MEXICAN LAWS RELATING TO SLAVERY.
27
twenty-four, of the General Cngress of Mexico,
and one of the said acts for that cause has, by the
said Genera! Congress of MJlexico, been declared
null and void: it is hereby declared that the said
act of eighteen hundred and thirty-four, in favour of
John T. Mason, and of the fourteenth of March,
eighteen hundred and thirty-five, of the said Legislature
of Coahuila and all surveys made under pretence
of authority derived from said acts are hereby declared
to be nall and void; and all eleven-league
claims, located witliin twenty leagues of the boundary
line between Texas and the United States of America,
which have been located contrary to the laws
of Mexico, are hereby declared to be null and void:
and whereas many surveys and titles to land have
beeu made while most of the people of Texas were
absent from home, serving in the campaign against
Bejar, it is hereby declared that all the surveys and
locations of land made since the act of the late consultation
closing the land offices. and all titles to
land made since that time, are and shall be null and
void.
DECREE OF JULY 13, 1824.
Prohibition of the Commerce and Ti-affic in Slaves
The Sovereign General Constituent Congress of
the United Mexican States has held it right to decree
the following:
1. The Commerce and Traffic in Slaves, proceeding
from whatever power, and under whatever
flag, is forever prohibited, within the territories of
the United Mexican States.
2. The Slaves, who may be introduced contrary
to the tenor of the preceding article, shall renumain
free in consequence of treading the Mexican soil.
3. Every vessel, whether National or Foreign, in
which Slaves may be transported and introduced into
the Mexican territories, shall be confiscated with the
rest of its cargo-and the Owner, Purchaser, Captain,
Master, and Pilot, shall suffer the punishment
of ten years confinement.
4. This law will take effect from the date of its
publication; however, as to the punishments prescribed
in the preceding article, they shall not take
effect till six months after, towards the Planters wlio,
in virtue of the law of the 14th October last, relating
The adoption of a Constituition with such to the Colonization of the Isthmus of Guazacoalo,
here ote may be terme(l and may disembark Slaves for the purpose of intro.
provisions as are ed, may be termd ducing hem into the Mexican teriltory.
the crowning act-tle finishing stroke of this
monstrous scheme of oppression, so far as the (See the 21st article of the Decree of October 11,
expressed will of those concerned in it can be _)
manifested by conventional regulation. When DECREE
we look back to the commencement of their O te 18th of December, 1824, u
operations, and trace their movements step by pon Colonizastep,
bearing in mind their open declarations e S i.
vpon various occasions, what man of reason The Sovereign General Constituent Congress of
aUond como ene a, oroeoutthe United States of Mexico, have resolved and do
and common sense can, for one moment, doubt fully decree:
that the re-establishment of Slavery has been
their principal object, their settled determina- 1. The Mexican nation offers to Foreigners who
tion from thei beginning I ther link it will be come to establish themselves in their territory,
tion, from the beginning? I think it will be security in their persons and in their property,
admitted, by every person of penetration, re- provided they subject themselves to the laws of the
flection, and unbiassed judgment, that the evi- country.
dence I have produced is conclusive on this 2. This law applies to those territories of the
point. I might state many more facts and nation which, not being individual property nor
circumstances, which have come to my know- belonging to any Corporation or Town, may be
ledge during a long and intimate acquaintance colonized.
with their proceedings, all tending to the same 3. For thi9 purpose the Congresses of the States'
conclusion. My intercourse with many of the will form, with the greatest brevity, the laws or reactors
in the great drama has given me nu gulations of colonization, of their respective demarcaactors
in the great drama, has given me nu- tion, conforming themselves in all cases to the
merous opportunities to understand their mo- regulations established by this law.
tives and their designs. It is indeed impossible 4. It is not permitted to colonize the territories
that I should be mistaken in the one or the within twenty leagues of the boundaries of any foreign
other. And as unfolding events coincide fully nation, nor within ten leagues bordering on the sea
with my assertions, and with the proofs already coast, without the previous approbation of the
adduced to sustain them, it might be consider- supreme general executive power.
ed unnecessary to dwell longer upon this par- 5. If, for the defence or security of the nation, the
ticular topic. Yet, in ordler that the reader Government of the Federation should find it convemay
lack no important information, that will nient to make use of some portion of these lands, to
construct magzines, arsenals, or other public buildshow
the decided stand which the Mexican ings, the same may be verified with the approbation
government has taken against the toleration of of the general Congress, or during its recess with
slavery, I will quote a few more official docu- that of the Council of Government.
ments (to some of which I have heretof9re 6. It is not permitted before four years from the
alluded) in verification of what I have asserted, publication of this Law, to impose any duty upon the
and already perhaps sufficiently proved. importations, for their own use, by foreigners, who
The following decrees and ordiniances are may establish themselves for the first time in the
translated from an official compilation, publish- country.
ed by authority of the fical exican tioern- 7. Before the year 1840 the general Congress
ed by authority of the Mexican overn- cannot prohibit the entrance of foreigners, to colonize,
ment, embracing all the public acts of said unless imperious circumstances oblige them to do so
government from the period of its organization with respect to individuals of any nation.
to the year 1830.- 8. The Government without prejudice to the
