The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 6, July 1902 - April, 1903 Page: 151
401 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The African Slave Trade in Texas.
neither negroes nor the means to buy 'them at the current price in
the United States succumbed to the temptation of importing the
equally efficient but cheaper commodity new from Africa, by way
of Cuba. But that this practice was condemned by the bulk of the
colonists is evident from a set of resolution passed by the conven-
tion which met at San Felipe de Austin in April, 1833, to memo-
ralize the Mexican Congress for the separation of Texas from her
overbearing yokefellow, Coahuila. Being informed that a vessel
had just arrived in Galveston Bay, "direct from the Island of Cuba,
laden with negroes recently from the African coast," the convention
resolved that, "we do hold in utter abhorrence all participation,
whether direct or indirect, in the African Slave Trade; that we do
concur in the general indignation which has been manifested
throughout the civilized world against that inhuman and unprin-
cipled traffic; and we do therefore earnestly recommend to our con-
stituents, the good people of Texas, that they will not only abstain
from all concern in that abominable traffic, but that they will unite
their efforts to prevent the evil from polluting our shores; and will
aid and sustain the civil authorities in detecting and punishing
any similar attempt for the future." The framers of the resolu-
tion expressed a "proud satisfaction in the belief that the late
shameful violation of law . . . was perpetrated by transient.
foreign adventurers," and by way of advertising their abiding dis-
approval of such commerce, it was ordered that the resolution be
published in the Texas Advocate, the sole newspaper of Texas, in
the press of New Orleans, and in the various papers "throughout
the Mexican republic." Their moral "abhorrence," too, was diplo-
matically deepened by the political conviction that trade of any
sort, as they naively expressed it, with Cuba, which was a Spanish
possession, was treason to Mexico.1
Nevertheless, within ten months of the issuance of this official
protest, three prominent citizens braved public opinion by landing
at Galveston a full cargo of blacks that they had obtained from
Cuban traders. The story as I have it is from Mr. W. P. Zuber,
of Iola, Texas.2 They found, on reaching Cuba, that the coast was
'Clipping from The Texacs Republican, June, 1835.-Austin Papers.
'Mr. Zuber is a member of the Texas Veterans' Association, and came to
Texas several years prior to the revolution. I have corresponded with all
the members of the association-numbering about fifty,-and though most151
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 6, July 1902 - April, 1903, periodical, 1903; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101028/m1/155/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.