Our Cat!tolic Heritage in T e:xas
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that all the missions would soon be removed on one excuse or another from the list of property that was to be restored to the Church. The motion was quickly denied and Mayfield moved a third reading of the Bill. The opposition, unquestionably a minority, had been given the democratic opportunity to express itself and place on record its opinion. The Bill was put to a vote as amended and was adopted by a majority of thirty to four. Speaker of the House David Kaufman, a professed Mason, led the affirmative vote, while Latimer, Clement R. Johns. Nathan Thomas, and Samuel G. Haynie cast the four opposition votes. 48 The Bill, slightly modified, was now ready to go to the Senate. Timon, Odin, and Saligny felt no uneasiness concerning its ultimate adoption. "The most influential members of the Senate had assured us that it would meet no opposition there," Timon declared afterwards. 49 With a tenacity worthy of a better cause, Haynie and Thomas formally protested the action of the majority in the House as a vio- lation of Article XIII of the Declaration of Rights, a protest that was ignored by he Senate. Houston, on the other hand, was determined to undo the work of Van Ness in excepting the Alamo from inclusion in the Bill. "To the Chief Pastor of the Catholic Church in Texas belonged, he believed, the Thermopylae of the New World, together with its four encircling acres." 50 At this juncture there took place an incident which Saligny termed a "miracle." Van Ness, to the surprise of many, proposed on January 14 "An Act Granting the Alamo Church to the use and benefit of the Catholic Church." Considering he had been the prime mover to "except" two weeks before, it is natural that no opposition developed. The Bill was rushed through both Houses and signed by Burnet four days later. 51 "Who can refuse now to believe in miracles," exclaimed Saligny in a letter to Timon. 52 Houston most likely was responsible for the reversal in Van Ness's views for Timon and Odin had left Austin two weeks before. What means the victor of San Jacinto and his friends used to accomplish such satisfactory results remains a mystery because the records reveal nothing. 48 Timon to Nozo, February 12, 1841; Timon to [Durando], February 14, 1841, C. A. T.; Jo11r11al of tl,e House •.• , 70, 376, 381, 386. 49 Timon to [Durando], February 14, 1841 1 C. A. T. SOBayard, op. cit., 178.
51 JournaJ of t/,e Senale .. . , 101, 104, 114, 127-128. S!Saligny to Timon, Austin, January I 8, I 841, C. A. T.
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