464
THE AUSTIN PAPERS
republic, issued on the 3d day of April last, and has also been promulgated by the publication of the constitution. And ,~hereas it has come to the knowledge of this Government that ex- tencive projects have been or are about to be formed and executed to intro- duce Africans or negroes into this republic from Cuba and elsewhere out of the U. S. by an attempt to evade the aforesaid prohibition, by landing them on the sea beach, or on the east bank of the river Sabine within the U. S. and then reshipping them to this country, which attempted evasion is an aggravation of the crime, for it is a violation of the laws of a neigh- boring republic and may also mislead innocent persons, or involve them in difficulty- Now therefore I Sam Houston, president of the Republic of Texas do command all Judicial, Military, and naval officers, and all other functionaries of this republic, and especially the AY general and the district attornies to be active and vigilant in detecting any such attempt to evade the constitution as that above mentioned or any other attempt to introduce Africans or negros into this republic from any nation land or country in violation of said article of the constitution, and to arrest all persons con- cerned in such attempts and deliver them over to the proper judicial tribu- nal for trial. And to stop seize al}d take possession of any vessell, boat or craft or vehicle of transportation in which any africans or negros so at- tempted to be imported or introduced in contravention of said 9th article may be found, and also all such negros untill they can be delivered over to the custody of the propet'""judicial officer or tribunal- And I do farthermore request all good citizens who may discover any such attempts to introduce negros or may hear of the same to give infor: mation thereof lo the attorney General, and also to the nearest judge, dis- trict attorney, or any other officer of this republic.
AUSTIN TO ]ilfES F. PERRY1
Dec. 2· 1836
DR BROTHER I send the negro man (Simon) who I bought from Mc.Kinstr~he will need some clothes-I shall have no use for him this winter and probably not untill next fall-you can therefore have him-he is a good field hand- One of the main objects I had in selling land at so great a sacrifice was to furnish Emily with the means of going to the U. S. and taking the chil- dren to put them to school- I thought she had better not leave until~ about March, but I find that she is always fretting on this subject, and it probably would be best for her to go in January or February- I can let
'Original in posession of Mrs. E. L. Perry.
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