The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 14, July 1910 - April, 1911 Page: 130
348 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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130
Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
basis of the guarantees in the Louisiana Purchase Treaty of 1803,
on the assumption that Texas was a part of the Territory of Louis-
iana at that time. Obviously, the importance of the memorial lies
quite as much in its origin as in its content. With whom did the
plan originate? Was it Major Tyler's own independent scheme, or
was Tyler only an agent of higher authorities? Could the plan
have been prompted by the tortuous counsels of Napoleon III or
by some of his officials in Mexico? Did it originate with the hard-
pressed Confederate authorities at Richmond or with the military
commanders of the Trans-Mississippi Department?
The whole memorial is based upon the belief, confidently ex-
pressed, that the French emperor is willing enough to intervene,
if given the proper opportunity. There were not wanting proofs
that the independence of the Confederate States was an important
desideratum of his larger policies. Is it possible that Napoleon
III had inspired Tyler's plan? If we accept the argument of the
memorial, namely, that because of the diplomatic situation the
French emperor was in no position to take the initiative but must
await an appeal founded upon some definite obligation, such an as-
sumption would do no violence to our knowledge of Napoleon's tac-
tics. Just a year before the French consul at Galveston, M. Th6ron,
had sent a note to Governor Lubbock suggesting that Texas might
find it desirable to withdraw from the Confederacy and re-estab-
lish the old Republic-presumably under the protection of
France-a suggestion which Lubbock denounced as evidence of "an
incipient intrigue" and revealed to Jefferson Davis, who promptly
expelled Th6ron from Confederate territory. However, it could
not be found that the French consul had been inspired from Paris."
It is not likely that the French would have gone to Arkansas to
secure an agent. There is nothing to show that the officials in
Mexico had anything to do with Tyler's mission; for, though ru-
mors were abroad that Marshal Bazaine had some sort of instruc-
tions to co-operate with the Confederate authorities or those of
Texas if a favorable opportunity offered, these rumors have never
yet been substantiated. A search through the archives of Paris or
Mexico might reveal more of Napoleon's intentions.
1Lubbock, Six Decades in Texas, 511; Richardson, Messages and Papers
of the Confederacy, II, 334-337, 389.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 14, July 1910 - April, 1911, periodical, 1911; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101054/m1/144/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.