The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 21, July 1917 - April, 1918 Page: 128
434 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Southwestern Historical Quarterly
But, "evils of such magnitude could not be everlasting." "The
epoch of reason and light [had broken] forever the degrading
chains which oppressed the new hemisphere"; and Bexar, which
formerly "was not thought deserving of a primary school, is now
in possession of a printing press." The Courier wanted to "in-
struct the public in everything that may have a connection with
its prosperity," and to that end would collect information from
as many foreign papers as could be obtained. The subscription
price in Bexar was six dollars and a half a year, payable half in
advance; in other provinces and cities of the Empire,4 ten dol-
lars.5 The total civilized population of Texas at that time, adults
and children, probably did not exceed 3,000,0 and few of them
were readers. How the editor expected to sustain himself does
not appear. He enjoyed a measure of executive patronage, for
during June and July, 1823, he rendered bills for printing three
circulars, for the governor, twenty copies each, $45.7 Whether
he printed a single issue of the Courier, we do not know. Stephen
F. Austin, who had been absent in Mexico for more than a year,
wrote his brother from, Monterey on May 20, 1823, "I am told
you have a newspaper in Bexar, which I am rejoiced to, hear. It
will be of incaculable advantage to Bexar and the whole province."
But on June 13 he wrote again that the government had bought
the press and would remove it at once to Monterey, which it did."
Unknown Paper in Austin's C'olony, 1824.--That a paper was
being published in Austin's colony as early as July, 1824, seems
'Though the Emperor Iturbide had abdicated on March 19, the news had
probably not reached Bexar when this was published.
5The copy of the prospectus quoted is taken from the Louisiana Advertiser
(New Orleans), of May 23, 1823. Judging from its style, the English copy
was a translation of the Spanish. It is noted, but not reprinted, in the
Missouri Republican (St. Louis), July 9, 1823.
'The census reports nearest this date show the following figures: La
Bahia (Goliad), April 24, 1825, 522; Bexar, July 31, 1826, 1625; Austin's
Colony, March 28, 1826, 1132 (most of these had come in .since 1823);
Nacogdoches, July, 1828, 737. These reports .are in the Nacogdoches
Archives in the Texas State Library.
'The bill is dated July 10, 1823. Copies of all the circulars are in the
Bexar Archives, owned by the University of Texas. Mrs. M. A. Hatcher
kindly brought them to the writer's attention.
8S. F. Austin to James B. Austin, May 20 and June 13, 1823. Austin
Papers. University of Texas. Also Garcia. to Garza, July 17, 1823. Bexar
Archives.128
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 21, July 1917 - April, 1918, periodical, 1918; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101073/m1/134/: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.