792
AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
from Tampico. When I left him on the 31 of May he expressed himself very favournble to Texas-tho. he was overwhelmed with troubles and Consejos- also I wrote you the other day by & [milit1]ary correo. . Prudence and harmony and legal proceedings-no violence S. F. AusTIN [Rubric] June 20. 1832 Matamoros
AUSTIN TO [EDWARD LIVINGSTON1]
1\1:atamoras June 24. 1832 You stand before the public in the character of a philanthopist. By your labors to ameliorate the condition of your fellow citizens in their various relations ·with each other through the medium of the tribunal of justice-your codes designed for the particular use of Louisiana but embracing genl. principles applicable to all civilized communities you seem to have given to the people of all countries a species of tacit claim upon the richly stored treasures of your :inind in relation to the political organization of society and the general principles of jurisprudence. • •Should this view of the subject be correct, it will serve as my apology for this letter-but should you deem it incorrect, I must then solicit your kind indulgence for having intruded upon your valuable time-hoping that the great interest I feel in the subject will be viewed by you as an excuse for what might be deemd. presumption in me. It may perhaps not be entirely unknown to you that I have been engaged since 1821 in establishing colonies of foreign emigrants in Texas. I have spent the prime of my life trying to redeem that coun- try from the wilderness and feel the greatest solicitude for its future prosperity. When I commenced there it was entirely uninhabited by civilized man except the small villages of Bexar and LaBahin on the San Antonio river, and a few scattering families on and near the right bank of the Sabine 'just over the boundary line- since then the colonies settled by me on the Brazos and Colorado rivers have progressed considerably and now contain a population of about 8,000 souls principally all natives of the U. S. of the north-other parts of Texas hnve also been populated by the same kind of emigrants, and a sufficiency of the country has been redeem'd from the wilderness to form a basu for the future rapid population and progress of the whole. The native :Mexican population has also auITTI1ented some, tho not in proportion to the foreign. I hav~ stated this much merely to show the fact, that the principle difficulties those arising from the wilderness state of the country,
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