People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1893-03-17
SKETCHES OF FRENCH HISTORY.
FROM CESAR TO CLOVIS.

Wherever Rome extended her
power she imposed her laws, her Ian
guage and her learning. With ques-
ton of religion she rarely meddled
unless they interfered with her ad-
ministration.
In Gaul, the Roman rule soon
effected great changes. The coun-
try was divided into provinces and
put under imperial Tax Collectors
and Governors. The city of Lyons
became It's Capital, and the EN-
perors frequently resided there and
made it the scene of magnificent
display and adornment. Fine pub
lie buildings were erected, a mint for
the coinage of money established,
splendid walls were built to protect
it from without, and theatres and
marble baths embellished it within.
Great roads were opened, and
schools were founded in the cities
and the rude nobility began to at
tend them. Manufactures were en-
couraged, and the cloth made in
Gaul soon had demand in all parts
of the Empire. Law courts were
established according to the Roman
rule, and the Latin language took
the place of the Celtic-except in
Brittany, where the original tongue
survives to this day, just as it does
in Wales and IN parts Of Ireland.
The Druids were suppressed be-
cause they practiced human sac
rifces, and because they meddled
with State affairs. They were eter-
naIly Matching schemes to throw off
the Roman yoke and re-impose their
own. For many years after they
were prohibited by law from offer
ing up human beings on the altar,
they continued those CHASTITY cere-
monies in secret.
Agriculture was encouraged.
Sheep took the place of wild hogs,
and cultivated fields gradually sup.
planted unfenced pastures. In the
time of Caesar the climate of Gaul
was very severe. The rigors Of the
winter season had passed into a
proverb. The great rivers would
freeze over with ice so thick that
armies could cross without danger.
The vine and the olive were I'M
known. The climate was too cold for
them. But as the vast, dismal
woods were gradually cut away the
temperature grew milder. The vine
and the olive were planted in the
Southern portions of the land and
pushed step by step all over it. The
result is that for many centuries the
wine of France has been famous
throughout the world, and her olives
form one of her most valuable crops.
Instead of being considered dis
NAL, chilly and dangerous climate,
France Is now one of the sunniest
and healthiest of lands. So great |
has been the change wrought by
the axe and the plow.
The Romans utilized the courage
of the Gauls by enlisting them in
her armies. The infantry thus OBJ
tanned was good, but the cavalry was
unrivalled. In fact, Caesar owed |
much of his success in all his wars,
especially his late ones, to the Gaulc
soldiers. After subduing them he
had treated them kindly and had
even admitted some of the noblest
of them into the Roman Senate.
This was one of grievances that the
aristocrats had against him, and for
which they murdered him.
Many of the Gauls had the Roman
franchise bestowed upon them and
many of their cities enjoyed special
privileges granted by the Emperors.
During these years of Roman SUI
premacy, the mobiles of Gaul built
splendid castles along the Rhine and
Moselle and lived in great luxury.
They sent their young men to the
Roman schools, and the educational |
course was not considered complete
till visit had been made to Rome
and to the Emperor's Court.
Thus things went, in the upper
world. With the actual laborers in
Gaul, life was not so pleasant. In
nearly all cases the man who fol-
lowed the plow was serf. He was
bound to the soil, and when the Els
toto was sold he went with It lust as