Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1860-10-26
Mr. Prl,j1eat and Gentleme" Of me
N9rlo'Y 49,

Mr.. Proq5c,t and Ge"fle"e" Of the
N9eloy:-
make no apology, as probably YOU will
ror,,re none. for taking for my subject the
f.,t discovery and occupation OF Lake
rbamplain, an event carrying US back to
N. time when our State Of Vermont IN
nearly its whole extent was first laid open
.a tha eyes Of Europeans, several years
before the landing of our pilgrim fathers on.
Plymouth rock. The event itself IS an
interesting one to contemplate, but 1t IS
still more so, as I think, when contemplate
n in the particular point Of view under
which | shall cndcavor to present lt-as one
which in its consequences, Immediate and
more remote. had "a, much influence as any
other single event that can be named, IN.
giving that general direction to the tide OF
affairs in the first settlement Of this coun-
try which resulted in the establishment OF
the great republic of States now ruling
thede,,inics Of the Western world.
A great deal depends on the time and
way in which a thing Is achieved; some
times more than upon the achievement
itself We have striking Illustration OF
this in the case now before us Among
the many nations who were more or less
interested in the occupation and settlement
Of these newly discovered regions Of the
West. France was the first to strike upon
that precise point Of the coast which fur
ui,hed the only practicable entrance where
bv the vast interior Of the most important
portion Of the North American continent,
could be easily and rapidly explored. Ac-
c3rlngly we find, that as soon as this ma
ton became awake to the Importance Of
the discovery made by Cartier, that which
wa. SO practicable in the undertaking was
soon actually accomplished. In fifty years
from the time when those bold and active
,.iogsar,. the French Jesuit missionaries,
BE- ,au to penetrate into the basin Of the
u1per lakes. not only the sources of the
Mississippi. lying near those lakes, but al
So The other principal branches Of that
mighty river, a, well as the main channel
r-efdown to where it empties into the Gulf
of Mexico, were known either byI
report or by actual visitation. Long
before the end of the seventeenth century,
French posts or missionary establishments,
weak and thinIy scattered indeed but yet
capable of becoming centres Of powerful
colonies, extended in "a continuous line,
from the mouth Of the St. Lawrence toI
that Of the Mississippi.
1t is not my intention to speak more
particularly of what was accomplished
along on this line by the French adventur-
ers, or of the way in which 1t was accom-
plished, although he subject is one full Of
strange and romantic interest. Difficult it
Is indeed to leave it, without mentioning
at least the names Of those simple, and
npretending, but fearless men, who first
planted themselves down in the widest
spots and among the widest savages on the
earth, unconscious founders Of cities and
States destined to belong to another race
than their own. or who without guide or
Interpreter first beat the path or ploughed
the waters, on which they were afterwards
TO be followed by swarming mllllons,-the
name of Allouez, the first European that
ever reached the father of the lakes, and
who traced it, by the southern margin, to
It's very end-Jolliet, who discovered the
sources of the Mississippi-Marquette,
who, IN company with the same Joliet,
and five Frenchmen, hoated in simple
canoe. down the great river Of the West to
a spot below the entrance of the Arkansas
and La Sale, the most noble and entcrpris-
ing. aud the most unfortunate Of all these
French pioneers. who having first set him.
self down as a trader at the Falls Of Nj
agara, urged by a restless spirit Of adven
ture, followed In the wake of Marquette
and completed his unfinished work by
reaching the mouth of the Mississippi the
man who, in attempting to found a colony
at 1t, mouth had his vessel wrecked on the
shores of Texas, where he established the
settlement (Which made Texas a French
discovery, and part of Louisiana"
Such being the spirit of the early Frencl
advcumrers. and such the things they &C
complished in the Hest, the question nat
urally arises, why was it they did so llttl'
In this other direction, through the valley
Of Lake Champlain and the North River
IN countries viii h lay quite as open a
those Western regions and which were ia
more convenient, more accessible, and o.
all accounts more desirable for the estab
lishment of colonies, at least in the begin
ming, than any at the West