Tlie Development of Fricti<>1i, r820-r835
2 53
affirm their loyalty to Mexico. Each settlement was asked to send five delegates. Fifty-eight representatives from sixteen districts met in convention. None of the Mexican municipalities was represented, and the Goliad delegation arrived after the Convention had adjourned. John Austin addressed the assembled delegates, declaring that, in addition to the purposes specified in the summons, they were to deliberate on petitions for the repeal of Article XI of the Law of April 6, 1830, prohibiting immigration from the United States; for the reform of the tariff, and for the issuance of titles to the settlers in East Texas. Stephen F. Austin was elected president and F. W. Johnson, secretary. The work of the Convention moved with clock-like dispatch, reflecting careful preparation. Committees were appointed to report on the various topics, and resolutions were soon drawn up and passed. Suddenly, the atmosphere became tense. Silas Dinmore, of Bastrop, moved the con- sideration of a petition to Congress for a separate state government for Texas. The motion was quickly tabled and then withdrawn. But the next day the motion was reintroduced, adopted, and a committee was appointed to draft the petition. In its final form the document cited the reasons for separation from Coahuila: the soil, climate, and products of the two were different; representation of Texas in Saltillo was unequal; the Indian question was primarily a Texan problem that Texas could not effectively solve without independent statehood; and Texas had attained the population set forth as the condition for separate statehood by the Federal law that had joined the two provinces as one state. 63 William H. Wharton and four others were elected to present the petitions, and arrangements were made to raise funds for their expenses. For reasons not entirely clear, however, neither Wharton nor the other delegates ever set out on their mission. The Mexican communities not in accord with the action taken were bitter. In declining the invitation to participate in the Convention, the City Council of San Antonio declared that such meetings were for- bidden by law. The Political Chief, likewise, declared the proceedings illegal, and ordered the central and sub-committees set up by the Con- vention dissolved. Both the Council and Political Chief Musquiz, how- ever, expressed themselves as favorable to the cause, and professed readiness to cooperate in lawful ways to attain that end after the revolutionary movement of Santa Anna had run its course. They con-
f.SGammel, "Journal of the Convention of I 832," Laws of Texas, I, 47 5-503.
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