The convention was to meet in April to formulate a constitution and other measures for presentation to Santa Anna as soon as he should be installed as head of the Mexican Republic. Once permitted to elect its state officers and make its own laws, Texas would jump ahead.
The convention assembled at San Felipe on April 1, this 1833. Ernest did not ride over, but Dick Carroll, and other Gonzales citizens, did, to be on hand, so Gonzales was well informed as to what was done.
The constitution was drawn under the direction of Sam Houston, the chairman of the committee to prepare it. Another committee wrote a memorial or address to the Mexican government, explaining what Texas desired. It said that Texas was at a standstill, because of the attacks by the Indians, the lack of sufficient laws, and the restrictions placed upon immigration from the United States; and it asked that the government decree of 1830, which ordered that no more Americans should enter Texas, be officially repealed.
Three delegates were appointed to carry the wishes of Texas to the City of Mexico; but only one made the trip. He was Stephen F. Austin himself, the “Father of Texas.” And when he passed through Gonzales, Ernest saw him for the first time.
It was not difficult to understand why the people of Texas loved Austin so, but he looked more like a student than a pioneer who had brought the first settlers into Texas, a dozen years ago, and had lived here ever since. He was slender and graceful and of only medium height, and wore a fringed suit of soft seal-brown buckskin――although it was said that he had a suit of broadcloth with him, to wear in the City of Mexico. His hair was brown and curly, his smooth face long and fair, and his gray-blue eyes were large and thoughtful. He appeared tired and perplexed, and not very strong. It was claimed that he was a college graduate, and that since coming to Texas he had studied the Spanish language until he could speak it thoroughly, and that nobody was better acquainted with the Mexican laws than he. He and Sam Houston had been born in the same year, in Virginia; but no two men were more different. Sam Houston was massive and majestic; whereas Stephen Austin was slight and modest.