PAPERS OF MIRABEAU BuoNAPARTE LAMAR 351 will save our ·country from much public disaster and individual ruin. By.adopting the CommOrl"Law we do but avail ourselves, as in every science, of the labors ,and experience of all those generations who have gone before us. We shall exercise the exalted privilege of appropriating and enjoying the benefits of a liberal jurisprudence originated by the, wisdom, and for centuries defended by the valor of the Anglo-Saxon race. 1,Ve shall be adopting a system called into being, not by the sovreign will of ~ome arbitrary despot, but one originating in the general habits of a nation of free and independent ·Citizens, associated by their genius and their customs and connected by the ties of .a common language, and a common ancestry, a system which has invariably inspired its votaries with an ardent desire to transmit unimpaired to their posterity those natural rights which they received from the great author of their being, and those politi- cal privileges secured to them by the Constitution of their country; a system upon which the lights of experience and the rays of science have been concentrating for centuries past, to which the immortal Sages of the profession have in each successive age devoted lives of the most arquous and unremiting toil, and which has become so improved, refined, and expanded, as to be admirably adapted to all complicated relations of society in Great Britain, and the United States, two of the most liberal and enlightened nations of the world where the rigid rules enacted for the prevention and punishment of crime, have been so mellowed and softened by the principles of Divine Revelation, that it is now justly regarded as the perfection of human reason and the most moderate and consistent of every .earthly code. In making the proposed alteration I would also sug- gest the propriety of formally .adopting a few of the general statutes of some State of established legal reputation, and domestic institu- tions similar to our own; and furthermore that a Committee of pro- iessional Gentlemen be appointed to arrange .a system by compila- tion, or digest of statutes, adapted to our wants, to be submitted to the consideration of the next National Congress. But among the many subjects that unite the solemn and deliberate .attention of the Congress of Texas at this moment, no one involves .a more affecting interest, that the exposed and defenceless condition of our inland frontier. Since the memorable victory of San Jacinto, we have. sustained but little annoyance from our principal enemy. Their spirits were daunted and their energies paralyzed by that signal defeat; and from that period they have1been occupied with domestic disturbances, or difficulties growing out of their foreign relations. These causes of inaction on their part may be temporary, and we ought by no means to permit them to beguile us i_nto negli- gence. But while the Mexican government has been restramed from renewing any serious attempt upon our liberties, our western fron- tier has been polluted and our Citizens disquieted by small parties of Mexican brigands, who war for spoil and invade only t~ r:ivage and destroy. To chastise these de.predators and suppress their mcur- sions is due to the honor and the tranquility of the nation. I would theretofore recommend that a law be enacted which shall visit a just and severe retribution upon such J\Iexican citizens, not in the actual service of their government, as shall be found in arms, or convicted
Powered by FlippingBook