The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1857-04-23
WESTERN TEXAS AND SOUTHERN INsTrrU.
TIONS, p


A great mistake seems to prevail abroad
in regard to the condition of feeling in
Western Texas on tho subject of Southern
institutions. A more reliable portion Of tie
State exists nowhere in it, rs all our expert
ence shows. According to the census of
1850, there were more slaves in Westcrn
than Eastern Texas, and the number has
steadily increased.
When the Know Nothing party canvass.
cd Texas, they sought to make capital out
OF some freak of few crratic and yisionan.
ry Germans Of San Antonia, and to charge
their opposition to slavery against the whole
German population. 1t happened, also,
that German paper in San Antonia was vas
i'll the hands of man imbued viii tue
wild notions of the few frecsoiIers among
his countryncn. Yet lie did no more than
an American editor is now doing in iEa,siern
!exas-tat is, claim the right TO discuss!
the slave institution. lie was no sooner sooner
engaged in it, however, than the mass of
the Germans were at work to colnteract
liis efforts, ard they succeeded in forcinn
him to abandon his paper and transfer it To-
IL. Fred Oswald, Esq, the present worthy
proprietor, who suppressed the slavery aei-
tatlon and made the Gazette a National
Democratic paper. ,',. ''''''
Ihe Germans Of Western Texas have
shown their fidelity to Southern institutions
oy firm support of the Democracy !
every issue involving tho prosperity an
perpctuity of slavery. They are peace,
bic and inoifensiyc population; and wher
as in Comal county, they are found in lare,
numIbe@' we sec them engaged in industri
GUS pursuits, attending to their own bus
ness and seeking the education and advance
ment Of their children. In all Indian en-
counters, they have aided in the protec,io,,
OF the frontier; and in the war with Mes.
'co, not few of them enlisted in our ar
mics and did good service under the flap q
the United States.
We have been led to these remarks from
pcrusal of a letter from an old and re-.
spectcdi citizen of tho West, in which he
says:
"There is one subject to which would
call your especial attention. ! found, in;
conversing with various persons of both
parties, that the letter of Col. Wilcox, pub.
l'shed in Mississippi nearly two years ago,
has made an unfavorable impression against
our German citizens. Most persons there
regard them as opposed to slavery, and the
impression is that we have some fifteen
thousand German votes"
We commend this subject to the notice
Of our know-Nothing cotemporary of tho
State Times. As the organ of his party he
has done as much, and perhaps more, than
any other Know-Nothing in Texas, to Gre
ate the impression abroad that Western Tex
as is unsound upon the slavery question,
owing to the freesoil feelings of the Ger
mans. Now that the battle is over and be-
fore the O. U. A. order is established In ali
the towns of the State, let us see if our CO.
temporary will do the justice to the natu.
ra''zed citizens Of Texas to say that, SO far
as his experience goes, they have at ali
times discountcnanced every attack made
ny their countrymen or Americans in favor
of frcesoiism?
1t is due to the prosperity of Western
Texas, that this blight of Know N othinpism
should be blotted out, and that the true con-
dition Of our beautiful country should be;
correctly conveyed to the minds of tbe
thousands Of citizens of other Southern
States who are ready and willing to bring
their property to our State and settle amona
us, and only held back and led to ss.e,ttiE
perhaps, in Arkansas or the Mississippi val:
ley, from unfounded prcjudices which thew
have formed against lis by perusal of the
State Times and other Know-Nothing or:
gans in Texas.-Austin State Gazette.