illaaftMtLif, ON TEXAS QUESTION, tied to Lw.ti rdirocrst-et hy II
Convoittee rtt* the Brirslt attd Furciyit Anti- Star, Ili Society,
l'u the llight Honourable Lord l'almerston, her Majesty's Principal :ary of State fur Foreign Affairs, &c. uly Lord-The Committee of the British and Foreign Anti. Slavery Society beg permission to exit' m ,s their sentitnents to your I.ordship on a sub- ject tieeply interesting to all the friends of liberty and justice, and which they feel to be of paramount inquirtance tit the present 11111e, as affecting the in- terests and future happine,s of a large portion or the human race, and one to tu Lich it is nude veto it the attention of your Lordship and her .Majesty's (;ote•rnment has already hvell officially directed.
"
It ii currently reported, that from the revolted Km it ice of the Mexican ;w, Texas envoys have been sent to this country to solicit its recognition in the British Government us en independent state. " With such a I it.got iatiott, con1dered as relatismg to political interests alone, dil, uugtt ties' conceive theta: to be or the greatest impuetahce as it respects t interests of British eubieets, and cm ...a the integrity of the British empire, the Gulf of Mexico and the CariC,...11. Sea, it would be quite out of the e.'iece of the British laid Foreign .1titi-Slam cry Society to interfere ; but Ii a peculiar feature in the pr1 t, hidt rollers it tmt only proper for tie.: .1 but uttiwratire on Ott it, to express to your 1015111 their sentiments on the subject, and to entreat fur them a setious coesi,h.retiou at the hands of Gov erntoeid.
" The Committee will not trouble. yrair Loolship with a Iletail of the unjust a:el atrocious manlier iii ii hilt the alexieee province of' Texas ling been front the parent st tt totprIaeiplerl 11.1 vent e l'ers, land-jobbers, and .-ie.ve-liolders, fnittim t lie Unit. ■1 St,tteS, Wlir),t; coil iii 1 ccci the utmost indig-
rebuke, nod must to tech to all e lio may become impli- ..•t in it ; but to press on the co:t-: to:ration of ,t our Lordship and the
:rnment the well-known (' Tlie .1.4;1.1,0a, has ab01 (NI univeral freedom whIelt with tadlt edmirable 1...e and propriety had
. decreed hy the .11exie.).1 :tie' leive rel.-HUI:410cl slavery in its
forms. Committee %WHIM ttls■■ call your Lot- !-Itip•s attention to the , that the Texiati bin s also provide for the ex/mt. ion front its territory of all • -,ec, and the descendants of Africa:1s, whether in whole or in part horn - well as of the native -Indian tribes ; an iniquity not less cruel than it .2mious snit unparalleled in the history of any civilized people. • It mm II be no more than con, letent, the Cntunittee conceive, with the noble attitude which Great Britain has taken before the world on the great subject of slavery, to refuse in the most positive terms the recognition olaay new state in which the unrighteous system of slavery is recognized, and mei. sures so repugnant to every principle of equity and religion as those referred to are established by constitutional law. Nor can it, the Committee wouhl respectfully observe, be otherwise than a, matter of plain and imperative ()blip. tion that the British Government should avail itself of so just and striking an opportunity of using its mighty moral influence for diffusing through other countries the same freedom which at so much cost has been happily, and the Committee trust permanently, established in the dependencies of our own. " The whole of the case beffire the Committee, however, is not yet stated. The establishment ',,of slavery in Texas will open an immense market for the slave-breeders of the United States, and will inevitably enlarge to an unpre. cedented extent, and raise to a pitch of unprecedented horrors, it traffic so in. famous and deplorable. Nor can it be doubted but, in spite of the law which prohibits it, the slave-trade with Africa, against which the whole power of the British empire is arrayed, will be extensively carried on, as there is too great reason to believe it has already begun. " Under these circumstances, the Committee trust that her Majesty's Go. vernment will regard the proposed recognition of Texas with the greatest ab- horrence ; and they cherish an earnest hope, that in their decisions, considers,. Bons of humanity, justice, anti liberty, will be firmly held paramount to every other.
" On behalf of the Committee, " 27, New Broad Street, Loudon, Sept. 28, 1839."
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