WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1861
281
Texas in the Federal Union, to a vote of the.people. So limited were the powers conferred by the legislature on this Convention, and such was the opinion of its want of power as derived from the people, that the Legislature again deemed it necessary to interpose in order to give legality and effect to the election, at which the question of secession was to be voted upon by the peo- ple. Two acts were passed for this purpose; and that too after the passage of the act of recognition. It is plainly to be seen that in the estimation of the Legislature, a body harmonizing in opin- ion with the Convention, that body had derived no powers what- ever from the people; and that it was necessary to infuse a sufficiency of the essence of sovereignty into it, to enable it to command public respect. Though the Legislature brought to bear at three several periods this infusing process, each and every application of sovereignty, but more clearly. established the fact that from this source alone its power was derived, and that in the limit which it could go was plainly prescribed. When the bill delegating the Convention powers to refer this question to the people came to the hands of the Executive, the fact was also before him, that no other legislation could be ob- tained, by which the people would be enabled to express their will. A large majority of the legislature had sustained the meas- ure; and it was evident that nothing but delay would ensue from the intervention of the constitutional checks left in his hands. Whatever-objections the Executive had entertained to the Con- vention itself, on account of the fact that it represented but a minority of the people, were waived in view of the desire on the part of the people for immediate action. Had the Executive believed the act which he signed under pro'test, was intended to confer the extraordinary powers since claimed by that body, his course would have been different. Inasmuch as a constitutional ·majority of the Legislature had recognized the Convention, the Executive was willing in order to obtain a settlement of the ques- tion which agitated the public mind, to act in harmony with the views of your Honorable Body. The precedent set by the Legis- lature in transferring any of its powers, certainly was dan- gerous; but the delay, the strife, the bad influences which would follow a conflict of power at such a period were more so. The Executive desired peace, not civil war. He wished to soften poli- tical asperities, not to render them more enduring. The Legis- lature chose the Convention as an instrument through which to obtain an expression of the will of t~e people; but yet reserved
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