011, Catllolic Heritage in Tezas
226
although a fine in proportion to the crime was more general. The moneys collected as fines were applied to schools and other public undertakings. The provisions pertaining to offenses by or against Indians and by or against slaves are of interest. Persons guilty of resorting to violence, -prowling about or lurking in the settlements without license, and Indian thieves-all could be arrested by any settler and taken to the nearest alcalde or captain of militia. If found guilty, the culprit could be sentenced to twenty-five lashes in public. The colonists, on the other hand, incurred heavy fines for abusing or treating the Indians with unnecessary harshness. They were to treat the Indians in a friendly, humane, and civil manner. 14 The rapid growth of the colony and the increase of appeals from the various alcalde courts forced Austin in 1826 to set up what was tanta- mount to a supreme court. Three alcaldes comprised this court, the principal function of which was to hear appeals from the alcalde courts -hence Austin's title for the new tribunal, the Court of the Alcaldes. This action was taken after consultation with duly elected representa- tives in the six districts then existing in Austin's colony. It met regularly three times a year in San Felipe. 15 Austin was to plead in vain with Bastrop and the Legislature of Coahuila and Texas during the next few years to set up a complete judicial system and outline the kind of system that would insure justice in the colonies. TJ,e first homestead law. The origin of the first homestead law certainly deserves mention because of some of its important features. The law resulted from Austin's effort to protect the colonists against suits attaching their new homes and lands by grasping creditors in the localities from which they had come. As early as 1824 Austin requested relief through the Texan representative in Saltillo. "If the settlers can be sued and their property taken here for debts due in the United States of North America before they have time to estab- lish themselves and make anything, they will be totally ruined," he protested. 16 Nothing was done, however, because the Legislature was preoccupied with drafting a state constitution. Consideration in 1828 by the Senate of the United States of the Treaty of Commerce and Amity with Mexico and the reported assur- 14 /bid., 229-230. lSWooten, o'!. cit., I, 459. HAustin to Baron de Bastrop, December 22, 1824 1 Austin Papers, II, 997-1,000.
Powered by FlippingBook