alternatehistory.com

Chapter 11 Treaty of Paris

"Well I'll be, he hasn't even had one day as Secretary of State and yet Austin's got me a treaty."- President Sam Houston 1836
"By entering an alliance with the great Kingdom of France we shall be able to liberate ourselves from the oppressive British and step forward into the great nations of the world"- General George Washington 1778
"Why would the French be interested in Texas? Where is Texas anyway?"- Queen Victoria 1837

After two months of negotiations and appeals to the French parliament an alliance between the Republic of Texas and the Kingdom of France was created. The treaty of Paris, which was formally drafted on September 3rd, officially made France the first nation to recognize Texas's independence and made the European nation the chief benefactor to the young republic through troops and financial aid. The main terms of the treaty were:
While some saw these terms as entirely one sided for Texas there were actually many benefits for France. The main one being the free trade agreement where France would have a secure market for their manufactured goods and in return receive large amounts of agricultural products for a cheap price. With the large amount of colonists the French monarchy could use the opportunity to "encourage" liberals, protestants, republicans, Germans/Italians, and other anti-establishment groups to leave France and settle in a new country, never to plague France again. In addition France would have virtual military control over Texas and be given a free reign to use its army within the new world, where they can divert British attention from mainland Europe or the colonies in a possible war, meanwhile having a strong force in the region to provide a check on American or British rise in power. With these many benefits for the nation being argued it didn't take too long for the French nobility to come around to support the cause. Another surprisingly large area of support was among the Republican faction, many French Republicans saw Texas as fighting in a noble cause against an oppressive regime similar to its fight for liberty over 40 years prior. These people were filled with romantic ideals from propaganda on how the Texans had made an heroic stand at the Alamo and were simply a group of proud frontiersmen who wanted their families to live free in peace and liberty. Support was so widespread that for a while there was a small movement to form volunteer regiments to aid the cause, though Austin assured them that it wasn't necessary at the current moment. This large support in addition to patriotic fervor in the aftermath of the Algerian campaign, all but ensured the French people were behind their Texan friends. Now the treaty was sent off to Texas.

When the treaty arrived into Galveston on October 24th, Houston had barely set up quarters and congress had not even begun session. At the moment Columbia was the current capitol of the Republic and there was much speculation that it would change soon, however there were few ideal towns to be fit for the national government so therefore the Congress and the President were a bit disorganized. So when Congress officially began session on October 30th the first issue brought before the legislature was the fight to ratify the treaty. Among the congressmen a few radicals rejected the treaty as they called it becoming no more than Louis's lapdogs, they asserted that Texas had won its independence without foreign assistance and could remain so for the future, therefore following in the ideals of Washington. Others while accepting of an alliance were wary of the effects this could have of possible annexation of Texas into the Union. The pro-alliance camp would win in the end however after Mirabeau Lamar gave a grand speech before the Texas senate. In it he stated how the war was not yet won and Texas could come under threat at any moment, proclaiming that while Mexico may be divided today, tomorrow they may rise up and take back all that Texas had achieved. Lamar reminded these men how the French had helped their grandfathers during their time of need against the British, and that by rejecting their offer now it would be a disgrace to their memory. When the Treaty came to a vote the final tally was 11-3 within the Senate. Houston would soon sign the Texan copy of the treaty on November 10th. For now Texas had an ally in one of the world's most powerful nations. It's independence all but secured.


Texan Embassy in Paris (Right). French Legation in Austin (Left)

January 16th, 1837. Galveston, Texas

It was on a cold southern winter morning that Brigadier General William Barrett Travis stood on the port of Galveston. His reason for being there was to greet the arriving French forces as they were about to embark onto their tour of Texas. While Travis was at first reluctant to have a foreign army within the borders of his land, he later grew warm to the idea as he realized how much of an immense help one of Europe's largest professional armies would be for the Republic. While for the second half of last year Travis had turned the Texan army into a good fighting force, he knew that they could not keep up their large numbers forever without a strong treasury, even the number of recruits slowly died down as the ever present phantom danger of the Mexicans died down. Fortunately, it was a time of peace within the borders as Houston had managed to negotiate several treaties with the surrounding Indian tribes, oh sure the Comanche would probably be on the warpath in a few years, though when that happened Travis knew he and his men would be ready. It was around 11:00 that sailors on the shore reported the sight of a French flag. Eagerly, Travis rushed to the dock to greet his new allies. When he arrived at the docks though he noticed several details that were off about the French force, instead of a small transport squadron to ferry French troops there looked to be a large armada full of several frigates, ships of the line, and a few capitol ships. In addition from the number of troops transports there looked to be 30,000 French troops entering into Texas, not the mere 6000 that they were promised. 'Could the French have been planning to take over our nation all along? No that's impossible, Austin assured us that he secured a fair deal for our alliance, yet here it looks like Napoleon himself is preparing to do battle.' Quickly, Travis ran to the nearest group of infantrymen to find out what was going on. Luckily there was a group of officers conversing with the local portsman that he could get answers from.
"What the hell is the meaning of this?!"
" Who might you be that you dare raise your tongue against esteemed officers of the French military?"
"I'm Brigadier General William Travis, head of the Texan army. And i want to know exactly why you people look like your about to invade Britain."
"Oh i assure you sir if we were to invade the damn British we would've come in a much larger force than this. Forgive my manners though, I am Captain Jacques Gautier, head of the frigate Bordeaux. As to answer your question we are here according to the terms of our alliance. To bring aid to the Republic in order to secure its recognition from the Mexican state."
"But we only asked for 6000 troops and yet you brought this massive fleet along with 24000 more men. Does this mean that you intend to force your way with us?"
"Oh no General you misunderstand, we do have 6000 troops here that will be stationed within Texas along with a small squadron to defend the coast. The rest are to achieve our other objectives."
"What could that possibly be?"
"Why to win your war and secure independence for the neighboring republics through the only solution possible. By conquering Mexico, of course."


French Forces portrayed in the Battle of Constantine. At the time France had one of the most powerful military's in the world. Second only to Britain in the Navy.