[September 8, 1835]

Col. Austin, Sir: I never saw you, or you me; but I have been acquainted with your character for twelve years past. I take the liberty, although unauthorized, in the name of the Labacca and Navidad Precinct, to 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 foot. To do this you have poineered 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 to suffer the cruelties of the envious and unrelenting Spaniard. You have raised a monument as imperishable as time;—and babes yet unborn will lisp the name of Austin