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[JOHNSON Lo AUSTIN]
San felipc de Austin 5th Sept. 1835
Col. S. F. Austin, Dr Sir,
IL is with feelings inexpressible that I write you this, Your return has been long wished for, but lillle expected al this time, Lut the Cod of Nature seems lo have arranged all things heller than even men could have desired-Your coming would always have been hailed by the people as the coming of a father, but you coming al · this lime is doubly dear lo the people of all Texas- Never was there a time in the events of Texas that so much required the joint action of the people as the present- Union of sentiment and action is the one thing alone can save the country from the impending clanger that now hangs over our heads- Unfortunately for Texas al this lime as on former occasions the people have been governed Ly sectional feeling, they mistake an imaginary for real interest, but I am proud lo say that this interest or feeling only exists in the municipality of Austin. I have but a few days since returned to this place from a lour through the depart mcnt of Nacogdoches where the people are united and determined to sustain their constitutional rights against the usurpations allempcd by Santa Anna and his party- i\leetings have been held al Liberty San Augustine and Nacogdoches, al all of which places they have resolved that although unauthorized, in the name of the Labacca and Navidad Precinct, lo welcome you once more to the soil, which, through your instrumentality you have procured for thousands of families, who otherwise could never have possessed a fool. To do this you have pioneered an uninhabited country, suffering every privation; and when hope cast its dawning gleams upon the object of your labours and your cares, you have been made lo suffer the cruelties of the envious and unrelenting Spaniard. You have raised a momnncnt as imperishable as Limc;-and babes yet unborn will lisp the nanw of Austin [F. W. John~n)
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