The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 27, July 1923 - April, 1924 Page: 142
344 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
American settlers on the Brazos. It was, however, never fully
carried out and encumbered the state's domain with law suits.
Since our constitution granted the right of citizenship and of
voting after six months residence to any race, European govern-
ments early sought to control through colonization and by the
European vote to prevent American institutions. A measure
known as the Franco-Texian bill was introduced in congress in
1841. Ostensibly it was to provide protection of the frontier; it
was proposed to settle eight thousand armed Frenchmen on the
Brazos, from the mouth of the Paluxy upwards-a territory at
the time one hundred and fifty miles from any settlement. The
bill was rejected on account of the public clamor against it. Every
American backwoodsman knew that such people so isolated could
not make their own living for years. Unacquainted with Indian
warfare they would have become a prey and bait for savages. Be-
sides three years later, at the election of 1844, the whole republic
did not have eight thousand votes. The absurdity of the whole
scheme is apparent.
Objections could hardly be made to Castro's colony; it was on
a rather small scale, and to be French and German mixed. The
German colony to be settled on the Guadalupe above Seguin, al-
though on a larger scale, was not impracticable. Both were in
easy communication with the coast and limited to three years for
the settlement. The time expired in 1843 but the colonies were
not settled; their contracts were forfeited, and they had to apply
to Congress for relief to get an extension of time. The contracts
had never been pub.lihed. When fairly examined it was revealed
that the German one had been made with a kind of syndicate of
European grandees, flourishing their titles in it as dukes, counts,
princes, and Herr Vons, at the very least. Such men could never
be citizens of Texas, and if they continued residence in their own
land their influence was undesired in this. It was in fact a
scheme from England to crowd into this country a foreign ele-
ment to prevent with their vote our annexation to the United
States.
In the meantime England and France made to our president
their proposition to guarantee our independence of Mexico with
the important proviso that we remain independent and never an-
nex to another country. It was easy to keep this proviso from142
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 27, July 1923 - April, 1924, periodical, 1924; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101086/m1/148/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.