Ft1reign Coloni,:atim1, of Textzs, 1820-1835
the point of intersection of the Nueces River and the ten-league coastal reserve and ran to a point ten leagues distant from La Bahia ((Goliad), thence on a straight line to the junction of the Medina and the San Antonio, thence down the right _bank of the San Antonio to the crossing of the old road from Bexar to Presidio de Rio Grande, thence along said road to the Nueces, and down the Nueces to the starting point. Here the two empresarios established their Irish colony of San Patricio or Hibernia. 61 In spite of the fact that the empresarios were to introduce settlers from Ireland, most of them were brought from the United States. Consequently the Law of April 6, 1830, prohibiting American immigra- tion suspended the contract. When this provision was rescinded in 1834, McMullen and McGloin were granted a four-year extension. The colony did not thrive. Settlers failed to come in large numbers and Jose Maria Balmaceda, the land commissioner appointed to issue titles, was still at work when the Revolution broke out in 1835. Agreeable to the plan set up by the Provisional Government, all land commissioners, empresarios, and surveyors were ordered to "cease their operation" until a land office could be established. 69 Before issuing titles was stopped in November, 1835, eighty-four grants had been made to settlers in the McMullen-McGloin colony of San Patricio. Otlier em-presario contracts. In addition to those already mentioned, the contracts of D. G. Burnet, Lorenzo de Zavala, Joseph Vehlein, S. C. Robertson, and Benjamin Milam should be noted as having been attempted but with very meager results. On the other hand, the con- tracts of Arthur Wavell, Stephen J. Wilson, Richard Exeter, John L. Woodbury, John Cameron, Juan Dominguez, Vicente Filisola, Juan Antonio Padilla, J. W. Chambers, John G. Purnell, Benjamin D. Lovell, Frost Thorn, John Charles Beales, Royuela, and Campos, agent for the Mexican Company, were left unfulfilled. The activity of the "Land Companies" after 1834 cannot be ignored. Their widespread advertisement and indiscriminate sale of "land scrip" sent hundreds, perhaps thousands, to Texas under the impression that they had legitimate title to lands equal to the amount of scrip bought. The Galveston Bay and Texas Land Company, which bought the contracts of David G. Burnet, Joseph Vehlein, and Lorenzo de Zavala, 68 Holley, Texas, I I 5. For the terms of the grant, see Translations of Emprcsario Contracts, 76, 156-1 58, State Land Office. 69 Gammel, Laws of Texas, I, 541-542,
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