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TEXAS ST.ATE LIBRARY
Possessing a territory, the prodigious fertility of which is acknowledged by every body, Texas finds herself, in respect to her administration, in such a condition as to give to her a greater analogy to the American union than any individual state of the union, and we have here to re- mark that if nearly all these states have a private debt, the central government of the union is now free from any. Besides, these different debts of the states of the union are not the cause of the financial crises which have taken place but too often. The credit of tlie states has been kept up to a much greater degree than it is generally supposed in Francs, [France?] and the reason of it is easy to give, viz: that notwithstanding ·the just reproaches which can be directed against some American individuals, notwithstanding the stop- ping of cash payments by the United States Bank, an establishment which, in reality, has no connection whatever with the central govern- ment, it is well known that the mopey spent out of these loans has been employed for objects eminently useful and productive, the increase of territorial wealth has been so rapid, the payment of the dividends on these loans has been so regular, that the possessors of these bonds never could feel the least uneasiness as to their value, and their confidence in the future could not be shaken. · If we compare the resources of the different states of the union with those of Texas, we shall find every advantage in favor of this last country. Texas is more extensiv~, more fertile, and richer, from the variety of the products of its soil, than any .of the states of the union taken individually. Its government perfectly similar to that of the United States, offers equal securities for order and stability. As a sovereign state, it possesses a public domain, which alone forms an immense wealth, and gets besides, by its tariff, a reYenue which increases every day, whilst in the union the central government, alone, and not the states, is in possession of this source of revenue. Notwithstanding so many advantages, Texas, knowing the importance of credit, and desirous to establish her own on a firm and solid founda- tion, has had in mind, in calling upon France for help, to offer to her a security which changes into certainty the chances which to this day have been the law of every loan. With this view to the securities gen- erally given by the different states of the union, she has added: 1. The direct and special mortgage of 5,000,000 acres of land at the price of 7 fr. 40 c. the acre, which in fact will cost but 5 fr. 62 c. to the lenders, from their having paid only 75 per cent. (See Art. III and VI of the Prospectus.) 2. The obligation to receive half the amount of. custom house duties and half the price of the sale of lands belonging to the national domain, (see Art. VII of the Prospectus,) in bonds of the loan at par, an obliga- tion which creates two new means for the reimbursement, one of which is certainly abundant. 3. The obligation of an annual drawing by lottery, the first of which shall take place on the 1st of March, 1843, not to be less than a thousand bonds a year, and which may be increased by the sale of lands, the full nett [sic] proceeds of which shall be paid into the hands of Messrs. J. Lafitte & Co. 4. The deposit in the public treasury of France of 25 per cent. of
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