The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 14, July 1910 - April, 1911 Page: 66
348 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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66 Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
adjournment neither injurious to the individuals or to the public.
In as much as they were at the same time notified that if the
emergencies of the country required it, that they would be imme-
diately convened by proclamation. The right in the Governor to
adjourn that body, without their co-operation or consent is no
where expressly given in the organic law, nor is it any where
forbidden. On an investigation of the article above alluded to,
it will clearly appear that the Genl Council could do nothing with-
out the sanction of the Executive Department. And on examina-
tion of the ordinances passed by them, it will be seen that every-
thing contemplated by the organic law has been acted on by that
body, long before their adjournment, and many also of a disor-
ganizing and injurious tendency, for which they had no warrant.
And being well satisfied that their presence in the Council Hall
would be productive of no good to the public, but daily increasing
the public debt; and being well satisfied that base intrigue and
corruption had become the ruling passion of that body, induced
me to pursue the course of which the Council so much complains,
and for which they passed, and acted on the resolutions alluded
to. As a public officer I was well aware, that I could screen my-
self from public censure, by taking honest exceptions to all of their
acts, having an evil and injurious tendency. I was also well sat-
isfied, that by intrigue and management, that the Genl. Council
had concentrated so much power over the Executive Department,
that the Governor would be rendered as powerless as he would be
useless-the shadow of authority after the substance had departed.
It will be seen on examination of the 4th article of the organic
law, defining the powers of the Governor etc which reads as fol-
lows
"The Governor for the time being, and during the existance of
the Provisional Government, shall be clothed with full and ample
Executive powers; and shall be commander in chief of the army
and Navy, and of all the military forces for Texas, by sea and
land."
The law certainly would not be thus full and positive, if it were
intended, that he should be trammeled in the discharge of those
functions by the dictates of an unstable and fluctuating Council.
Pursuing that article throughout in its proper spirit, it will clearly
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 14, July 1910 - April, 1911, periodical, 1911; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101054/m1/74/: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.