Lubbock to Jefferson Davis, President, September 11, 1862

[Private and confidential.]

Sir: I have the honor to forward for your consideration the enclosed copies of letters, the one (marked A) from the French and Spanish consul at Galveston, the other (marked B) being my reply thereto.

As the proceeding of the said consul would seem to indicate an incipient intrigue, I have deemed it proper to advise you thereof on the threshold.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

Consulate Agency for France and Vice Consulate for Spain in Galveston

Sir: Will you be kind enough to inform me confidentially of your personal opinion on the following questions:

1st. The annexation of the republic of Texas to the United States was or was not a good political measure?

2d. The act of disunion and of the junction of the State of Texas to the southern States was or was not another good or bad politic taken by the State? and

3d. The re-establishment of the old republic of Texas will or will not be beneficial to our beloved adopted country ?

Your answer to these questions, sir, will serve me as a guide in my political correspondence with the governments which I have the honor to represent.

I have the honor, sir, and with very much respect, to be your obedient servant,

B. THERON, French and Spanish Consul.

His Excellency F. R. Lubbock, Governor of the State of Texas.

I certify the above and foregoing to be a true copy of the original now on file in the executive department at Austin, Texas.

B.

Sir: Your communication of 19th ultimo is before me, and contents duly noted.

In answer to your first interrogatory, permit me to say that the annexation of Texas to the United States was a good political measure.

As to your second question, I answer most emphatically that “the act of disunion and of the junction of the State of Texas to the southern States was a good and proper political step.”

In reply to your third inquiry, I have to say “the re-establishment of the old republic of Texas will not be beneficial to our beloved adopted country.”

Texas has linked her fate with that of her sisters of the south. She will be true, steadfast, and victorious.

I have the honor to be yours, very respectfully,

F. R. LUBBOCK.

B. Theron, Esq., French and Spanish Consul, Galveston.

True copy of the original.

B.

Sir: On to-day Mons. Tabouelle, French vice-consul at Richmond, sought an introduction to me in the senate chamber, and stated that he desired to obtain from me certain statistical information in regard to Texas. I told him that I did not then have the time to give him the desired information, but if he would call at my room I would take pleasure in giving him any information which I possessed. He promised to call this evening, which he did, and has just left my room. I deem it proper to give you the substance of the conversation between us, as it had a connexion with the subject-matter of the correspondence between the governor of Texas and the French consular agent at Galveston, of which you advised General Wigfall and myself a few days since.

After I had furnished him with information in regard to the area, population, debt, taxes, and agricultural productive capacity of Texas, he remarked that the resources of the State were magnificent, and capable of supporting a powerful and independent people, and then asked me whether I thought it would not he to the interest of the State to assume an independent nationality. I told him that the people of Texas, being mostly emigrants from the old southern States, were strongly attached to those States and to our federative system of government, which I at some length explained to him. I told him that they never could have been induced to secede from the United States but to preserve that form of government, which was in danger of being destroyed. I further stated to him that not only the affections and sympathies, but also the interests of the people of Texas bound them to the States of the confederacy; that their institutions, pursuits, and agricultural products were the same, and that mutual safety required harmony amongst them, which could only be insured by a confederacy; that as a separate and independent State Texas would be weak and incapable of self-defence; that we were sensible that we would be subject to be involved in collisions with our sister southern States; that the similarity of institutions and production, which are now bonds of union and the cause of harmony, would become causes of rivalries, jealousies, and perhaps wars between the States; that in the confederacy we would not be a weak and dependent people, incapable of resenting insult or repelling aggression. The subject was then waived, and we talked of other matters.

But for the fact you had called my attention to the correspondence between the governor of Texas and the French consular agent at Galveston, this conversation would perhaps have made no impression upon my mind; but as an introduction to me was sought by the vice-consul, with the view to obtain statistical information in regard to Texas, and the subject of the separate independence of that State was thus introduced by him, it struck me that it was not casual or accidental. He furthermore stated to me that he had written to the consular agent at Galveston for information upon the resources of Texas, and had received from him a specimen or sample of Texas wool which he either had or intended to send to France.

I have deemed it proper to communicate the foregoing to you, as affording confirmatory evidence to the conclusion that it is the object of Louis Napoleon, and perhaps of other of the European powers, to induce Texas to assume an independent nationality. The fact communicated by you to General Wigfall and myself put me on my guard, and caused me to be more explicit and specific than I might otherwise have been, for the purpose of dissipating such a design if it exists, and to induce whatever steps that may be taken to be for the benefit of the entire confederacy.

I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant,