TATE LIBR.\RY
360
TEX.\
for a limited period. The republic i dh•ided into tates; each of which has its governor, and its legi lature. The <·onstitntion pro- vides for its amendment after the followina manner:- ARTtCLB 166. The legislature. of the stute can make such obser- vations a they may deem proper; about particular article of the con titution. and the constitutional acts, until the y-:ar 1830. ARTICLE 167. The Congress in that year, shall confine itself to examining the observation that merit the deliberation of the next Congress, and its declaration hall be communicated to the presi- dent, who shall I5ubli. h and circulate it without ohl':ervation. .ARTICLE 168. The following Congre s, in the fit- t year of it ordinary sessions, hall occupy them elves in examing tho e obser- vatious thus· ubmitted to their deliberation. in order to make nch amendments a may be deemed necessary, but the same Congress which makes the examination provided in the-la~t article, cannot decree the amflndments. ARTICLE 169. The amendments and additions that are propo ed after 1830, shall be taken into consideration by the Congr~s. in the second of each biennial, and if declared necessary, in conformity with the provisions made in the preceding article, they hall publish this re elution, in order that the next Congres may notice them. ARTICLE 170. In order to reform or amend thi constitution, or the constitutibn act, shall be observed, beside the rules prescribed in the foregoing articles, aU the requisite provided for the formation of laws, excepting the right to make observations, granted to the Presi- dent. in article 106.• Let us now examine, if Santa Anna amendea or rather destroyed the constitution, in the mode pre cribed; and here, gentlemen, I will read to you, from a printed peech .of my colleague, Gen. Austin, delivered at Louisville, Kentucky. Gen. Austin, as you all know, was the pioneer of the wilderness of Texa , and ha., by his untiring exertions, opened an exhaustle field to the enterprise of countless, thousands. Ile was, by reason of his cruel and illegal confinement in the city of Mexico, an eye-witne_s of the scenes he describe . In page the 10th of hi pecch, above referred to, he says:- " In 1834, the president of the republic, Gen. Santa Anna, who heretofore was the leader and champion of the republican party and ystem, became the head nnd leader of his former antagonists, the aristocratic and church party. ,vith this acce sion of trcngth, this party triumphed. The con. titutional rrcneral Congre of 183-1, which was decidedly republican and federal, was dis olved in May, of that year, by a military order of the president, before the constitutional term had expired. The council of government, compo ed of half tlle senate, which, agreeably to the constitution, ought to have been in- stalled the day after clo ing the se. ion of Cong-re ·s, was al o di - solved; and ~ new revolntionnry and unconstitutional Congress was convened by another military order of the president. Thi. Congre s met on the 1st Jannary, 1835: it wn. decidedly nri tocratic, eccle- siastical, and central in its politics. A number of petitiou we1·e •see the 1exlcan Conatltution. [Note In document].
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