New-York daily tribune., 1844-11-21
EHETRIBU u N E.
THE TEXAN REVOLUTION. mo. TX.
Econciu6ed.l


Econcudedl
chiefly from psnss1st upaf ;sss d 5 psasrgp s published
RIAL CAUSES or THE REVOLUTION
Twill now show what were the real motives
of the Texan revolution.
The first grant Of land to Americans in Texas
was made by the Government of Ferdinand VII
II was made upon the petition of Moses Austin
of st. Louis, setting forth that Roman Ccfhoiies
were. subjected 70 persecution In the United
States, and praying In their behalf for an asylum
In his Catholic Msjesty's dominions. The grant
was made therefore for plous uses, aud this &c
counts for the unprecedented fact that strangers
were admitted In Spanish colony. This was
in 1919. Stephen T. Austin, son of Moses
Austin, commenced settlement. In 1921,
Mexico threw off the Spanish yoke, and became
an independent republic. In 1923, the Congress
of Mexico confirmed the royal grant. At all
these periods slavery and the slave trade existed
by law throughout Mexico. In the last of these
years, treaty of commerce was concluded be.
tween Great Britain and Mexico, by which the
parties became mutually bound to suppress the
slaoe trade. In the same year, friendly eau
ton. was given to the American emigrants, as
follows:
aForeigners, who bring slaves with them,
shall obey the laws established upon the matter,
or ,ohich may hereafter be established" In 1874,
the Congress of Mexico prohibited the slave
trade, under penalty of con6scation and ten years.
Imprisonment. In the same year, the first con-
stitution of Mexico was formed. In this it was
provided, that "no person should, thereafter, be
born or introduced as a slave into the Mexican
nation" From that time the carrying of slaves
to Mexico was unlawful. Between this year
and year 1889, emancipation made much progress
in Mexico. The constitution of 1924 did not
directly abolish slavery but individuals and
also State legislatures, did address themselves In
earnest to that duty. Some of the State legis-
latures instituted an apprenticeship system, where
by an account was opened betwixt the master
and slave The latter was credited with fair
wages, and debited with clothing, subsistence,
&C.; and when the balance of wages amounted
TO his value, he was free. Tne exclusive nght
of Furnishing slaves, and of determining, in case
of dispute, their value, and the rate of wages,
was conferred upon the magistrates On the
18th Of September, 1929, slavery was abolished,
totally and forever, throughout ali Mexico. That
day was the anniversary Of Mexican independ-
ence, and his was their mode of celebrating it.
In proportion as their mode appears appropriate
and beautiful in the eyes of just and benevolent
men, in the same proportion it exaspsrated, to u
fendsh rage, the slave holders and traders OF
Texas and the Southwest, and greatly excited
the slave breeders every where. Judge Dpshur,
now Secretary of the Many, said at that time,
in the Virginia Convention, that he was greatly
in hopes that Texas would be obtained, because
it would raise the price of slaves in Virginia!
The Texan Shareholders and traders treated
oil the constitutional, legal, and treaty restraints
hauo aptin tod
with sovereign contempt. They continued to
introduce slaves by land and sea and when the
final decree of emancipation went forth, they
prepared for rebellion, and despatched their
agents to the United States to get men, money,
and arms. One of those agents it YVES my luck
to meet, and to learn from him the spirit and
plans of the insurgents. He declared that they
were determined to fight if Mexico meddled
with their slaves" He described how the abo-
Ition act was evaded by making, before notary
or Other magistrate, indentures of apprenticeship
for SO years. Mexico had the deplorable weak
ness to suspend the emancipation law, &c far as
it related to slaves originally lawful, but it was
enioined, anew, upon the government, to see
that no more slaves were introduced. But the
ennisrants from the slave States had only to take
the precaution to have pretended indentures
made betwixt them and the slaves. To meet
this evasion it was enacted that no person should
be held to labor or service under any pretence for
period of more than ten years.
The reader has now seen that there was, at
this time, no legal slavery in Texas, except of
those who were introduced or born prior to 1924
and that, in respect to this small remnant, the
continuance of slavery was the fruit OF lGsubor-
dination and meditated treason. The Texan
olave-holders after all were uneasy. They were
A. IL Al. l,,tc ,f sIot
parent government, they were still holding nearly
and against law. They were ever, therefore, in
feverish state.of anxiety and jealousy. The
thief doth fear in every bush an officer.'
Such was the state of things when Samuel
Houston made his appearance, bearing the secret
commission OF the President of the United
States to revoutiopizs Texas. And why was 1t
TO be reyolutionzsd 1t was to maintain slavery
against the Government of Mexico, as the Texan
shareholders wished; and to open in Texas
psrpetual slave market, and to obtain new slave
States to be admitted into this Union, as the
slaye-holderc slavetraders, and slave breeders of
the South wished. We're there ever fairer ele-
ments of loving union
At this time, Thomas H. Benton, that great
Democrat, published his essays, under the sigma
tures of HAmericanus," and "La Salle,e setting
forth the necessity of our acquiring Texas, to be
carved into slave States, as an equipoiss to new
free States, and to slavery forever against
the aggressions of the spirit of freedom. He
found il convenient even to assert, that Texas of
right belongs to us, notwithstanding the solemn
adoption OF the Sabine as :he boundary in the
Florida treaty. The Southern press unanim-
ouslyIcchoed the cali ofIhis Democratic enslayer
and plunderar.
The attempt to obtain Texas by diplomacy
had just been announced, by semi-official su-
thoriiy. to be hopeless.
Obserge now the strings which, at this time,
were pulled. The American minister at the city
of Mexico, having tried ali the ways of intrigue,
was Announcing TO "the tumultuous population
OF the Mississippi valley" as Santa Ana has
very mildly called it, the final failure of ell hope
in that direction. The organ through which he
makes the annunciation observes that, although,
indeed, no cause of revolt existed, because The
Texans were as well treated and as happy as any
people under Heaven, YET if the people should
a - H.