4-98
TEXAS ST.\TE LJBR.\RY
u we must u e him now as policy directs, justice is not worth nam- ing once. Sir, shall we keep him or release him? This is the point to which the l1onorable !,;Cntleman would conduct us. I have no objection to marching up to it, but there is a preliminary difficulty to ettle; be must sati fy me that t'he prisoner either never forfeited his life by crime, or having forfeited it, that he ha ub equently redeemed it by some a.ct of hi , that Santa Anna i not in a moral point of vie,v a murderer, that he is not a bloody violator of tho principles of human- ity and the laws of nations, and that' he bas not forfeited his life by his butcheries at Goliad and Bexar. Sir, who will have the hardihood to a ert that he has not 7 And if tlm guilty, what good and virtuous all-redeeming deed has he incc performed to purchase his redemption from, the sentence of death? Ile has done nothing-nor can he do any thing which would ju tify ns in not enforcing law and equity ~ainst him, we have no rigl1t to let a villain purchase away the penal- ties of crime. Such traffic would be damnable. But we are told if he has done nothing to ave his life, we have. Let us examine into t~is; what have we done? we made a treaty ,vith ltim which neither party ha fulfilled; he because he was unable, and we because we were un- willing. And thi circum tance i. now plead.in favor of the audaciou layer of our kindred, as a nffi.cient reason to forgive him for all his outrage against God and nature, and to turn him loo e, a liberated domon upon mankind to re-enact hi horrible tragedies. Snppo e we had ,by a treaty aid to onr pri oner that if be would,do certain tbing , we would grant him his life. Shall we abide by the bargain 1 I answer not on our part unle de does on his. I con ider that we have no power to make such a treaty with a cold blooded murderer: but gentlemen not satisfied with controverting .this position, pnsh the matter . o far as to w ert, that merely because such a treaty ha been mado, without the fulfilment of a single tipulation,- it wa <.'nough to suspend the operations of law·and ju tice, and to give the guilty all the benefit of the compact, a if he had complied with every part of it. uch an argument Sir, would be di creditable to the gentleman' good understandin~, if urged in earne t, and evince a want of call(l r if urged sophistically. That my views may be di tinctly understood, permit me to recapitulate. I contend fir t- t11at we never had a rig-ht to deal with anta Anna, otherwi. c than by the rule of law and jus- tice. Scrondly, that he ha. by hi crimes forfeited hi. life. Thirdly, that he lias not rcdecmrd that life by any act of hi . Fourthly, that the treaty made with him is not now bindin°·, becan e it granted what one party had 110 right to be tow, and exacted what the other never di<l, or could fulfil. Fifthly and la tly, that if the pri oner' life he. not forfeited ,by Jaw ancl ju tice, it should uot be taken for vcnrrcance; and if hi. crimes merit death, it would he wrong in us to wa.h-e the penalty for profit. If the! e po itions be tUl ound or n11tcnablc, it re- mains for tl1c pre idcnt and hi co-workers for the immediate rel a c of anta Anna, to prove them so by other argumen than what they have ru yet condesccndccl to urge. llut I nm not nfraicl to meet the gentleman even on con iderntions of policy. I grant him l,y way of argnrnont all thnt he n·k - that Santa Anna ha·, by some unwi e net on our part secured a perfect
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