559
-THE AUSTIN PAPERS
ANTHONY DEY AND GEORGE CURTIS TO AUSTIN
New York 16th. December 1830
Col. STEPHEN F. AusnN. Sm/ It is perhaps a duty we owe to you to communicate the intel- igence contained in this letter, lest from reports that are abroad you should be impressed with an idea in relation to our business, un- friendly towards us, which we think you will not indulge when the business is fully and fairly understood We have no doubt that you are aware of the Contracts made by Government of Mexico and the State of Coahuila and Texas with Govr Lorenzo de Zavala, Joseph Vehlein and David G. B'urnet as Empresarios in relation to certain Lands lying East of you and bordering on the United States. •The land comp·rehended within the boundaries of the four grants made to those gentlemen is estimated to contain about 15 millions of Acres. One condition among others is to put on in all 1200 families of vari- ous Nations These Grants have been formed and combined into one company and conveyed to Anthony Dey and George Curtis of New York and ,villiam H. Sumner of Boston as Trustees and Attornies of the Empresarios to fulfil their engagement, and one great effort is about to be made to colonize those grants according to the laws of Mexico- For that purpose Mr. Zavala sails for France in a few days to procure settlers from Germany, France and Switzerland- other efforts are ma1..-i.ng by other Gentlemen .to bring colonizers from England, Ireland and Scotland-· A vessel will sail from this City in a few days with Swiss and Germans, with a few agents of the Company-these are intended as a pioneer party, to prepare huts, shantees and other temporary accommodation for the settlers as they arrive from Europe or elsewhere and to prepare for them bread ~u:ff on which to subsist, until the settlers can make their locations and b'uild houses for themselves- The combined interest in these grants is great and the pains taking to diffuse knowledge and information in relation to Texas will we think have the tendency to direct the attention of many persons towards that country and your colony must of course considering it[s] advanced state of cultivation have an advantage over any other We are making a publication which we will take pleasure in forwarding to you in a few days which developes our whole plan of operations and we expect to send Col. Mexia to see you, with an agent very shortly to propose to you cer- tain arrangements which we think will tend much to your advantage in relation to the future settlement of your colony and for considera- tion of such other matters as may be considered for the joint benefit of all the Empresarios in Texas- •
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