The Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record, Volume 21, Number 1, November 1985 Page: 27
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LORENZO DE ZAVALA: MEXICAN TRAITOR OR TEXAS IDEALIST?
of Mexican independence. Zavala seized opportunities to confer with
representatives of other former Spanish colonies, seeking again to establish
coordinated Latin American arrangement, an idea which ultimately resulted
in the Pan American Union.
Some French royalists thought that Spain was attempting to hold
tenaciously to Mexico so that Mexico might supply a throne for the younger
royal children of the Bourbon line - this in spite of the American Monroe
Doctrine.
In Paris, Zavala did meet informally with the Spanish representative
(of the new Queen Isabella II) frequently and unofficially, and with her
foreign minister, the Duke de Frias.
In addition to his duties as Minister to France, Zavala was also named
the Minister to the Holy See, i.e. the Roman Catholic Church in Rome.
This appointment was surprising in view of his unpopularity with the Mex-
ican Catholic clergy, from whom he had sought to take lands and revenues.
His anti-clerical attitude did not lessen his personal loyalty to the Catholic
Church, but he did not get to Rome.
He continued work on his controversial book of Travels, on the third
volume of his Historico (which volume unfortunately disappeared after San
Jacinto), and on an unpublished volume of travels in Holland, Switzerland,
and Germany.
Zavala was always a radical liberal reformer. As a student,
young journalist, legislator, foe of the Spanish aristocracy and of
church privileges, theoretical and practicing constitutionalist, ex-
perienced politician as state governor and national secretary, member
and leader of insurrections, historian and social scientist, he fought
and intrigued with all of his tremendous abilities for popular
representative federalism. His "Ensayo" shows a remarkable grasp
of historical and social forces which place him in a very limited cir-
cle of the forerunners of liberal reform, and his trips to the United
States and France showed him the new political ideas put into prac-
tice. The monthly resumes he sent to Mexico City from Paris pay
particular attention to forms of government, and it is an interesting
sidelight to note that he customarily signed them after envoking
"God and Liberty" or "God, Liberty, and Federalism," which were
not empty expressions of usage to him.15
15John H. Wells, op. cit., p. 13.Nov. 19851
27
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Texas Gulf Historical Society. The Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record, Volume 21, Number 1, November 1985, periodical, November 1985; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1433656/m1/29/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Gulf Historical Society.