Moses Austin Goes to Texas
Characters: Moses AUSTIN Baron de Bastrop Gov. Antonio MARTINEZ
Setting: San Antonio, Tejas, New Spain
Date: December 1820
NARRATOR: Unsuccessful in escaping debt through traditional business pursuits, Moses AUSTIN developed a plan in 1819 for settling an American colony in Spanish Texas. Characteristically, he took an aggressive tack in times when holding the line seemed best. After the Adams-Onís Treaty clarified Spanish right to Texas, he traveled to San Antonio, where he arrived on December 23, 1820, seeking permission to bring his colonists.
AUSTIN: Wow, Texas is a vast land with forests and prairies; it is perfect for my plan! I want to immigrate to Texas to start a colony there! My plan is to charge the colonists a fee when they settle on my property; that way I can make a profit. In my eyes everyone will win, New Spain will gain good citizens to guard the frontier, the colonist will get to farm the land and start a new life of prosperity and will make tons of money. I must go and meet Governor Martinez to propose my plan.
[enter the governor’s palace, open the door and enter ].
AUSTIN: Hola, Governor Martinez! I am here to propose a plan to help your government settle east Texas! I want to settle a colony here.
MARTINEZ: A colony, where will these people come from?
AUSTIN: The United States, like me.
MARTINEZ: The UNI TED STA TES! NO! That is where Philip Nolan, the filibuster, was from! Did you know James Long tried to take over Texas to make it part of the United States? You Americanos keep on trying to take Texas from New Spain! The answer, senor, is NO!
NARRATOR: Rejected by Governor Antonio Martínez, he just happened to run into the Baron de Bastrop in one of the most famous turns of history in Texas. Austin and Bastrop had met nineteen years earlier when in New Orleans on unrelated trips and had had no contact since then. Nevertheless, the two recognized each other.
BASTROP: Moses! Is that you?
AUSTIN: Baron de Bastrop! I have not seen you since we were in Louisiana.
BASTROP: What are you doing here?
AUSTIN: I want to start a colony of US Citizens in east Texas, but Governor Martinez told me no because he thinks I am a filibuster!
NARRATOR: After Bastrop, a resident of San Antonio, heard the enthusiasm with which Moses spoke of his colonization plan, the Baron returned with him to the governor's office to request permission to establish the colony.
BASTROP: Moses, don't leave... stay a few days. I'll talk to Governor Martinez, he is a friend of mine. Let me see your request.
[Moses hands him the request].
You wrote this in very broken Spanish, No habla espanol, I see.
AUSTIN: You're right, I have very poor Spanish skills and because of that, I had a tough time presenting my idea.
BASTROP: Moses, let me have your request and let me rewrite it in a more formal Spanish style. In two days we'll go and present your request again. I'll go with you to help!
AUSTIN: Si! Sounds like a plan.
NARRATOR: Two days later at the Governor's palace……..
MARTINEZ: No! I told you Baron de Bastrop, this Moses fellow is a FILIBUSTER! You remember the last time we had Americanos lurking around East Texas.
BASTROP: Antonio, you are wrong about Moses, he is an amigo of mine. It is important to know that Moses was once a Spanish citizen and he was a very loyal Spanish citizen. Bringing in American colonists would help the economy by improving trade ... not to mention improving the security of the new frontier. If these colonists convert to Catholicism, the official religion of New Spain, and swear loyalty to New Spain, would you allow the plan?
MARTINEZ: Well, I think it would be okay to start a colony if that was the case!
AUSTIN: I have no problem with that ... If that's what it will take, we'll convert to Catholicism and swear loyalty to New Spain!
MARTINEZ: Then it's a deal, I'll convince the Spanish officials! How many families do you plan to bring?
AUSTIN: 300 families! We'll start next year!
[AUSTIN and MARTINEZ and BASTROP go their separate ways….]
NARRATOR: On December 26, 1820, Governor Martínez endorsed and forwarded the plan to higher authority. On the trip back home, Moses contracted pneumonia from four weeks of wet and cold weather; he survived for the last week on roots and berries. Shortly after he reached home, he learned that permission for the colony had been granted, after which he neglected his health and devoted all of his energies to the "Texas Venture." Austin lived barely two months more. Two days before he died, he told his wife his last wish. "After a considerable exertion to speak," she wrote in one of the most famous letters in Texas history, "and with much distress and difficulty of speech, told me it was too late, that he was going...he begged me to tell you to take his place tell dear Stephen that it is his dying father’s last request to (carry out) the enterprise he had Commenced." Moses Austin died on June 10, 1821.