51
PAPERS OF l\IIRABEAU BuoNAPARTE LAMAR
what prospects there are for intelligent mechanics, which places are the best to make a home and what wages may be expected for the different branches of Mechanic[s 1 such as: Painters & Glasiers Carpenters Cabinet Makers Brick makers Shoe & Boot makers 'l'ailors Swiss Straw hat :Manufacturers Butchers / Masons Stone-(Is there lime stone at the City of Austin? Bricklayers &c &c.&. furthermore whether the City of Austin will be the spot to start for and what distance it is from Houston. I suppose we have to go for Houston or Galveston and then by land to the Headwaters of the Colo- rado to the new site for the city of Austin; and then we should be glad to be informed of the expence by land for the removal of our Tools from the sea Board to Austin City.- Myself and those for whom I make these interrogatories are all Germans; but we have been in the U.S. for [a] great many years. We respectfully and humbly ask Your Excellency's pardon for troubling You with our little concern, and we•would not have had the boldness to address these lines to your Excellency had we not been informed by a German Gentleman who travelled thro' the whole Union part of Texas that your Excelfency's manners and habits are perfectly plain unassum- ing and republican and as such Your Excellency cannot but feel a de- light to see industrious Mechanics remove thither, to the Land of the Single Star, men that want to go ahead in time of peace and fight in time of war. Germans will never back out wherever the cause of Liberty and freedom requires their aid, and we delight to enlist under Texas Banners the more as its institutions and laws appear to be a perfect model to the rest of the world. May it then please your Excellency to favor me with a kind and affable answer, full of details if possible,-and we will thank Your Excellency for it personally whenever we reach Texas shore. I have the honor to be with the greatest regard Your Excellency's
l\fost obedient humble servant William James House & Sign, Ship & fancy Painter, Gilder & Glazier [Endorsed] Gilder & Glasier
[ Addressed] His Excellency
Mirabeau B. Lamar
Charleston S Carolina 20th. July 1839-
President of the Republic·of Texas Houston
Texas.
Via New Orleans
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