Our Cat/10/ic Heritage i11 Texas
inquire about the founding of a colony in Texas. They sought a grant of 20 square leagues on some river such as the Trinity. It was their intention to distribute sixteen leagues to the prospective settlers, to sell three leagues in order to raise funds to defray tbe expenses of trans- portation, and to reserve the proceeds from the remaining league for erecting public buildings. Particularly appealing was the emphatic statement that no monetary or material aid was expected. All they desired were the land and arms and munitions for defense against Indians and foreign aggressors. There were 300 prospective settlers already in the United States, some of them of independent means, who would go to Texas. Upon approval of the project, 10,000 others would be brought from Switzerland within the next three years. This was, indeed, an attractive proposition. Such a colony would form a stout shield to protect Mexico against all enemies. Onis readily agreed to help secure approval of the plan. In recommending the proposal, he confessed he had urged the S\viss agents to abandon their plans for colonies in the United States and Brazil, and concentrate their efforts on Texas by pointing out the numerous advantages, such as the undeveloped resources of the province and its salubrious climate. He had even assured them that the King would give favorable consid- eration to the petition and grant everything needed for the establishment of the proposed colonies except money. In 'sponsoring the project, ·Onis took occasion to emphasize the importance of populating Texas. To retain the gains made by the Treaty of Florida, he declared that the province had to be settled. He reviewed the repeated attempts of the Crown to colonize Texas for more than a century, and warned that to fail now to occupy the province would nullify the renunciation of all American claims to the province. The security of Mexico and the future amicable relations with the United States depended, Onis said, on building up the population. Logically he concluded that the King could not afford to pass up this splendid proposition.is Impatient with the failure of royal officials to see the importance of the plan, he exclaimed, "I would be derelict in my duty were I not to call attention to this matter which pertains more to diplomacy than to administration." The first intimation the Viceroy of Mexico had of the proposed Swiss colony was a copy of an article published in the Philadelphia Gazette lSQni.s to the Duke of San Fernando, Madrid, September 20, 1819; Onis to Castro, Naples, March 1, 1821, A. G. I., Pa/eles de Estado, Mnieo, Num. 23, pp. 212, 213, :us, 217 • .
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