Austin's, Texas, Oct. 12, 1829
James W. Breedlove,—Sir : I beg leave to return my thanks for
the information which you communicated through Mr S. M.
Williams relative to the rumor of an invasion of Texas by 500 Spaniards,
They can expect nothing here but " hard times, hungry times " and
rifle bullets. It is to be hoped that the Tampico scrape will learn
them to stay where they are, for neither safety or success will they
ever find on the Mexican soil.
I shall always feel grateful to you for any information which you
may deem interesting to this settlement, or to the Government.
I thank you for your kind disposition manifested in your letter
to Mr. W[illiams?] towards this settlement; and in reply to your
suggestion relative to the acquisition of land here, I deem it my duty
to explain to you, somewhat in detail the nature of the colonization
law, the authority given to the " Empresarios," and also the nature
of the authority under which I have acted, This subject is not
understood in the United States, and the consequence has been, that
some persons have been greatly deceived, and even this Government
has been most unjustly slandered and abused for exercising the
powers and doing what it is by law compelled to do. You are no
doubt informed that the person who contracts with the Government
to introduce families, or as it is commonly termed, settle a colony,
is called in the law Empresario. By explaining to you what an
Empresario is, you will understand this matter, and see that such
projects, as published by Dennis A. Smith of Baltimore are totally
incompatible with the authority given to Ecitor [Exter] and Wilson
& Co., for they are nothing more than Empresarios [The
empresario] is an agent who is hired by the Government to introduce a
specific number of families of a certain description within a certain
time, who are to be settled within certain designated limits.—
Should the Empresario introduce the families, and they should be
received by the Government Commissioners as being of the
description required, then, and not before, he is entitled to receive his pay,
which is five leagues of land for each hundred families so introduced
by him.—The titles for land are all issued by the Government
Commissioner, who is especially appointed for that purpose, and he alone
has the power to survey or appoint surveyors to survey the land, and
to put settlers in possession and no one, under any circumstances,
can hold land unless he first removes to the country and becomes an
actual and permanent settler: neither can a foreigner hold real estate
at all; and should a person who has lived hard all his life, and who
has a good title, sell his land to a foreigner, the whole of the property
thus sold becomes public by escheating to the Government the
moment such sale is made.
The Empresario has no power nor shadow of power of any kind
or description whatsoever, except to bring in the families. He is
nothing but an agent for that express purpose; and like all other
agents, he is liable to be dismissed by his employer for malpractices
or neglect of duty. He is not entitled to one foot of land until he
has complied with the conditions on which he was to get it; he has
no claim to nor no right to dispose of one foot of land in any manner
whatsoever, (except his premium land [and] that only after he has
received his title as above stated,) and all the land that remains
vacant within the limits assigned to the new Colony or settlement,
after the specified number of families are settled, is public land and
belongs to the Government, and not to the Empresario as some
of them have pretended to claim. It is truly astonishing to see
to what extent this subject has been misunderstood. We see an
Emprosario advertising in the public papers the sale of 48,000.000
of acres of land as though it was his own individual property, when,
in fact, he has no more right to dispose of one foot of it than you
have. This error has perhaps arisen from the want of correct
knowledge of the Spanish language, which has caused the law to
be misunderstood—but the misfortune is that innocent persons are
mislead, and the Government unjustly slandered. I have no doubt
that the contract of Eciter, Wilson & Co. will be annulled by the
Government; for Edwards contract was annulled for a similar
reason, added to others, and the agency or Empresariorship taken
from him; and if that is done, those men to justify themselves, will
in all probability lay the blame on the Government and complain
that they have been robbed of 48,000,000 acres of land. All this is
very unjust, and it is important that public opinion should be
disabused in regard to it. I am, however, entirely unwilling that my
name should appear in the public papers in any manner connected
with this matter. I have heretofore given frank and honest advice
to persons on this same subject, and have never yet failed to make
an enemy by doing so, for the reason that they knew better than
I did. I have interfered with none. But notwithstanding my
caution in this respect, I have not escaped jealousy and censure
lou know the character of North-Americans, they are taught from
their infancy to look upon all who are in office with jealousy and
suspicion; and, in general, they always attribute corruption to what
they do not clearly understand. The information contained in this
letter is given to you in reply to a friendly suggestion made by you
from kind and friendly motives. I saw that you did not
comprehend the matter, and I deemed it a duty to lay it before you as
it really is.
In order that you may more fully understand this subject, it is
necessary that I should give you a sketch of the authority under
which I have acted in the settlement of my first Colony. You will
perceive that it was of an entirely different character from that
which is or can be given under the present law. The application to
settle 300 families from the United States in Texas, was originally
made by my father Moses Austin to the Spanish authorities in 1820
and granted in July [January] 1821, about one month before the
grito de Iguala or the revolution of Iturbide.
My father died in Missouri in the spring of 1821, a few days after
he heard that his petition had been granted and left as a last request
that I should prosecute the enterprise. I came on to this country
in the summer of 1821, and spent four months in exploring it and
completing such arrangements as were deemed by the Government
of Texas to be sufficient for me to progress with the settlement.
These arrangements were all made through an interpreter, for at
that time I did not understand one word of Spanish. In the winter
of '21~'22, I arrived on the Brazos with the first families—about 40,
and after getting them arranged to their satisfaction, I went to
Bexar to report to the Government, etc., and on my arrival there in
March he informed me that I must go to the City of Mexico and
procure confirmation of my authority from the National Congress
which convened in February, 1822. This was unexpected and rather
discouraging, for the families were in an entire wilderness and my
presence was highly necessary. I started, however to Mexico
and arrived there in April. The various revolutions and political
changes of the eventful 1822 and 1823 detained me in that city one
year before my affairs were finally despatched. Previous to the fall
of Iturbide my business was completed, and I received all the
necessary documents, but not until I became convinced by the State of
parties and public sentiment that the Emperor must soon fall; and
I feared that in such an event a doubt might hang over the legality
of his acts and those of the Junta Instituyente under whose
enactments my business was dispatched. I therefore waited until he did
fall and was dethroned and the National Congress reinstated. I
then presented the documents which I received from the
Imperial Government, and petitioned Congress to confirm them or do with them as
that body might esteem proper. On the 11th of April, 1823, Congress
passed a decree authorizing the Supreme Executive power to
confirm them; and on the 14th of that month the Executive did confirm
them in due form and return them to me. I then left that city for
Texas. I give this narrative to show how and whence my authority
eminated. You will understand that at that time the Government
of this nation was consolidated. The Federal system was not
adopted and the State Governments established until about one year
afierwards.
The authority given to me was to introduce and settle 300 families
from the United States or elsewhere, in certain limits of Texas.
The Baron de Bastrop and myself were jointly appointed the
Government Commissioners to survey the lands of the settlers and issue
titles to them in due form in the name of the Government. We were
specially authorized to increase the quantity of land over one league
to any settler, who, in our opinion, was entitled to such and increase,
either by the capital which he introduced into the country or by the
size of his family, and there was no limits fixed as to the extent to
which we might go in making such increase of quantity. We were
entitled as commissioners to receive fees or pay for our services, and
the necessary office fees and charges for writing, translating and
recording, and also the surveying fees, all of which were fixed by a
regulation of the Government of Texas, and were, or ought to have
been paid by the settlers; for the Government allowed us nothing
for our services. I was therefore both Empresario and Commissioner
to my first Colony .-—Besides this, I was specially appointed by the
Supreme Government of Mexico the Civil Chief, the sole judicial
officer, and the commandant of the militia of the new Colony, subject
always to the orders of the Government of Texas, and the
Commandant-General of the military department, but for these services
I received nothing from the Government. These several
appointments (for they were all separate and distinct the one from the
other,) threw a vast burden of labor and responsibility and expense
upon me individually,—An expense and labor which I was not
bound by my contract as Empresario to bear. What rendered my
situation still more troublesome and perplexing, was that the
Government at that time was unsettled and shaken by frequent political
revolutions and changes of systems, policy and officers, and I had to
make new friends and acquaintances amongst the superior powers at
every change. Added to all this, out of my office there was not one
person in the settlement who could correctly translate any law or
order of the Government. I was from necessity the sole organ of
communication with the Government; and as respects the local
government of the settlement, the granting of lands, etc. etc., it appeared
to the settlers that my authority was absolute.—-It is sufficient for me
to say that my settlers were North-Americans, and many of them
frontier men who had never known restraint, to inform you that I
was looked upon with jealousy and suspicion. It was the natural
result of the national character of those people, and of the situation
in which circumstance and necessity, and even the salvation of the
settlement had placed me--and that situation also imposed upon me
the duty and difficult task of bearing in silence and good humor, all
the abuse and jealousy that ignorance and suspicion could heap upon
me, leaving it to time to test my acts and prove whether they were
correct or not. It has done so, and all are satisfied with [me] except
a few. I do assure you that it was a difficult task, and I may frankly
confess that I would have abandoned the settlement, the settlers and
the country, if no other motive than pecuniary individual interest
had influenced me. My ambition was to be the means of laying a
foundation for spreading an intelligent and an enterprising
population over this fertile and hitherto unknown and wilderness country;
perhaps, also, I had a little pride in wishing to succeed, for I
undertook this enterprise in opposition to the advice of my friends in the
United States, who nearly all pronounced it visionary and
impracticable.
You must pardon my egotism in speaking so much of myself, but
the history of this settlement is so closely connected with me
individually, that one cannot be clearly explained without allusion to the
other, and beside it seems to account in part for some of the
erroneous opinions that has spread as to powers of the Empresario,
for those who were ignorant of the language, or who would not or
could not take the trouble of inquiring, supposed or pretended to
suppose that I derived all my authority solely from being
Empresario, when, in fact, I held various distinct appointments, and
those powers have been supposed to attach to the Empresario, which
in no respects whatever belong to him— Also, they have confounded
the old National Colonization law of January 4th, 1823, which is
no longer in force, with the present Slate law passed 25th of March,
1825.
As I have before observed, my business was despatched by the
National Government, 14th of April 1823. About one year
afterwards the State governments were established under the Federal
system, and on the 18th of August, 1824, the National Constitutional
Congress (the same that formed the Federal Constitution, and was,
in fact, the Convention,) passed a law relinquishing to the States
respective limits, and authorizing each State to make its own
Colonization law, with the restriction that not more than eleven leagues of
land should be granted to any one individual, and also that the lands
within ten leagues of the coast and twenty leagues of a line of an
adjoining nation, should not be colonized or granted without the
consent of the President of the nation. Under this authority the State
of Coahuila and Texas passed the colonization law of March 24,
1825, which is now in force, and under which all the Empresarios
have been made, for my first Colony is the only one that was ever
granted under the law of the 4th of January, 1823. In addition to
my first Colony, I made three contracts with the State Government
to settle 900 families in all, on the vacant land remaining within the
limits designated for my first Colony; one of those contracts includes
the land bordering on the coast, which was granted with the special
approbation of the President as the law requires. Also, in one of
said contracts (the one on the coast,) I was appointed Commissioner
as well as Empresario, and in virtue of these two distinct
appointments, all the powers of both were centred in me. I am the only
person in whom these two appointments ever have been united,
although others have only looked at what I did without examining
my authority or attending to my advice; and have supposed that
all Empresarios could do the same.
A General Commissioner has lately been appointed for the whole
of Texas who will shortly be on here. I presume that his
appointment will supercede all other appointments of Commissioners, also
a Surveyor-General has been appointed, who will be on with the
General-Commissioner. If you have not already procured the
Colonization law of this State I will send it to you as soon as it can
be published in English in the Texas Gazette; and by comparing
this statement with the law you will see that it is correct. It may
be late in the winter before it is published for there are some other
laws which it is highly important to get out in English before the
elections in December, for owing to the want of a printing press it
has heretofore been impossible to publish them.
The colonization business is the last on earth that any man ought
to undertake for the sole purpose of making money; and no
Empresario will ever advance one step if no other motive than money
influence him—for he will not undergo the labor and receive the
abuse for all he can make—that [is] he will not advance legally,
No Empresario ever had such an opportunity of making a fortune by
imposing on the ignorance and credulity of capitalists in other
countries as I have had, for no one of them ever had the power
that I had; but instead of leaving my settlers to shift for
themselves, and instead of distorting the law to mislead others and benefit
myself, I have remained here and shared the toils of settling a
wilderness, and have rigidly adhered to the law and my duty to this
Government. And I have also succeeded in laying a permanent
foundation for the settlement of Texas by an enterprising
population, and the day is not far distant when it will become the richest
and most powerful State of the Mexican Confederation. But I am
poor I have not even the means of living with comfort and that
decency which my situation would seem to require, unless I raise those
means by a sacrifice of a part of my premium land so hardly earned,
and that I will not do for it is my only stake for my old age. Will it
not appear strange to you that although such is my real situation an
opinion has gone abroad that I have made myself rich by what I
received from the settlers or rather by selling land to them as the
uninformed and ignorant have styled the fees which I was by law
entitled to as Commissioner, and for surveying, etc, etc. Strange as
it may seem it is nevertheless a fact, the majority of the settlers
were unable to pay anything, and must have left the country if the
fees had been exacted from them promptly, and in order to keep
all afloat I did exact prompt payment from those who were able to
make it, and out of the money thus raised I paid the way of the
poor who were unable to pay any thing, and I also defrayed the
expenses of the administration of the local Government, and was
enabled to keep the Indians friendly by presents and feeding them
until we get strong enough to whip them into subjection, and
by this course of policy I have saved this settlement and brought
it to what it now is, and have secured large landed estates to
hundreds of poor men who otherwise would [not] or could not
ever have got one foot of land. Some of these men have never yet
paid one cent, and accuse me of speculating and cheating them
because I ask it of them. It is human nature and I do not
complain, besides it is my duty to bear these matters with patience,
for it is a sacrifice that is due to the future prosperity and greatness
of this favored country, to bear with patience and perseverance all
the labor and all the mortifications attendant upon the difficult
task of laying the foundation of that prosperity. I have again
become an egotist. Perhaps I am influenced by the idea that a man
who labors faithfully to the best of his abilities and [with] pure
intentions is entitled to some compensation, and that unless I
derive one by getting a little credit for what I have done or tried
to do, I shall come off badly, for I doubt very much whether I shall
live to reap much advantage from my premium land, which as I
before observed, is my only stake, and it is not free from
embarrasments created solely for the benefit of this settlement.
I have just recovered from a dangerous spell of sickness, and
also I have to mourn the recent death of an only and beloved
brother, and, I am not in a situation to write connectedly on any
subject; you must therefore overlook my style. I will be responsible
for the facts which I have stated.
Stephen F. Austin.