Pointe Coupee Democrat. [volume] (False River [i.e. New Roads], Parish of Pointe Coupee [La.]) 1858-1862, 1858-10-09

a port on the seaboaid Of the Channel;
henceforth Cherbourg is a place to bt
|scanned and surveyed, aud reported o.!
by kings and statesmen and enrinccrs
sauban plans its defence, councils hold
consultations on its advantages. The
little fishlng-town Of Normandy enters
into the politics Of nation. Nature
Igives their value to many spots. 4 fine
harbour, great river, may make an un-
known village or barren waste, the
Jewel in a crown. This offered only
position. It's capabilities were to be
wrought and wrested from nature. Il
was to France what Cronstadt was to
Russia, a point where tie means of de-
tence or attack might be constructed
where navy might be formed and pro-
tected-or whence it might issue to
take command Of the sea. 1t was low
ever designed rather as refuge than
rolnt dappui. Like Cronstadt too, il
was to be made. The sea was to be
fenced out that ships might ride in the
|roadstead; basins were to be cut from
the solid rock; forts were to be raised
at all points. All was to be done bv
the hand of man; nature had done little.
The idea OF this creation belongs to the
Bourbons. Louis XIV was the first
protector For a long time it was only |
an idea; rival projects delayed its fulfil |
ment At length there is beginning.
Commerce is the first consideration
The port for the merchant ships is form
built; then the necessity of
defence suggests itself, and two forts
arise on either side of the roadstead.-
In 1884 the first cone of the breakwater
is sunk, and the foundations of this stu
pendous work were laid. Two years
later, and Cherbourg witnesses the first
of the royal visits which have since in
augurated the different stages of con-
struction. Louis XVI enters in state:
sees what has been done, and what
here is yet to do, recognizes the gran
ieur and the necessity of the great de-
'ign, and resolves ON it's completion.
Ienceforward the idea becomes ma
ional work. But it rsmaned for man
# stronger will and more determined
'ction to give to it the grand impulse
f development. Napoleon comes with !
is men OF war and his men OF council: t
asts over the place the glance which 7
eizes everything at once; and then
7as formed the thought, then uttered Z
1e words which are the inscription to a
is statue, and will be henceforth the p
lotto of Cherbourg-" J'avais r6solu de p
enouveler a Cherbourg les merveilles "
e fEgypte.' "J'avais eleve deia dams Il
! mer ma pyramide; j'aurais eu aussi
ION lac lfmris."
The destiny Of Cherbourg, as the great III
ort of France, was now decided. The I"
oyramide dams la mer" progresses, and !"
1913 the first opening of "mon lac II II
mris' is inaugurated by Marie Louise. II
mid the shouts of multitudes, the sal 81
IS Of artillery, the laying of inscrip- 81
On stone, the benediction and the III
ayers Of priests, the water rushes in .ue u
the ovant-port, and the first dock is !
rmed. The old dynasty has returned u
hen the inner dock, the Bassin de Flot, 81
opened with the same ceremonies and III
e same rejoicings in presence of the
auphin, jils de France, in 1929. Louis
lilippe is on the throne when the pro- ~
ct was submitted which has led to the '" "
mpletion of the Bigne in it's present W W
fln. LacH successive government was
us connected with the progress. In "
SO the last of the "merveilles" is fin .
ned, and the "arriere bassin," the ~
owning effort of the great work, de- :" ""
eed by Napoleon /, is to be inaugural ~
by Napoleon III. Such is the occa- ID
IN of the fetes Of Cherbourg. an
THE ILLINOIS CnNrEsr Il dienatch =