Unsuccessful in escaping debt through traditional business pursuits, 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-OnÃs Treaty clarified Spanish title to Texas, he traveled to San Antonio, where he arrived on December 23, 1820, seeking permission to bring his colonists. Spurned by Governor Antonio MarÃa MartÃnez, he chanced to meet the Baron de Bastrop in one of the most famous turns of history in Texas. Austin and Bastrop had chanced to meet nineteen years earlier when in New Orleans on unrelated trips and had had no contact during the interim. Nevertheless, the two recognized each other. 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. On December 26, 1820, Governor MartÃnez endorsed and forwarded the plan to higher authority.