166
THE AUSTIN PAPERS
overrun our country. They come to fasten down upon our necks the yoke, and to rivet upon our hands the manacles of military servitude. Gonzales is doomed to the sword and the flame. Colorado will next be the theatre of blood and rapine-then the Brazos-till every spot of our rich and fertile country shall present to the eye but one wide scene of devastation, and we, the rightful proprietors, be driven from the soil which we have reclaimed by our toils and sufferings from a savage wilderness, and which we have made valuable by our labor and hardy enterprise. Shall we give up with- out a struggle, the fruits of so many years of danger, difficulty and un- paralleled suffering? Shall we surrender our country and our homes to a military usurpation? Are we willing lo forego all the advantages held out to us as the recompense of the most daring enterprise? Can we let a military despot reap the harvest after we have sown the seeds? This Com-. mittee are ready to answer for their countrymen; and they answer by call- ing upon them to come, and come quickly, to the assistance of their friends, their neighbours, and their brothers, three hundred of whom are already on the field--<:olonel Austin is with them. These have to contend with the whole of the Mexican army; bu·t they will contend bravely; they will dispute every inch of ground with their invaders untill the expected aid shall arrive. GAIL BORDEN, JR. WM. PETTIS [PETTUS]. JNO. H. MONEY. Members of the Com. of Austin. R. R. ROYALL, Member from Matagorda. ISAAC BATTERSON, Mem'ber from Harrisburg.
AUSTIN TO PERMANENT CoUNCIL1
Mosley's Oct. 8, 1835
To THE CouNCIL I recommend most particularly, that you send ·a confidential person up to Tenoxtitlan after the Cannon at that place and have brought down to Washington or San Felipe so as to he ready mounted for the Nacogdoches troops to bring on-they must not leave it-write in my name to T. F. McKinney to send up at any cost, all the lead and powder he can- If the cannon at Harrisburg can be got over, it would he well to do so it ought to be done-Every one must he active now s. F. AUSTIN '.Army Papers, Texas State Library. Austin was on his way to Gonzales to take command of the volunteers.
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