Anti-Texass Legion: Protest of some free men, states and presses against the Texass rebellion, against the laws of nature and of nations Page: 17 of 72
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THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE AND TEXAS.
1806, combining and conspiring with Aaron Burr and his associates,
to set on foot a military expedition against the Spanish provinces and
territories in America.-JWilkinson's M3emoirs, Vol. II.
THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE AND TEXAS.
By a treaty between Great Britain and Spain, for the suppression
of the slave-trade, concluded in 1817, the British government was
authorized to appoint commissioners to reside in,Cuba, who, with
Spanish commissioners, were to form a court for the adjudication of
such ships as might be seized with slaves actually on board.
The British commissioners from time to time make reports to their
government, which are laid before Parliament, and published by their
direction.
The following are extracts from a report, dated 1st January, 1836.
"Never since the establishment of this mixed commission, has the
slave-trade of the Havana reached such a disgraceful pitch as during
the year 1835. By the list we have the honor to enclose, it will be
seen that fifty slave vessels have safely arrived in this port during the
year just expired. In 1833, there were twenty-seven arrivals, and in
1834, thirty-three; but 1835 presents a number, by means of which
there must have been landed upwards of fifteen thousand negroes.
"In the spring of last year an American agent from Texas pur-
chased in the Havana two hundred and fifty newly imported Africans,
at two hundred and seventy dollars a head, and carried them away
with him to that district of Mexico-having first procured from the
American Consul here certificates of their freedom. This, perhaps,
would have been scarcely worth mentioning to your lordship, had we
not learned, that within the last six weeks, considerable sums of
money have been deposited by the American citizens in certain mer-
cantile houses here, for the purpose of making additional purchases of
bozal negroes for Texas. According to the laws of Mexico, we
believe such Africans are free, whether they have certificates of freedom
or not; but we doubt much whetheer this freedom will be more than
nominal under their American masters, or whether the whole system
may not be founded on some plan of smu glin, them across the frontier
of the slave states of the Union. However this may be, a great impulse
is thus given to to this illicit traffic of the Havana; and it is not easy for
us to point out to government what remonstrances ought to be made
on the subject since the American settlers in Texas are almost as
independent of American authority as they are of Mexico. These
lawless people will doubtless, moreover assert, that they buy negroes
in the Havana with a view to their ultimate emancipation. We
thought the first experiment to be of little consequence-but now that
we perceive fresh commissions arriving in the Havana for the purchase
of Africans, we cannot refrain from calling your lordship's attention to
the fact, as being another cause of the increase of the slave-trade in
the Havana."
The foregoing throws light on the following recent article in the
Albany Argue:-
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Anti-Texass Legion. Anti-Texass Legion: Protest of some free men, states and presses against the Texass rebellion, against the laws of nature and of nations, book, January 1, 1845; Albany. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth2356/m1/17/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.