The Development of Friction, r820-r835 2 35 two hundred men. He was to see that immigrants had proper passports, that they complied with the Colonization Law, and that they went to one of the authorized colonies where they could be assigned lands. He was not to allow them to wander at will and squat wherever they pleased. The presence of Piedras and his troops produced the same effect on American colonists in Texas as British forces had on their forefathers half a century before. Americans instinctively hated the military. The following summer brought General Manuel de Mier y Teran, who headed a scientific commission to make a preliminary study of con- ditions in Texas preparatory to the boundary survey. Teran, conscien- tious and fair-minded, came, nevertheless, with a deeply rooted suspicion of American designs. He was shocked by frontier conditions. His reports present a graphic and objective description of the conflicting elements that made collision inevitable. His recommendations, which resulted in the promulgation of the Law of April 6, 1830, were, however, dictated, not by blind prejudice, but by an earnest desire to save Texas for Mexico. The Teran report of June 30, 1828, to President Victoria bluntly described the situation. He declared that the frontier presented a "mix- ture of strange and incoherent parts without parallel in our federation. Numerous tribes of Indians, now at peace, but armed and at any moment ready for war . . . colonists of another people, more ag- gressive and better informed than the Mexican inhabitants, but also more shrewd and unruly. Among these foreigners are fugitives from justice, honest laborers, vagabonds and criminals, but honorable and dis- honorable alike travel with their political constitution in their pockets, demanding the privileges, authority, and officers which such a con- stitution guarantees." He frankly admitted that the Mexican natives were poor and ignorant, and that the local civil officials were venal and corrupt; hence the colonists, judging by what they knew and saw, despised all Mexicans. "Thus, I tell myself that it could not be other- wise than that from such a state of affairs should arise antagonism between the Mexicans and the foreigners.""' Tl,e su;very issue. A source of constant and grave concern to the settlers was the status of slavery in Texas. The Mexican attitude toward the institution was negative and resulted in irritating the colonists. The Mexican Declaration of Independence had denounced slavery, but MAllein Howeren, "The Causes and Origin of the Decree of April 6, 1830," The QuMterly, XVI, 395-398.
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