865 tnanner.prescribed by law, and this guardian will have to attend to this part of the business. I wish to make a final settlement of this matter, and will do every thing to effect that object which will be legal and finally binding on all parties. I make this statement to correct the erroneous impressions which the parties interested in this business appear to have received from common rumor; and to show that, on my part, every thing has been done which circumstances would admit to protect the interests of Hawkins' estate. ·Also it ought to be remembered that I requested a settlement of this business since soon after Hawkins' death, an_d that I could long since have brought it to a settlement by a judicial process. The delay has been very injurious and very J;iarrassing to me, but it has been beneficial to the estate. There is another erroneous idea relative to the business of coloniza- tion in Texas. :Many believe that actual grants are made by the Govt. of large tracts of land, or sections of country, to individuals who are denominated in the Law llmpresarios,· and that these in:- dividuals can sell this land. This is all a mistake. It is also wrong to call them grants: they are nothing more than Trusts by which the contractor or " empresario ", is constituted the agent of the Govt. to settle a certain number of families of a particular description, in certain designated limits, within a limited time. If he comply with this contract, he will then, and not before, be entitled to receiv~ a certain quantity of ln.nd as a grant, which is called premium land, for which a special title is issued to him by the government com- missioner. The settlers receive their titles direct from the Govt. through a commissioner, and not from the empresario. In the colonization law of 1825, the contracts made between the "empre- sario •" and the settlers are guaranteed as valid, if not contrary to that and other laws; but in the colonization law of the 4th of Jany. 1823, under which my first colony was settled, there was no such guarantee. San Felipe de Austin September 14 1832 STEPHEN F. AusTIN [Rubric]
HAWES TO AUSTIN
[About September 14, 1832.]
Mr S. F. AUSTIN DEAR Sm, I avail myself of an opportunity afforded through C_ol. John Thompson Mason of addressing you on the subject of the m- terest of Haw-kins heirs in the Texns property. I will thank you to con.fer with Mr. Mason nnd between you devise some plan to relieve
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