  The over enthusiastic praise of Texas, its lands, its climate, and its opportunities in an economic sense should stamp Considerant as a promoter, if it were not for the caution with which he approached the formation of the colony. After serious investigation, it will appear to anyone that he was effusive by nature and his praise was sincere; no flattering statement was made by him to induce people to part with their money, or to participate in the Texas adventure. In fact, his first appeal to the French socialists to immigrate in mass to Texas contains a warning to those who contemplated investing money in the venture. He said that he had always with obstinate sincerity exposed the illusion of attributing to a first scientific experimental establishment the character of a profitable investment. Furthermore, he warned that: first, the establishment must be considered as a costly experiment; second, that little or no returns on the money invested could be expected; and third, it would require very extensive co-operation to avoid compromising individual fortunes. The first necessity for successful establishment, Considerant thought, was the creation of an agency to direct colonization. This agency was to have two functions: first, to acquire lands on which the first settlements were to be made; second, to prepare these lands to receive the first immigrants. Preparation was to involve the purchasing of grain, foods, live stock, implements, and the erection of houses sufficient to care for the first groups to arrive. After the advance guards of the immigrants had been established, they were in turn to choose other grounds and construct other houses for the next or succeeding wave of newcomers. This method would be continued indefinitely, much like the Wakefield method proposed in England, until the available lands were taken. Of course, the difference between the Wakefield method and the one proposed by Considerant is that Wakefield would have colonization carried on by the government on money which had been obtained by the sale of government lands, while Considerant’s scheme provided for collectivism, sanctioned and supported by private individuals, either as participants in the act of colonization or as interested observers. Considerant was an experimenter, and intended the colony in Texas to be purely an experiment. He definitely states:
Thus, again, he firmly states that it is an ideal of betterment of humanity that he is seeking and not the bolstering up of his own pet ideas. If by experiment another way could be established that would prove more acceptable than the one he already had under consideration, he would be willing immediately to adopt the other plan. Seemingly, Considerant planned the whole movement as an experiment and investigation into the social phases of life. He had an idea of social betterment, which he admitted was no more than a mere theory, and by means of this colony in Texas, placed under the most favorable conditions, he could test the theory. The aims of the colony as far as settlement is concerned were, to purchase lands in Texas, to bring a nucleus of colonists to the new location, and to prepare the ground for reception of the members of the colony. Of the latter, Considerant says,
He thought that the colonists should, as a general rule, find on their arrival in a new country conditions equal to those which they left, and that they should bring with them the reasonable hope that their conditions would soon be made much better. In order to insure such a development, Considerant proposes that there should be two phases of development in the colony. Americans, already accustomed to the climate and modes of cultivation practiced in Texas, were to be the chiefs of the first operations. These chiefs were to be assisted by volunteer workmen of Europe and America who expected to participate in the colony and who apparently were to labor for the “faith and interest of the enterprise,” while any lack of helpers was to be supplied by hired labor, men who were already familiar with frontier life. The workers were to clear the land, break the ground, plant the fields, sow the grain, build the buildings, purchase saw and grist mills at Cincinnati or Pittsburg and transfer them to the new fields. Livestock were to be purchased and branded with the mark of the colony and then turned loose in the fields and the forest to multiply. In fact, there was to be a fully developed and operating industrial and agricultural community already in existence before the Europeans, except “skillful nursery-men, vine dressers and gardeners,” ever arrived in Texas. Considerant writes, in enumerating what should be prepared, the following:
The second phase was apparently nothing more than the Europeans’ taking possession of what had already been created, and their continuing to repeat the process of preparation for others still to arrive. In spite of the Utopian scheme, the plan would have probably succeeded in establishing some sort of colony had not the colonists in America and Europe been too anxious and rushed in before preparations were made for them. Instead of waiting and gradually settling the lands which had been purchased as planned, the colonists came to unprepared fields and barren hills. This haste, no doubt, was due in large part to the advertisement which both Considerant and Brisbane gave the proposed colony in America and Europe. There was one group of bachelors, especially, that On September 26, 1854, at Brussels, Belgium, the articles of the SociÉtÉ de Colonisation Europeo-Americaine au Texas were signed by Victor Prosper Considerant, Allyre Bureau, Charles Francois Guillon, Jean Baptiste Godain-Lemaire, and four others. In the new society some arrangements were to be The first article of the statutes of the society provided for the establishment of a central agency in Paris, other agencies in New York and in other places where the business of the company might justify such an establishment. Furthermore, it stated the purpose of the society to be the planting and promoting of a colony as explained and defined in Considerant’s book entitled Au Texas, published in Paris in May, 1854. The second article provided conditions of investments of capital and for the payment of dividends resulting from the operation of the society. The company was capitalized at $1,000,000 in American money, or 5,250,000 francs, and subscriptions were to be received in units of five, twenty-five, and one hundred twenty-five dollars. The subscriptions were to be divided into two groups: actions a dividendes and actions a primÉ. The former was divided into three series, to be issued each succeeding six months period and was to bear interest at the rate of four per cent. The actions a dividendes were not to participate in the earnings of the society, with the exception of ten per cent of the net income, which was to be set aside to constitute a reserve fund. Provisions were made in the statutes for the appointment of an agent in Texas to be the executive officer of the organization in that state, and who would be held directly responsible to the governors of the society. Considerant accepted the proffered position and was instructed to establish himself in America, where he was to receive subscriptions and deliver bonds purchased from the society; acquire or sell in the name of the society, furniture, tools, and lands; receive payments and give quittance; agree in courts, and treat with the states for concessions, or in general to transact any and all business for the company in America. Furthermore, he agreed to give the society all concessions made by him personally while in America, thus removing any chance of criticism of the conduct of affairs by the officials. His salary was not to be less than $1,200 per year. The life of the charter of the society was to extend to December 31, 1874, with the possibility of extension of time, provided two-thirds of the bondholders present and voting declared such to be their desire. Should no extension be decided upon, the affairs of the company would be liquidated. By article thirty-one of the statutes the society was to be constituted as soon as the subscription should reach $100,000, which was declared to have been achieved on September 26, 1854, when A. Brisbane and Godin-Lemaire subscribed $20,000 each, Considerant had brought to the society an undesignated amount. The above amounts were not merely investments in the form that we understand investments today, they were payments of “rights of participation.” That is, a man bought a certain amount of bonds and this gave him a right to lands controlled by the company and a corresponding right to draw from the company’s storehouse a certain specified amount of materials or food, or as Considerant himself said,
The plan was apparently very much like the profit-sharing plan which many leading industrialists are placing into operation today, each employee being paid for his labor and, in addition, receiving an income from the money which he has invested. In order to raise money for the colony, Considerant realized that he had to depend upon the capitalists for a great deal of the money, to which many of his followers objected. However, Considerant pleaded for The first proposal concerning capital was rather chimerical. As an hypothesis, the sum of $800,000 was taken as a reasonable amount for the promotion of the company. With this sum 400,000 or perhaps 300,000 acres of land were to be bought at the price of twenty-five cents per acre, and within two years 1200 colonists were to be permanently settled on this land. In addition the following estimates were made:
Thus, there would be a balance of $400,000 in the treasury for further development of the colony. In order to make it easy to raise this money there were provided four ways in which one could invest, viz., (a) invest the money and reserve the right to participate in the movement later as a colonist, (b) to become a colonist, (c) gifts to be paid in installments, (d) people to act as commercial and colonizing agents. Such relations in a financial way would determine the status of a settler after he had arrived at the colony, and, of course, the settler’s own desire as to his relations with the colony would have some effect. The financial relations were to be determined by the formation of the following groups within the colony:
Only the first two groups were to have a full fellowship, the others merely held rights in the company and participated in its activities in a small degree. Outside of the above practical and semi-practical purposes, and underlying the whole idea of the colony was a theory, novel, interesting, and at times fantastic. In the first place, the colony was not communistic but socialistic; that is, a socialism partaking of both present day socialism and advanced capitalism. Several times Considerant voiced his objection to communism and once stated that nearly all new societies had been ruined by a “gross and rudimentary form of Communism.” In La RÉunion a person was to be either worker or proprietor, and no equal division of earnings was ever to be made. Each person was to reap the reward of his own labor, and partake of the profits of the company as they accrued. He proposed, however, very advanced actions which progressive capitalists accept today, namely, a maximum and a minimum wage scale to be determined by the members of the society; co-operation “in credit, of exchange, of mutual insurance, by provisions of cases of sickness, and social guarantees in behalf of old age and infancy.” These regulations were to be basic, but were subject to Considerant did not object to private establishments, even being willing to aid them in reaching the new country and in getting established near the colony. He thought that if they were to establish themselves in proximity to the colony it would help increase the value of the colonial lands. Any benefits derived from collectivism would also be extended to the individual owners surrounding the colony. The unified efforts would be to such a great advantage, it appeared, that no one would long desire to remain outside. The colonists “must possess every moment, not only an abstract and theoretical kind of liberty, but a practical guarantee, by the very nature of organization, of the faculty to detach themselves from it at their individual pleasure.” The colony was to be an example of co-operation one with the other. The members could work in communities practicing “individualism” and take advantage of the co-operative organizations in so far as they desired. One might live several miles from the colony, or he might live in the colony, and work as an individual or in a group (phalanx). One could change rapidly from the individualistic to the co-operative or vice-versa. Anyone might enter the colony or leave it as he might desire. No compulsion was to exist, no regulatory demands made on any person. The society itself was not to be exclusive: all other societies that desired to co-operate—whether of the same opinion or not—had the right to participate. The function of the European-American Colonization Society was to prepare a place of liberty and prosperity and to represent liberal doctrines. Other societies were invited Another part of his scheme was that of instruction or teaching. One day was to be set apart for the teaching “of the social aims and of the common faith, to the discussion of the general ideas and expressions of the harmonic or the religious sentiment of the population.” Certain functions that were unitary and of utilitarian value were to be considered and voted upon by the whole body, and were to be developed out of the religious emotions of the people. Favorable attitudes toward progressive measures were also to be created, taking care, however, that the whole movement was one of spontaneity and not one of passive acceptance. A university and primary schools were to be provided wherein the French and English languages and literatures were to be taught: art, physical and mechanical sciences were to be taught by men of approved ability, giving an opportunity to every person to follow the trend of his own inclinations. A library was also to be provided, supplied, no doubt, from the expected gifts of books to be received in subscriptions to the stock of the company. The whole educational system, however, was to allow for spontaneous acceptance of the program Perhaps the most illusory part of the dream was that concerning commerce. La RÉunion was to become the center of a gigantic commercial system. Colonies were to be established in all the states of the union, especially in the Southwest, and they were to carry on their commerce with one another, and through the mother colony connection would be made with Europe. Considerant visualized great wagon trains winding through the valleys and over the hills converging at La RÉunion with their loads of foods, metals, and manufactured goods ready for the European markets. In fact, the shorter distance from Dallas to the Gulf of Mexico than from Santa Fe to the same port was one of the determining factors which led to the selection of the land near Dallas for the center of this undertaking. At La RÉunion the plan was to have the colony self-sustaining and able to manufacture various materials for exportation, such as furniture, pottery, brass work, glass, smelted iron, as well as articles of food, especially pickles, and meat products. His supreme concept of the colony was expressed as follows:
With such arrangements and connections in Europe as have been mentioned, and with such a Utopian plan, Considerant asked for and received letters of introduction from various men in Europe and the United States, among whom were H. W. Merrill, Lieut. Major, U.S.A., and J. J. Seibel of the American Consulate in Belgium, and came to establish a colony in Texas. |
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