Charles Fourier.
Charles Francois Fourier was born in Besançon,France, in 1722. His teachings and writings inspiredVictor Prosper Considerant to attempt the establishmentof La Réunion, a French Colony in Texas.
LA RÉUNION,
a French Settlement in Texas
by
William J. Hammond, Ph.D.
and
Margaret F. Hammond, M.A.
Royal Publishing Company
Dallas, Texas
Copyright 1958
by
William J. Hammond
Printed in the United States of America
by
Royal Publishing Company
“The Supreme law is liberty and reciprocal adaptation.”Considerant, The Great West, 40.
“We desire the free and spontaneous unison of human forces.”Considerant, The Great West, 47.
“Les principes de liberté, de justice, et d’unité”Considerant, Au Texas, 2 ed., 199.
PREFACE
In presenting this brief history of La Réunion, werealize that the story may appear too long for such aseemingly unimportant event in our state history, butto those who are doing research work, especially yearshence, the details can not be too numerous. Even nowgreat difficulties present themselves in tracing down thematerials that are now in existence.
Extensive quotations have been used throughout themonograph, too extensive in fact, but the production ofthese documents in full rather than in part may be justifiedon the basis of making them available to studentsof Texas History. Additional material has been givenin the appendix where it was deemed too long to includesuch materials in the story, and it is thus given as amere narrative of facts of one of the great romanticattempts to settle Texas and the Southwest. We haveavoided complicating the story by not discussing socialismper se, dealing with its connection with La Réuniononly when necessary for an understanding of the activitiesof the colonists.
We wish to express our thanks to the librarians ofthe Public Library in Fort Worth, the Texas UniversityLibrary, and Congressional Library for the loan of books,and especially to Mrs. Bertie Mothershead, formerlibrarian at Texas Christian University for her co-operationand helpfulness.
The Authors