The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 68, July 1964 - April, 1965 Page: 434
574 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Two days later, on September i 1, Lubbock forwarded copies
of Th6ron's letter and his own reply to President Jefferson Davis
with the comment, "As the proceeding of said Consul would
seem to indicate an incipient intrigue, I have deemed it proper
to advise you thereof on the threshold."4 Davis showed the cor-
respondence to Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin and to
Senators W. S. Oldham and L. T. Wigfall of Texas.
The calculating, logical, and suspicious secretary of state re-
acted as Lubbock had and imparted the deepest possible mean-
ings to Thron's letter of inquiry. Benjamin realized that North-
ern and Southern armies, engaged in an internal conflict, were
not prepared to meet European encroachments. Hence, like most
Americans, he was apprehensive and responded strongly to any
supposed attempt to establish European influence on the Amer-
ican continent.
Secretary Benjamin especially feared France. He knew that
France had opposed the annexation of Texas and that many
citizens of the republic had supported the French position.
Through his friendship with Alphonse de Saligny, French charge
d'affaires to the Republic of Texas, Benjamin had read the con-
fidential letters of Francois Guizot, the most important power
in the French government at that time, and had learned that
French ambitions on the American continent extended far be-
yond Texas. Guizot had advocated a project that included not
only the establishment of an independent Texas but the conquest
of all Mexican territory lying west of Texas.5 Those plans had
not been achieved during the 1840's, but it seemed that a better
opportunity existed for their accomplishment during the early
186o's when the United States was torn apart by civil strife and
the ambitious Napoleon III ruled France.
Napoleon III had dedicated himself to acquiring new terri-
tories and extending French influence abroad to raise his declin-
'Lubbock to Davis, September 11, 1862, Executive Record Book (Archives, Texas
State Library), No. 81, 341; Lubbock, Six Decades in Texas, 512.
5Benjamin to Slidell, October 17, 1862, Pickett Papers (Library of Congress,
Washington, D. C.), Vol. 8o, 34-40; James D. Richardson (comp.), A Compilation
of the Messages and Papers of the Confederacy, Including the Diplomatic Corre-
spondence, 186z-1865 (2 vols.; Nashville, 1905), II, 335-336; Henry Blumenthal,
A Reappraisal of Franco-American Relations, z83o0-871 (Chapel Hill, 1959), 36-46,
126.434
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 68, July 1964 - April, 1965, periodical, 1965; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101198/m1/519/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.