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EARLY BELGIAN COLONIAL EFFORTS - The University of Texas at ...

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Leopold was either reacting to the events or biding his time, or was truly aware<br />

th<strong>at</strong> there were political constraints on Belgian expansion. 206 Regardless <strong>of</strong> the reason,<br />

the combined efforts <strong>of</strong> the king, Cabinet, and the chambers ended the colony in the<br />

Republic <strong>of</strong> <strong>Texas</strong>.<br />

Last, but not least, the timing <strong>of</strong> the Republic <strong>of</strong> <strong>Texas</strong> project was almost the<br />

same as th<strong>at</strong> <strong>of</strong> Santo Tomas. 207 Most <strong>of</strong> the initial activity in Santo Tomas happened<br />

during the same time period as Pirson’s involvement in <strong>Texas</strong>. <strong>The</strong> Belgian naval ship<br />

Louise Marie left Ostend on November 9, 1841 and arrived <strong>at</strong> the bay <strong>of</strong> Santo Tomas<br />

on January 6, 1842. Pirson received his commission on November 21, 1841. He<br />

departed for <strong>Texas</strong> on December 4, 1841, arriving in New York City on December 21,<br />

1841. He arrived in <strong>Texas</strong> on January 25, 1842. Auguste T’Kint arrived in Gu<strong>at</strong>emala<br />

City on February 12, 1842 and Colonel Rémy De Puydt shortly thereafter. <strong>The</strong> letter <strong>of</strong><br />

Anson Jones to Pirson <strong>of</strong>fering the land along the Rio Grande was d<strong>at</strong>ed March 9, 1842.<br />

<strong>The</strong> contract for the cess<strong>at</strong>ion <strong>of</strong> Santo Tomas was signed on April 16, 1842. Pirson left<br />

<strong>Texas</strong> in March 1842 and for Belgium in April 1842. De Puydt left Gu<strong>at</strong>emala<br />

sometime in June 1842. Pirson’s report was published in October 1842. De Puydt’s was<br />

206<br />

Laurent felt th<strong>at</strong> Leopold was exercising true wisdom in this regard. “With the guidance <strong>of</strong><br />

King Leopold and a handful <strong>of</strong> talented diplom<strong>at</strong>s, Belgium marched toward the goal <strong>of</strong> intern<strong>at</strong>ional<br />

peace and cooper<strong>at</strong>ion with strides only temporarily devi<strong>at</strong>ed. Laurent, 564. Others are far more skeptical,<br />

especially in view <strong>of</strong> his continuing, although somewh<strong>at</strong> more circumspect, colonial quests, over the next<br />

ten years.<br />

207From<br />

Hamilton’s first contact with Belgium in 1839 to de Briey’s rejection <strong>of</strong> Jones <strong>of</strong>fer in<br />

November, 1842 was about three years. Santo Tomas was roughly contemporary. If we d<strong>at</strong>e the effort<br />

from the nullific<strong>at</strong>ion <strong>of</strong> the British grant by Gu<strong>at</strong>emala in October, 1841 to the final termin<strong>at</strong>ion <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Belgian grant in 1855 we have a period <strong>of</strong> almost fifteen years.<br />

102

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