colony, for the purpose of framing a Provisional Code of Criminal Jurisprudence, and for the further purpose of providing for the correction of abuses, if any, in Civil proceedings"; having bacl the subject c,f reference under cons!deration, and having given it all the attention which the short tirue allowed for r~fiection would permit-REPORT-that they deem the call ot Puch u Convention not expedient only, but vitally imporant to the protection of our dearest rights. Your Committee have long witnessed, and have long !nmcnted, in common with their Fellow-Citizens of the Jurisdiction, the tardy an<l tiresome progres:J of -criminal proceedings in our Courts-they have witnessed the in1punity ot the guilty, and the total want of protection for. the hmocnt. The laws which ought to •be inforced, if any such tberc be, nre locked up in a language known to a few only, and, therefore, for all practical purposes. utterly beyond our reach. The Tribunals;·too, whose duty it is to administer the law, are, if possible, of still more difficult access. Superadded to these considerations, which, of themselves, must always weigh heavily with· an. intelligent and increasing population, we are at present involved in the .uncertainties of the Civil War now raging in the interior of the country. The excitements and political agitations, always attendant on belligerent operations, necessarily produce delay in all countries, and in all times; and operate on us, at the present crises, as a total denial of the administration of justice. • • The accurate observer, on taking a survey of our situation, must pronounce the decisive opinion, that we are without remedy for wrongs; that we are without redress for gl'ievances; and that we.must remain without them, untll they are provided by the deliberate, rind decla,red, id.ll of a majority of the people, assembled by delegation, in Public Convention. Your Committee are of opinion, therefc,1·e, that such C01n-ention should be called witb as little delay as possible, for the purpose of recommending, or of framing a Criminal Code for trial nnci final disposal of those charged with offences, and with crimes; and for the purpose of adopting such measures a:, ln their wisdom, may be necessary to carr:v the sYStem into full, complete, and immediate operation. Your Committee would also recoili.mend, that, such Convention institute a full and thorough im•estigation of abuses in the administration of justice in civil proceedings; and that they apply such remedy, or remedies, as may be
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