476
AMERtCAN HISTORICAL 'ASSOCIATION.
JOSEPH H. fuWKL"'iS TO AUSTIN 1
New 01·leam
Feby. 6. 1822
1\f y DEAR Sm-
I have been struggling for a week past·to find an hour to devote to this purpose. It is now eleYen oclock at night and as usual I am almost too much exhausted to hold my pen- The "only Son" :Mr. Kincheloe owner carries several of my friends and a number-of valuable settlers-- Three other vessels have recently sailed for the Colorado, and in fact my dear Sir had the Lively returned with a good account of her voyage, your country would be crowded to overflowing- I have recently received a letter from a Mr Ross in Tennessee (for- warding good letters of recommendation) proposing to "deviver you three hundred families by contmct" There are hundreds on the way and thousands ready to go if one word of encouragement could now be had from you. I begin to fear the jealousy of the S[panish] Government may be ~xcitecl and some prohibition interposed-At all events the most ,hould be made of a cloudless sky. After your 300 families are introduced would it not be well to raise the price of your land i vVould you not be justified in asking 50 cents or even a dollar and by and by still more for landsi These a.re mere suggestions-Your own better J udgrnent will gov- ern and I know guide correctly-Perhaps my own necessities may have led to this view of the subject. • I am bent down almost to the very ground. Of the $7,000 advanced for the Providence I have not one cent return-In fact my dear Sir I turn my mind towards you as the wrecked mariner does towards the glimerings of the light house which promises a Haven of safety- Were it not for you my path would now be cheerless if not hopeless. If I could obtain through your efforts the means to pay my debts I would join you immediately and spend my life in plowing the soil-and teaching our children the ways of virtue. You can form no idea of my anxiety to hear from you-The only information I have received was from Mr Kincheloe-He·informed me you were not far from the mouth of the Col• and where you ex.: pected to meet the Lively-I have derived more satisfaction as to the value of your country from Mr K than any other individual I have seen. And his account would reconcile ·even some little remnants of aristo<J1'acy where the boone they purchased was otherwise_so ines- 1 Prluted in TCZIU Hi8t0'1/ Teacher', Bul~, FebnW.tl/, 1918.
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