The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 45, July 1941 - April, 1942 Page: 138
409 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Meanwhile Saligny, with the aid of his cohorts in France,
framed an act entitled the Franco-Texienne Bill, incorporating
the details of his scheme in a proposed law that Saligny hoped
to get rushed through the Fifth Congress when it should
convene in the fall of 1840.4
The bill proposed that the Texas legislature grant to the
French corporation three million acres of land in sections
scattered over the western area of the country; upon this land
the company was to locate at least eight thousand French
immigrants by January, 1849. As an inducement to migrate,
the immigrants were to have the right to import whatever
they chose, free of duty for a period of twenty years. Moreover,
the land settled by the company was to be free of taxation
until 1848. The French company in turn was to establish a
line of at least twenty forts along the western frontier from
the Red River to the Rio Grande, and maintain them for a
period of twenty years.5 As soon as eight thousand settlers
were actually located in or near these forts, the company was
to receive full title to the three million acres of land.
In addition, the French company was to have the privilege
of working all the mines found in the ceded area during the
twenty-year grant, provided fifteen per cent of the annual
proceeds were given to the Treasury of Texas. Exclusive
privileges of trade with the towns of upper Mexico were also
granted to the company. No other settlers or companies would
be granted land in the areas ceded to the French for a period
of twenty years.
Obviously the Franco-Texienne Bill offered excellent oppor-
tunities for France. Texas lay between Mexico and the United
States, two countries which had imposed high tariffs on French
goods; if the Franco-Texienne Bill were passed, French goods
could enter Texas ports free of duty for twenty years and could
thus be marketed cheaply to the frontier towns of upper
Mexico.6 To insure this, the Bill provided for a monopoly over
4Mayfield to McIntosh, May 12, 1841, in George P. Garrison, "The Diplo-
matic Correspondence of the Republic of Texas," Annual Report of the
American Historical Association for 1907 and 1908. Washington, 1911.
III, 1326.
5William C. Binkley, The Expansionist Movement in Texas, 1836-1850, 54.
6Texas Centinel, May 27, 1841. A long article copied from the Paris
Constitutional which was printed verbatim in New York Herald for April
27, 1841.138
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 45, July 1941 - April, 1942, periodical, 1942; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146053/m1/152/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.