[September 8, 1835]
Col. Austin, Sir: I never saw you, or you me; but I have been
acquainted with your character for twelve years past. I take the liberty,
although unauthorized, in the name of the Labacca and Navidad Precinct,
to welcome you once more to the soil, which, through your instrumentality
you have procured for thousands of families, who otherwise could never
have possessed a foot. To do this you have poineered an uninhabited
country, suffering every privation; and when hope cast its dawning gleams
upon the object of your labours and your cares, you have been made to
suffer the cruelties of the envious and unrelenting Spaniard. You have
raised a monument as imperishable as time;—and babes yet unborn will
lisp the name of Austin