The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 18, July 1914 - April, 1915 Page: 176
438 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Southwestern Historical Quarterly
it was very sorry a free-soil paper could find a resting place in
Texas; that Southern men might be forced to discuss their rights
to property in England, but not in Texas. This paper concludes
as follows: "If the editor of the Zeitung is a free-soiler or abo-
litionist, we would give him the choice of two alternatives-either
to desist from building up a doctrine which is to rob us of our
property or to take up his march, and that quickly, out of the
State of Texas."4 The Galveston News in June of the same year
said, "The San Antonio Zeitung has made itself notorious of late
by attacking slavery. Several of the Texas papers have rapped it
pretty hard for its temerity in attacking the institutions of the
state, and some of them went so far as to suggest that a coat of
tar and feathers would be a fit reward for the editor.""7
In 1856 there were about thirty thousand Germans in Texas.
The majority of these were settled in and near San Antonio, New
Braunfels, and Fredericksburg. Being foreigners, and very few of
them owning any slaves, they fell under the suspicion of the slave
owners. The newspapers of the state became unfriendly toward
them, and many false stories were circulated about them.
The situation of the Germans, clue to their zealous editor, be-
came so trying that they were forced to repudiate him. The Ger-
man population around New Braunfels met in a mass meeting in
June, 1855, and passed resolutions, the purport of which was that,
as they had been attacked by the newspapers of the state, they
wished to say that they acknowledged their allegiance to the Con-
stitution and laws of the state; that they were not responsible for
the sentiments expressed in the San Antonio Zeitung, and that
it was both unjust and untrue that they had feelings inimical to
Americans.4" In December of the same year, a German, Mr.
Waelder, the representative in the legislature from several western
counties, made a statement in the House to the effect that the
charges made against the Germans were false. He further asserted
that, if the Germans had not been sound on the question of slavery,
he would not be occupying a seat in the House, for his own senti-
ments on the question were fully understood by his constituents
when they elected him, and he, most assuredly had never harbored
40Galveston News, May 19, 1855.
"Ibid., June 12, 1855.
"Ibid., July 17, 1855.176
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 18, July 1914 - April, 1915, periodical, 1915; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101064/m1/182/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.