THE AUSTIN PAPERS. 819 for years and like a Moth devouring its substance finally involved them in ruin and beggary- To Comply therefore with my part of the Contract with the Settlers in full And at the same time to save them from even the possibility of difficulty hereafter relative to their lines I determined to survey the Lands regularly and accurately and to continue upon myself the responsibility which my original Contract with the Settlers imposed on me of being personally responsible for the ex- pence of Surveying, for the Expences due to the Governmt. and for all other Expences whatever; expecting that the settlers would comply with their part of the Contract by paying the sum originally stipulated-There were also other considerations which urged the Adoption or rather the continuance of this plan-The fees due to the Governmt. would have to be paid in Cash-The Expenses ,1f Surveying if any was done would Also have been burthensome j,1 many instances to the Settlers to advance, besides the first Settlers who had borne all the difficulties of establishing the Country would have then been placed on an Equality with those who came later after all the difficulties were over, provisions were plenty, and th~ Indians forced into subjection-vVhereas the plan which I adoptecl relative to the payments would have removed all these difficulties and enabled the first Settlers to reap the full fruits of their Arduous labors to the extent they merited, and that without the delay which a different plan would likely have produced. I informed .the Settlers on my arrival that I would receive any kind of property from them, And give them their own time to pay it in, at the same time requesting those who were able to do so to aid me all they could, for that I had so :far faithfully Complied with my part of the Contract with them And thought that in justice they ought to do the same towards me-I never said that any one ought to pay one Cent before he received his Title-The new Settlers who came in and who had no privations to undergo in Comparison to the first Settlers I did say ought to make more prompt payment And in this Arrangement I consulted the Interests of the old settlers, for the sums I should have thus received would have enabled me to have paid a part of the surveying fees, And Governmt. on the Lands of the Old Settlers without harrassing them to raise the Money- from those who did not pay money or some other property that could be used I intended to have taken notes payable in Cotton in :yearly installments, of One two or Six years according to the situatn, of the person-This would not have. been oppressive for every one could have paid two or three hundred pounds of Cotton annually without ever feeling it-these notes would have insured a certainty of receiving a specific quantity of Cotton annually And this cer-
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