NOTES AND FRAGMENTS.

Mrs. Sterne's Removal to Houston.—In The Quarterly for January, 1899, on page 215, in my sketch of Captain Adolphus Sterne, occurs a misprint (if it be not a blunder of my own), in stating the date of Mrs. Sterne's last removal. It reads thus:

“Thence [from Austin], in 1874 or 1875, she removed with her daughter, Mrs. Ryan, to Houston, which was her last earthly home.”

The correct statement of the date is “1894 or 1895.”

W. P. Zuber.

Austin's Views on Slavery.—Mr. Lester G. Bugbee, in his recent monograph, Slavery in Early Texas, says concerning Stephen F. Austin's views on the slavery question: “After the colony had been established on a firm basis, Austin thought that a sufficient number of slaves had been brought in, and so, from 1830, we find him in opposition to the further advance of the institution.” Mr. Bugbee sustains his assertion by several quotations from Austin's letters; one, whose tone is very positive, reading thus: “I am of the opinion that Texas will never become a slave State or country. I will be candid with you on this point, and say I hope it never may.”

Nevertheless, Austin's convictions were entirely changed before the Texas revolution; for, on his return from prison in Mexico, he wrote to Mrs. Mary Holly, August 21, 1835, saying: “Texas must be a slave country. It is no longer a matter of doubt. The interest of Louisiana requires that it should be. A population of fanatical abolitionists in Texas would have a very dangerous and pernicious influence on the overgrown slave population of that State. Texas must and ought to become an outwork on the west, as Alabama and Florida are on the east, to defend the key of the western world—the mouths of the Mississippi.” Touching the relations of Texas and Mexico, he continues: “Being fully Americanized under the Mexican flag would be the same thing in effect and ultimate result as coming under the United States flag. A gentle breeze shakes off a ripe peach. Can it be supposed that the violent political convulsions of Mexico will not shake off Texas so soon as it is ripe enough to fall? All that is now wanting is a great immigration of good and efficient families this fall and winter. Should we get such an immigration, especially from the Western States—all is done; the peach will be ripe. ... The cause of philanthropy and liberty also will be promoted by Americanizing Texas. I am right, therefore, to do so by all possible honorable means.”

Eugene C. Barker.