F<>reign Cokmisatiun of Texas, r820-1835
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on May 6, 1819, sent to him by Fatio. The news item stated that a group of Swiss agents had contracted with Onis for a grant of twenty square leagues in the Province of Texas. The article revealed further that the Spanish ambassador had left for Madrid, where he would urge approval of the plan by the ·King. The terms of the contract were said to provide for local self-government, free lands, exemption from taxation, and free trade with all nations and with the other Spanish colonies. 16 The Viceroy was not favorably impressed. He was still suspicious of anyone from the United States. But Onis learned on October 6, 1819, that the project had received the King's blessing, but that execution of the plan was to be deferred until after the signing of the Florida Treaty. Meanwhile, the Swiss agents in Philadelphia informed the New Spanish minister in the United States on June IO, r820, that they had changed their minds and preferred to settle in Spain.11 Had the Swiss colonists come to Texas in 1819, it would have been the first formal settlement by foreigners authorized by the Crown. German. interest in Texas. Herr J. Val Hecke proposed to the German Government that it obtain a grant of land for colonization in Texas. Spain's neglect of this rich province, he argued, was no indication of its real value. It was larger than Germany; it contained countless acres of the most fertile soil known; and the rich ore _deposits awaited the enterprising miner. A considerable tract could be purchased from Spain and opened to settlers. Given support for a period of from five to ten years, each colonist family would be able to bring under cultivation a minimum of fifty acres. After that the colony would become self- supporting. Hecke pointed out the great commercial advantages that would accrue to Germany. Galveston Bay would become the center for trade between the Mississippi, the Rio Grande, and Mexico; German settlers would control trade with the Indians; and the new colony could produce cotton, indigo, and sugar. The expense for establishing the proposed settlement could be borne by a company organized on a basis similar to that of the East India Company, which would relieve the Government ''Translation of article in Philadelphia Gas:ette, May 6, 1819; Fatio to Viceroy, July, 1819, A. G. I., Pape/es de Estado, Mexico, Num. 14, pp. 7S, 76. 17 Francisco Dionisio Divas to the Secretary of State, Washington, June Io, 1820; Viceroy to Minister of State, November 30, 1819, A. G. I., Pape/es de Estado, Mako, Num. 23, pp. 210, 211; Nwn. 14, pp. 42, 43. It is of interest to note that Onis was approached also by a group of French Canadians with a similar proposal for a colony in Texas.
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