605
'.l.'HE AUSTIN PAPERS
HENRY AUSTIN TO AUSTIN
New Orleans March 4 th 1831
Col S F AusTIN
Sal,tillo
MY DEAR Srn I wrote you two long letters by the last vessels to :i}fatamoros, chiefly on my own subject. The main object of this is to acquaint you with some propositions made to me here which I think may be directed to the jnterests of the Colony and also to your own. _Mr NA Ware of Philad 11 who has lately sold his plantation on this river proposes to invest forty thousand dollars in a cotton manufactory in the colony, provided he can haYe permission to do so, a piece of land for the establishment nncl your countenance and support to the enterprise. He says Mr Boys reports having obtained the exclu- siYe right for Texas, in consideration of establishing a cotton mill at Bexar which he is now going about. I do not believe this to be true, you can ascertain. l\'.[r 1\Tare does not propose to go out imme- diately himself but to send a confidential and experienced man to erect the establishment, in whose name the location might. be made. I ha.ve told him I thought it probable you would be much pleased to have such an establishment erected and s0 far from seeing any difficulty in obtaining permission, I had 110 doubt you would give it all the encouragement in your power, and obtain for him nn encreas'd grant of land proportionate to the magnitude of the enterprise say· 5. 6 or more leagues, perhaps as far as 11 He then said if you would do so he would send in immediately a thousand spindles with the force and capital necessary for the operation, and a sufficient num- ber of young negroes under indentures to secure the permanent run- ning of the mill, and giYe you such·a share of the net profits as you should judge reasonable for obtaining an en_creas'd quantity of land (over one league) say one eighth or one tenth. He would prefer erecting the mill on a water course to use water power if it could be done in a secure and healthy position without going too far from the coast otherwise would use steam. I think it would be desirable ~o have it near St Filippe if practicable to encourage the growth of cotton in that quarter and help build up the town on the subject of location you can give him the l>2st advice. He appears to be a ~ound man and has a large capita} laying idle Mr William Taylor our late Consul at Vera Cruz is now here Mr Ware was introduced to me by him. Mr Taylor has retired from Mexican business with forty or fifty thousand dollars and appears to be at loss how. to invest his money. Mr Ware proposed to him to join in his Texas manufact~ring project. which he immediately assented to, and desired me to request of you to address a copy
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