Our Catliolic Heritage in T e~as
the Brazos, because the island was uninhabited, timberless, and subject to periodic floods during the equinoctial storms:" The Mexican Con- gress, however, was reluctant to reconsider its action. Because the colonists were anxious to establish coastwise trade with Matamoros, Tampico, and the other Gulf Coast ports, Austin urged repeatedly the advantages of such trade by pointing out how it would be an excellent source of revenue, and would promote the national econ- omy, and thus form strong bonds between the new colonies and the rest of Mexico. Although Mexican officials generally agreed with him, noth- ing was done about the matter. Several attempts to establish such trade failed utterly. Stephen Rich- ardson, an Austin colonist, in response to the call of President Vic- toria in 1826 to help relieve a famine in Yucatan by shipping foodstuffs from the rest of the Republic, chartered the Little Zoe, placed six hundred sacks of com and a hogshead of lard aboard, and sailed for Campeche. Armed with a copy of the President's proclamation, a pass- port, and testimonials to prove that the cargo was of domestic origin, he was, nevertheless, refused permission to land and peremptorily ordered by port officials to leave within forty-eight hours. Crestfallen, he made his way back to Tampico, only to be detained for thirty days without being allowed to land or to dispose of his goods. By the time that he was finally permitted to leave, the cargo had spoiled, and Richard- son in disgust dumped it into the sea. John and James Austin had no better luck in 1828 when they secured Mexican registry for the schooner Eclipse and made a voyage to Matamoros. They did not try it again.' 7 Article XII of the Law of April 6, 1830, attempted to encourage the development of coastwise trade by permitting foreign vessels to engage in such traffic for a period of four years. This belated concession came too late and at a time when the very law that permitted this trade gave rise to many other matters of much more vital concern to the colonies. Trade with New Orleans and other American ports had increased steadily. This development was naturally distasteful to Mexico, for the colonists were fostering strong economic ties with the United States rather than with Mexico. Juan N. Almonte, in his 1834 report, estimated the total foreign trade of Texas-chiefly with the United States--at more than 1,000,000 pesos, of which imports constituted 630,000 and "Coleccwn de los decre/01 :,, ordenes ... , IV, 6; Barker, Life of Austin, 206. 4 7Barker, o-J,. cit., 208.
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