Here I found that the Englishman, (mentioned in my other letter), with whom I had contracted to petition for two grants of land, _had totally failed in his application_.

The petition had been laid before the Governor, and he was about issuing the grants, when he received a _decree_ from the Legislature--which was then in session--forbidding him to grant any more land, under any pretext.

This measure was taken to prevent the great land speculators from carrying on their swindling operations in Texas.

An act was soon after passed by that body, repealing all their Colonization laws; and thus every hope that I had so fondly entertained, and each fair prospect, seemingly so near its realization, _was instantly blasted and utterly destroyed_! If ever the fortitude of man was tried, mine was then.

If ever stoic philosophy might be successfully called to the aid of human courage, I felt the necessity of invoking it upon that occasion.