A lively report of travels in early nineteenth-century Texas and
Louisiana and a fascinating account of the discovery, exploration,
and settlement of those areas is presented in the work of this
ebullient young French dramatist and journalist who traveled to
Louisiana in 1837 and to Texas in 1839.
Frederic Gaillardet, an alert and talented writer of the
romantic school, was lured away for a decade from a successful
career in Paris to satisfy his wanderlust and to seek inspiration
on the American frontier. During that time he visited the American
Southwest, and he talked with many personages there--men like Sam
Houston, Mirabeau B. Lamar, and Achille Murat. His character
sketches of these men add zest to the book, as do the facets of
Gaillardet's own personality and life displayed in these pages.
Gaillardet's reports of his travels were published in various
French-language newspapers of the time; a few were incorporated
into the author's posthumous memoirs. His opinions, as recorded in
his writings, exerted undeniable influence in the French decision
to recognize Texas; one of his theses was that the Republic of
Texas might become a curb, rather than a stepping stone, to an
expanding United States. Despite Gaillardet's historical
importance, however, none of these chapters has ever appeared
before in English translation.
This collection was gathered from several sources: the Journal
des Debats, the Constitutionnel, the Courrier des Etats-Unis, and
Gaillardet's memoirs, entitled L'Aristocratie en Amerique.
The latter chapters concentrate on the career of a prominent
Louisiana lawyer, politician, and diplomat, Pierre Soule, whose
much maligned name Gaillardet repeatedly and stoutly defended. A
less favorable treatment of Soule, contained in Fanny Calderon de
la Barca's Attache in Madrid, is reprinted in the appendix to aid
the reader in judging the accuracy of Gaillardet's analysis of this
arresting figure.
Copious footnotes to clarify the text have been added by the
translator. His introduction presents a biographical sketch of
Gaillardet, together with a careful analysis of the book, which has
been translated lucidly and vividly.
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