Note 13 — Chapter IV · ATTITUDE OF TEXANS TOWARD THE COLONY

[1]For a brief study of socialism see Thomas Kirkup, A History of Socialism (New York, 1909); John Spargo, A Summary and Interpretation of Socialistic Principles (New York, 1906); Harry W. Laidler, A History of Socialist Thought (New York, 1927). For a more extended study, Donald Drew Egbert and Stow Persons, editors, Socialism and American Life (Princeton, New Jersey, 1952), 2 Vols.

[2]A. C. Pigou, Socialism Versus Capitalism (London: Macmillan and Company, 1938), p. 2; Egbert, op. cit., I, iii.

[3]Ibid., 1.

[4]Egbert, Socialism and American Life, I, Introduction.

[5]See also Max Beer, A History of British Socialism, London, 1929, I, 160-180; Egbert, op. cit., I, 156-172.

[6]H. W. Laidler, Social-Economic Movements (Thomas Y. Cromwell, New York, 1946), 98.

[7]Socialism, Utopian and Scientific (Chicago: 1914), 74; Egbert, op. cit., I, iii.

[8]Engels, op. cit., 91.

[9]This conclusion does not coincide with the discussion in Socialism and American Life, I, 215-522 by Daniel Bell. It appears that Bell used an indefensibly wide interpretation of Marxianism to demand so many pages to relate the actions of the followers of Marx. An example, from the viewpoint of this author, may be noted on page 250. The discussion in these two hundred and fifty pages is a splendid story of American Socialism but hardly of Marxian Socialism in America.

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[1]D. O. Wagner, Social Reformers from Adam Smith to John Dewey (New York: 1934), 213-239. Harry W. Laidler, Social-Economic Movements, An Historical and Comparative Survey of Communism, Cooperation, Utopianism: and Other Systems of Reform and Reconstruction (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1946), 44-117. For general discussion concerning the period see Revue des Deux Mondes, XXIIIe Annee, Seconde serie de la Nouvelle Period, III, No. 1, 1853, 320-345, and especially, 1852, No. 3, 508-545.

[2]For a criticism of Fourier’s ideas and system see Mme. C. Coignet, Victor Considerant, sa Vie, son Oeuvre (Paris, France, 1895), 5-9; Frederic Engels, Socialism, Utopian and Scientific, translated by Deward Aveling (Chicago, 1914), 63-66; Harry W. Laidler, A History of Socialist Thought (New York, 1927). For a more extensive biography, La Grande Encyclopedie Nouvelle Biographie Generale depuis les Temps les plus Recules Jusqua nos jours, XII; Coignet, op. cit., 2-5. Fourier’s chief works are Le Noveau Monde Industrial et Societaire, 1829; Traité de l’association Domestiquée Agricole au Attraction Industrielle, 2 Vols., 1822; La Theorie des Quarte Mouvements et de Destinées Générales. For materials on related discussions see A. Grandin, Bibliographie des Science, etc. For a biography see F. August Bebel, Charles Fourier, Sein Leben Und Seine Theorien (Stuttgart, 1888).

[3]For a plan of phalanstery see Appendix B. Compare Albert Brisbane, Social Destiny of Man: or, Associations and Reorganization of Industry (Philadelphia, 1840), 353-354. For an extensive study see items listed in Egbert, op. cit., II, 132-135.

[4]Frederic Engels had a very high appreciation of Fourier; he said: “Fourier is not only a critic; his imperturbable serene nature makes him a satirist, and assuredly one of the greatest satirists of all times.... He was the first to declare that in any given society the degree of woman’s emancipation is the natural measure of the general emancipation.” See Frederic Engels, op. cit., 64-65. Ferrari, “Des Idées de L’école de M. Fourier depuïs 1830” in Revue des Deux Mondes, XI, August 1, 1845, No. 3, 389-434.

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[5]Eugene Fourniere, “Le Rèigne de Louis-Philippe, 1830-1848,” in Histoire Socialiste, 1789-1900, edited by Jean Jaures, 322-326.

[6]Coignet, op. cit., 1-16. For a list of his writings see Victor P. Considerant, in LaRousse du XXe Siécle, II, 425.

[7]Coignet, Victor Considerant, sa Vie, son Oeuvre, 11-22; see also Eugene Fourniére, op. cit.; Savardan, Un Naufrage au Texas (Paris, 1858), iii, 11-23.

[8]Coignet, op. cit., 29-34.

[9]Ibid.; Albert Brisbane, A Mental Biography With a Character Study by His Wife, Redelia Brisbane (Boston, 1893), 194; Hereafter cited as Mental Biography; Savardan, op. cit.; Victor Prosper Considerant, The Great West, A New Social and Industrial Life in Its Fertile Regions (New York, 1854) passim. Hereafter cited as The Great West.

[10]Eugene Fourniére, op. cit., 444.

[11]Brisbane, Mental Biography, 195.

[12]Brisbane, in the preface of Considerant, The Great West; see also, Considerant, Contre M. Arago Réclamation addresse a la Chambre des Deputies par les Redacteurs du Feuilleton de la Phalange. Suive de la Théorie Droit de Propriété, Paris, 1840.

[13]Albert Brisbane, op. cit., 315.

[14]New York Tribune, January 1, 1853, quoting the Allegemeine Zeitung.

[15]Albert Brisbane, op. cit., vii. For a short bibliography of Brisbane see Charles A. Madison, Critics and Crusaders (New York, 1947-1948), 114-133.

[16]Albert Brisbane, op. cit., 177; a further development of Brisbane’s ideas along this line is found in his Social Destiny of Man.

[17]Brisbane, Mental Biography, xi; For a discussion of Brisbane’s efforts in literature and propaganda see John Humphrey Noyes, History of American Socialist (New York, 1870), xvii, entitled “Literature of Fourierism.”

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[18]Brisbane, op. cit., 211.

[19]See infra. iv: footnote 25.

[20]Brisbane, Social Destiny of Man, or Associations and Reorganization of Industry (Philadelphia, 1840), 5-40.

[21]Brisbane, op. cit., 40.

[22]For a full list of writers and supporters see Noyes, History of Socialism, 211-231; C. Nordhoff, Communistic Societies of the United States (New York, 1875).

[23]For additional information concerning Fourierism in the United States, see William Alford Hinds, American Communities (Chicago, 1902), 221, 254, a list of phalanges on page 224; Albert Shaw, Icaire, A Chapter in the History of Communism (New York, 1884), ii.

[1]Victor Prosper Considerant, Au Texas, 1st, 1-6. There are two editions of this book, and, unfortunately, notes were taken from both. The editions will be referred to as 1st and 2nd.

[2]Ibid., 6; Coignet, Victor Considerant, sa Vie, son Oeuvre, 74, states that Considerant came directly to the United States in response to an invitation from Brisbane, intending to establish a colony.

[3]Considerant, op. cit., 8; Coignet, op. cit., 175.

[4]Ibid., Part I, especially 16-17.

[5]Picayune as quoted in the Northern Standard (Clarksville, Texas), May 21, 1853.

[6]Considerant, Au Texas (1st ed.), 23-28.

[7]Considerant, The Great West, 4-5; Au Texas (1st ed.), 28-29.

[8]Considerant, The Great West, 6; Au Texas (1st ed.), 32-33.

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[9]“The town of Preston, from which all this misery for the Red Man emanates, is a collection of low groggeries and a few stores, lining the high bluff bank of the River.

It is notorious as the scene of some most cold-blooded and cruel murders, committed in open day, and with—up to that time—perfect impunity. This, together with the detestable traffic I have just alluded, whiskey traffic has brought such a stigma upon the place, that the very name is sufficient for all that is ruthless and vicious.”

W. B. Parker, Notes Taken During the Expedition Through Unexplored Texas, 72.

[10]Letter written June 9, 1853 from Cooke County, quoted in the Northern Standard, June 18, 1853.

[11]Considerant, The Great West, 9-10; Au Texas (1st ed.), 37-44.

[12]Ibid., 42. The Icarian movement was an attempt to form a French colony which had preceded Considerant’s colony by several years.

[13]Ibid., 10-11. Perhaps the tomatoes were of the climbing variety.

[14]Considerant, The Great West, 10-11; Au Texas (1st ed.), 44-45.

[15]Considerant, The Great West, 11.

[16]Ibid., 14.

[17]Ibid., 20.

[18]Ibid., 23.

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[1]Considerant, The Great West, 27. The whole of Au Texas is a defense of the colonization scheme, in which Considerant is continually reminding the colonists and those who furnished the money that no golden promises were ever made.

[2]Ibid., 27-28.

[3]Ibid., 30-31.

[4]Ibid., 31.

[5]Ibid., 32.

[6]Ibid., 35.

[7]Herman Studer, Auswanderung nach hoch—Texas, Was wir in Texas wollen; Andeutungen Ueber Organization der Arbeit (Zuerich, 1855); Considerant, Description du Phalanstere et Considerations Sociales sur l’ Architect antique (3rd ed.), Libraire Societaire, Paris, 1846, 64.

[8]Considerant, Du Texas, premier Rapport a Mes Amis, (Paris, 1857), 7.

[9]Ibid., 8-9. This surprise and disappointment of Considerant in having all his advice disregarded might explain Considerant’s attitude toward Savardan’s party at New Orleans and Galveston, as given in Savardan, Un Naufrage au Texas, ch. ii.

[10]Considerant, Au Texas, (2nd ed.), 276. The title is sometimes written the Société Europeene de colonisation du Texas.

[11]Savardan, Un Naufrage Au Texas, 14; see also Coignet, Victor Considerant, sa Vie, son Oeuvre.

[12]Savardan, op. cit.

[13]Considerant, op. cit., 272-274. Agencies were to be established at No. 2 Rue de Beaune, Paris, France, and in New York, with Brisbane as agent for the United States—Considerant, The Great West, 60.

[14]Considerant, Au Texas, (2nd ed.), 240.

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[15]Appendix of statutes of the Society, ibid., 271.

[16]Considerant, A Petition to the Honorable, the Senate and the House of Representatives of the State of Texas (Austin, December 10, 1855), Enclosure c, 7.

[17]Quoting an extract from a letter to his excellency, the Governor of Texas, in ibid., 5.

[18]Considerant, Au Texas, (2nd ed.), 199-217.

[19]Ibid., 197, 301-324.

[20]Considerant, The Great West, 42; Au Texas (2nd ed.), 127-131.

[21]Considerant, The Great West, 59-60.

[22]Considerant, Au Texas, (2nd ed.), 306-310.

[23]Considerant, The Great West, 28-29.

[24]Considerant, Au Texas, (2nd ed.), 306-310.

[25]Considerant, The Great West, 25.

[26]Ibid., 37-38; Au Texas, (2nd ed.), 320-321.

[27]Considerant, The Great West, 30-31; see also succeeding footnote.

[28]Considerant, Au Texas, (2nd ed.), 189-190.

[29]Considerant, The Great West, 37-38.

[30]Considerant, European Colonization in Texas, 15; The Great West, 37-38; Au Texas, (2nd ed.), 167-170.

[31]Ibid., 169 ff.

[32]Considerant, The Great West, 44.

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[1]Considerant, European Colonization in Texas, An Address to the American People, New York, 1855, 4-6; Du Texas, 5-6.

[2]Considerant, European Colonization in Texas, 5.

[3]Ibid., 6-7.

[4]Ibid., 6-16.

[5]Also quoted in Considerant, op. cit., 31.

[6]For Considerant’s reply see his pamphlet European Colonization in Texas; for editorial of Washington Sentinel, see Texas State Gazette, October 13, 1855; For the letters see ibid., June 2, 1855, October 13, 1855.

[7]Texas State Gazette, October 13, 1855.

[8]Letter from J. L. to Editors, dated at Washington, May 2, 1855, as quoted in Texas State Gazette, June 2, 1855.

[9]European Colonization in Texas.

[10]Ibid., 32.

[11]Austin State Gazette, Aug. 11, 1855; Compare this article with the one written in the issue of September 22, 1855, wherein those who had suffered from persecution were advised to, “Come to the gallant West, where freedom is as expansive as the prairie, and as generous as the soil. Come to the West and let the golden grain you raise be sent back to feed the men whose ruthless hands would, as did those of Cain of old, strike down the toiling tiller of the soil.”

[12]Texas State Times, August 4, 1855.

[13]Ibid.

[14]Ibid.

[15]Ibid.; For opposition to other foreigners in Texas see Texas State Times, June 16, 1855, and also June 21, 1855.

[16]August 14, 1855.

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[17]As quoted in The Standard, February 24, 1855.

[18]August 25, 1855.

[19]Texas State Gazette, October 13, 1855.

[20]Ibid.

[21]Albert Brisbane, Social Destiny of Man; or Associations and Reorganization of Industry, ix, especially pps. 101-102.

[22]Considerant, European Colonization in Texas, 35-38.

[23]Texas State Gazette, August 11, 1855.

[24]Savardan, Un Naufrage au Texas, specifically states that the legislators would have no neutrality but actual participation favorable to the slavery question.

[25]New York Tribune as quoted in the Texas Sun, November 17, 1855.

[26]The petition is entitled “A petition to the Honorable, the Senate and the House of Representatives of the State of Texas,” and is in the Library of the University of Texas. Search of the state archives was made for the original document, with other information which Considerant referred to in the petition, but was not found, due to the fact that the records were not systematically filed at the time of the search.

[27]Considerant, European Colonization in Texas, 4ff. states his attitude toward this opposition and the reasons for his application.

[28]Extract from a letter to his Excellency the Governor of Texas, as quoted in “A Petition to the Honorable, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Texas,” 5.

[29]Dallas Herald, August 16, 1856.

[30]State Gazette Appendix, Austin, No. 79, Sixth Legislature, Adj. Sess. 205.

[31]House Journal, 1856, 566, and Austin Gazette, Appendix, No. 70, 205.

[32]Senate Journal, 1856, 340-341.

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[33]Ibid., 341.

[34]Ibid., Adj. Session, 394.

[35]Senate Journal, 1856, 412.

[1]Dallas Herald, as quoted in The Standard, February 24, 1855.

[2]Dallas Herald, as quoted in the Clarksville Standard, February 24, 1855.

[3]In preface of Considerant, The Great West.

[4]Ibid.

[5]Savardan, op. cit., 37-38; the numbers really indicate livres instead of pounds.

[6]The account of Savardan’s trip and the others mentioned above are found in Savardan, Un Naufrage au Texas, chap. iv.

[7]Savardan, op. cit., 201-203.

[8]Ibid., chap. iv.

[9]Samuel W. Geiser, “Naturalists of the Frontier,” in Southwest Review, October, 1928-July, 1929, XIV, No. 3, 331. An adequate biography of Julien Reverchon is given in this article by Mr. Geiser.

[10]Ibid. See also Preston Sneed, “Letter signed by Napoleon is in Dallas,” in Dallas News, Sunday, May 8, 1927.

[11]I have been able to locate only a few detached pages of his diary. These pages were in the possession of a grandson of the La Notte family or Lanotte.

[12]Esubia Lutz, “Almost Utopia,” in Southwest Review (October, 1928-July, 1929), Vol. XIV, No. 3, 321-330. Since writing this article Germain Santerre has died. See also George H. Santerre, White Cliffs of Dallas, the Story of La Reunion, The Old French Colony, Dallas, 1955, 137-142.

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[13]Ellis W. Schuler, “The Geology of Dallas County,” in University of Texas Bulletin, No. 1818, March 25, 1918.

[14]See Appendix A for a partial list of the colonists and see also Eloise Santerre, Réunion, a Translation of Dr. Savardan’s Un Naufrage au Texas.

[15]Texas State Gazette, February 10, 1855.

[16]The list of names contained in Appendix A was collected from articles, papers, and books written concerning the colony and does not represent any special investigation in unprinted sources. “The story of Old French Town” in the Dallas News, March 26, 1922; and also Santerre, op. cit., are perhaps the best sources available for names.

[1]Victor Prosper Considerant, Au Texas, le premier Rapport a mes Amis (1st ed., Bruxelles, 1855), 44; The Great West, A New Social and Industrial Life in its Fertile Regions (New York, 1854), 9-10; European Colonization in Texas, an Address to the American People (New York, 1855), 18. The greater part of this chapter first appeared as an article in The Southwestern Social Science Quarterly, XVII, No. 2, September, 1936.

[2]A Petition to the Honorable, the Senate and the House of Representatives of the State of Texas, Austin, December 10, 1885; Savardan, Un Naufrage au Texas ..., p. 30-31.

[3]Deed Record, Dallas County, Book K, 67-69; also Book F, 410-411.

[4]Considerant, Au Texas (2nd ed.).

[5]Savardan, op. cit., v.

[6]Phalanstery was the name given to a unit of the colony in writings supporting the movement.

[7]Deed filed in Harris County Record of Deeds, Book D, 164; see also County of Dallas, Deeds Record, Book K, 174-176.

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[8]Savardan, Un Naufrage au Texas, 148-149.

[9]Ibid., v.

[10]Southwest Review, (October-July, 1928-1929), XIV, 324-325. A list of the tracts purchased is found in Dallas County, Deed Record, Book K, 67-73.

[11]Savardan, op. cit., 244-246.

[12]Compare, Ibid., 160 ff.

[13]Savardan, Un Naufrage, 206-213.

[14]Considerant, Au Texas, passim, for definite explanation.

[15]Savardan, op. cit., 179 ff.

[16]Dallas Herald, November 23, 1859.

[17]Dallas Herald, June 1, 1859.

[18]Vincent, “The Story of Old French Town,” Dallas Morning News, November 23, 1919.

[19]Savardan, op. cit., vii.

[20]Ibid., vii.

[21]Ibid., 191-193.

[22]Ibid., 153-154.

[23]Ibid., 179, 180 ff.

[24] a. Considerant and council of six (supposedly elected by people). b. A Director, apparently responsible to the Council. c. Worker’s Council (elected from the different groups of workers). Two from this organization were elected to serve in the council of six. d. In addition to these committees there were numerous minor groups—one of the store, and one of the hotel—each one exerting some influence on local affairs.

Savardan, Un Naufrage au Texas, passim.

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[1]Savardan, Un Naufrage au Texas, 175-178.

[2]Ibid., 172, 206-207.

[3]Considerant, Du Texas, 14-16; Savardan, op. cit., 188.

[4]Du Texas, 9-13. He died in Paris, France, 1893.

[5]Ibid., 1.

[6]Savardan, op. cit., 150.

[7]Savardan, Un Naufrage au Texas, 151-153.

[8]Savardan, op. cit., 169-170.