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AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION.
Capital of San Ferna.nclo de Bexar in the month of December 1820 and made application through the local authorities of this Province to the Superior Government for permission to settle 300 families in . this Province, which was granted by the Superior authorities of the Oriental Internal Provinces, and the corresponding orders for carrying it into effect were issued on the 17th January 1821-In compliance with these Orders the then governor of this Province Brigadier Don Antonio Martinez (at present a resident in the City of Mexico) dispatched Don Erasmo Seguin (at present a deputy in Cortes from this Province) to Nachitoches to meet my Father and conduct him and th~ families that were to accompany him to the place of their destination in this Province.-Unfortunately my Father fell a victim to the uncommon fatigues of his first journey. to Bexar, and died shortly after his return to his Family, of .an Inflammation in the breast•occasioned by exposure in an Inclement Season in the extensive wilderness between Nachitoches and Bexar- Immediately after t.his melancholy event I hastened to meet my much esteemed and Honorable Friend Don Erasmo Seguin at Nachitoches and accompanied him to Bexar where I received from· Governor Martinez the necessary instruction relative to the Contemplated Col- ony; I then returned to Louisiana, and in the month of December 1821 removed the first families and commenced the Settlement, and then hastened to Bexar to receive the further instructions of the •Government- On my arrival at that place I was advised by the Governor and my other Friends to proceed direct to Mexico and lay the subject before the Sovereign Congress and receive from that Source the authority to make the Titles to the Settlers for their Lands- I accordingly departed for Mexico and arrived in that City in April 1822 • • Shortly after my arrival the political convulsions which existed during the short reign of Iturbide commenced, which delayed any decision on my business untill the 18 th of February 1823, when I received the final Decree of the Emperor bearing dnte on that clay, the original of which is on file in the Ministry of Relations- Not wishing to leave Mexico after having spent so much time and money, with even a shadow of doubt remaining as to the validity of my Authority I awaited. the event o:f the revolution in favour of liberal principles, and after the fall of Iturbide I presented to the Sovereign Constitnyent Congress the Decree which I had received from the Imperial Government praying for a Confirmation of it by Congress And on the 10th of April 1823 that Body unanimously approved it, passing it to the Supreme Executive Power for their Approbation, which was given on the 14 th • . of April. same ~ear, And I immediately after departed from Mexico for this Provmce.
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