Foreign Colonizati<m of Tezas, 1820~1835
terms of the grant. This plan, no doubt previously discussed with Governor Martinez, was destined to give Austin considerable trouble. Martinez gave his formal approval on August 19, subject to such modifications as the superior government might see fit to make. 29 After a rapid exploration of the La Vaca, Guadalupe and the Colorado, Austin returned to Natchitoches. News of the proposed settle- ment had traveled fast. He found nearly a hundred letters awaiting him from persons desirous of entering Texas. Assisted by Joseph A. Hawkins, he made arrangements to purchase and outfit the Lively to transport a number of colonists to Galveston Island, and explore the mouth of the Guadalupe and the Colorado. After taking soundings at each place, they were to build a fort at the mouth of the last named river, plant corn, and await the arrival of the settlers coming overland. The Livel,y left New Orleans about the middle of November, 1821, and Austin set out from Natchitoches early in December. Some settlers had preceded him and had made their way directly to the Brazos and the Colorado. The failure of the Lively, however, to appear as agreed caused much concern to the young empresario. It was not until much later that Austin learned that the vessel had landed on the Brazos bank instead of the Colorado and that most of the settlers, discouraged by the long wait, had returned to Louisiana. When Austin finally reached San Antonio in March, 1822, he was much surprised to learn from Governor Martinez that the officials in Monterrey had refused to recognize his authority to carry out the colonization contract of his father, that the new government of Mexico was considering a general colonization policy for Texas and California, and that under the circumstances it would be best for him to go on to Mexico. With characteristic resoluteness, Austin immediately turned the affairs of the colony over to Josiah H. Bell and on March 13 set out for Mexico. The journey was to consume more than a year of his time and begin a whole train of troubles. The first M e:ncan colonizati01i lmu. Austin arrived in Mexico City on April 9, 1822. He frankly admitted to his colonists the plight in which he found himself: ". . . ignorant of the Language, of the Laws, the forms, the dispositions and feelings of the Government, with barely the means of paying my Expenses ..• in fact, I may say, destitute of almost everything necessary to insure success in such a mission as I
29 "Austin's Journal," in Tll1 Quart"l'Y, VII, 286-296; Barker, q,j. cil., 33-36.
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