The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1897-08-29

punishment that would havo been vh'"o
suon his head.
That was in May. returned to Atlarta
when l received this lcttor from MIN III
November"
Colonel Adair drew from his tNtkst a
long letter written On fal-i blue paper. II
was letter from The exlled goveiho',
written while he was In exile
The letter was as toll)wJ:
"Georke w. Adair.
"Cordova. Mexico. November IL. 1sta.
My Dear Sir: ! fingered near Grena Ia,
endeayoring to arrlnye some buf'pe's
matters. until tho l4th OF May. IN tie
meantime had had Skin bullt anc en-
the morning Of the iiui l embarked rome
six miles east of Greenwood and set zeal
for the Transmississippi. The party con-
sisted OF General Lyo, OF Kentucky. ~!
self and our two servans. We iavi..t yea
the back water for I20 niles and on Inc
morning Of the 2ist. Just .cfore the az
light crossed over to tn. hfSansas SHORE,
/ crossed at the foot Of island No. 20. 3tst
below the mouth VI the Arkansas ri'e;,
proceeded westward as far as the rh,h
water was naylgsble, and on the tri ins
OF the 22d left my rail bark icught
horses. mounted the party ard set OF ior
Shreveport, where hoped to find ar. blfny
resolved on continued re,istan e to fcdeiol
rule but before rerohins Shreveport
learned that the army Of the Trans.In sis-
sippI had disbanded and scattered TO the
winds aud all tho officers OF rank Ia gone
TO Mexico.
Having no further motive 10 visit
Shreveport turned my course 10 hed
River county, Texas. where portion o.
my negroes and plantation stock nal Teen
carried some two years ago. reached
there on the 7th OF June, wits taiel flick
and confined to my bed 4 week. On the
18th Of June. with my baggage. COOKING
utensils and provisions on pack Td'e,
set out for San Antonio, where expented
to overtake large number OF confederate
civil and military officers en- route to NICK
leo reached San Antonio on the 18th and
learned that all Confederates hal eft tor
Mexico some ten days Or two weeks Dc
fore On the morning OF the 9th started
to IIaglo Pass on the Rio Gran'ie. the ftd-
erals holding all tho crossings OF that
river below Eagle Pass. reached Eagle
Pass on the evening OF the Both and inime-
dately crossed over to the Mexican town
OF peidras Negras. On the morning OF
tho LIST OF July | set out for Monterrey
arrived there on the evening OF the 9'h'
Here overlook General Price and ex-Gov-
ernor Polk Of Missouri, who were starting
to the City of Mexico the next morning
| with an escort of twenty armed Missouri
| ans AS ! was going to the city, ana the
| trip was a long and dangerous one to make
| alone | decided to go with them, though
| was literally worn out with over 1000
| miles Of continuous horseback travel.
| exchanged my saddle horse, saidles, ETC,
| for an ambulance, put my TWO mules TO
| 1t. gave the whip and lines to pan, bought
| me Spanish grammar and dictionary, tock
| the back seat and commenced the study
| of the Mexican language. We male the
| trip at easy stages OF about twenty-five
miles per day and reached the C'ty OF
Mexico on the evening of the 9th Of Au-
gust.
The trip was one OF the longest, most
llaborious and hazardous OF my life, but
will not tax your time or mine with lts
"details many Of which would interest you
deeply II / was there to give them TO you.
"Our reception upon the part OF the gov
eminent officials here was all that VIC
could have expected or desired. We were
invited to an audience with the emperor
at the palace, the far-famed halls OF the
Monte2umas At the time fixed. we called
and were most kindly received by the en-
peror and empress and we're assured OF
their sympathy in our misfortunes and
OF their earnest hope that we might find
homes for ourselyaH and friends in Mex
leo. The empress, was our interpreter In
the interview, She speaks fMcntly the
French, Spanish. German and Engl sh lau-
guages. and Is In all respects great wo-
man. We overlook at the City Of Mexico
General Magruder. Commodore Maury,
Governor Allen OF Louisiana; Judge Per-
kins OF Louisiana Governor Reynolds Of
Missouri. and Governor Murrah and Gen
eral Clarke OF Texas. with many other and
Lesser Confederate lights. On the 9th OF
September the emperor published decree
opening all OF Mexico to immigration and
colonization, and Commodore Maury and
myself and other Confederates were re-
quested to prepare regulations to accom-
rany the decree which we did and which
were approved by the emperor ON the eth
, The decree and regulations offer very lib
, eral inducements to immigration. amongs,
, which are Il donation of public lands al
the rate OF GAO acres TO each head of 9
: family and $40 to each single man. A fire.,
/ passage to the country to such as are ho
a able to pay their own expenses freedom
[ from taxation for one year, and from
0 military duty for five years, religious toll
5 Grafton, etc. etc.
4 Commodore Maury has been appointed
e imperial commissioner of colonization
/ which makes his authority in the matte,
r OF colonization second only TO that OF tn,
c emperor. General Price, Judge Perkins am
d myself We're appointed agents OF colonial
9 ton, and requested to examine the Ian &
lying upon and near the l!ue Of railroa
!, from the City OF Mexico to Vera Cruz 70
a the purpose of determining whether the,
= were suited to American colonization. w
" are engaged at this time In the discharg
8 OF that duty We find in the vicinity o
this place the most beautiful and al
things considered. the best agriculture
y country that | have ever seen The eli
% mate is delightful, never hot never cold
always temperate, always pleasant. Tn
=, soil richer and more productive than tn
- best OF tho prairie lands Of Mississippi 4
u the Okolona country, yielding large crop
3. of corn, barley, rice. tobacco, sugar can
10 and coffee, with all the fruits of tn
ia tropics and the best that you ever tasted
You can raise two crops OF corn on IN
y same land each year. The usual mode q
10 farming here Is a crop o, corn and a Gro
is or tobacco on the same land, the co..,
ID rlpenlng always before time to plant ia
:, haoco, aud ten miles from here, in the al
- recticn Of the coast. you can strike as goo
IN cotton country as can be found in III
" world.
OF THE most profitable crop here Is COTE,
You plant about 600 or 500 trees To IN
acre, It besins to bear at two, and pro
70 duces full crop at four years old Yo
:, can always calculate safely on an ayeras
= OF two pounds to the tree, though ther
81 are Instances of trees bearing as high a
n-lA