New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-07-14
THE MISSISSIPPI.
A HISTORY OF FRENCH EXPLORATION
AND ENGLISH CONQUEST.

HISTORY OF FRENCH EXPLORATION
AND ENGLISH CONQUEST.
America Between England and France 1871,
ss With Full Iustration;, IRON
Contemporary Sources BY JUSTIN "'''0''
Pp. tx. 4SA Housnton. Mifiin q co.
There Is no more interesting feature OF Amer'-
.an history thar the struggle Of France ana
England for the possession Of the continent
,bis IL the theme of Mr.. Winsors latest voiume
The narrative, as ne gives 1t. includes the CUM
plete evolution Of the country IN the H'ihoS VI
reosraphers and politicians Of Europe ITO"
mere strip OF Atlantic coast TO the oroao n'e"
that had been traversed by explorers OF all ma
tionalities before the fall Of the french po"e'
Most OF the legendary notions OF carrier ages
had by that time been exploded. A whore ooe""
had vanished from the imaginations OF me" anu
other bodies Of water innumerapie 'ha' o"ee
ao.,.a IN. mans NJ inventive photographers. 1t
WAS A startling result Of historical tenoencies
that the Nation which did most 10 make ->o'."
America known should have had comparatively
81 .rro,I a share In moulding its destiny. All
this Is revealed In Mr. Winsor's voiume' WIN
.,,,,,ene., ~ detail which a more eloquent his
tor,an would certainly have missed. VIII"
mans ancient and modern, every page or t"o
IN. story Ia made one to ponder over, and its
na.t lesson IL that the fate Of America was
rs,,her made nor marred by European diplo-
macy. but by the people who had found their
way TO the new world
II looked at the close Of the seventeenth CEN
fury az II France could have everything her
own way In Central North America. Inc "u''
Of 81. Lawrence and the river. so FAR as II was
known to Europeans. were In her possess'o"
exclusively While the struggle was sun gums
on over Hudson's Bay. and the whoie iu'-pe"'
ing northern region Frenchmen seemed 10 nav
the upper hand. The most remote huh.er LEI.
himself as much part OF France az IL "e sum
lived In the sunny land Of his ancestors ioe'
VILE. a native Canadian. kept up the coh'es.
IN 1897 and in general made progress towarc
h,s aim Of driving the English out OF the nor'h-
ern part OF the continent. But the peace OF
pysv,ck negotiated in that year. restored 10
ENGLAND all that she had lost In the neighpor-
rood NJ Hudson's Bay. That treaty. like others
that followed IL, revealed the incapacity OF the
French monarchy to take care OF the interests
u,h,ch n sought to control. On the Atiahtic
Cosst south OF the st. Lawrence, the French
had not made good their claims under the ais
covsr,es of Verrazano. Disorders within the
Kingdom itself had prevented France from IN
terfering with English colonization. wh'ch no"
practically covered the whole coast from inc
indefinite Spanish line on the south 10 the eq"a'
" disputable boundary OF Acadia on 'he no''"
Hut 10 a mind trained In the diplomacy OF Eu-
rope the advantage seemed To lie VIII" '"e
French because. under the centraizing ihnue"ee
of the monarchy, every effort was directeo 10 I"
common purpose. Moreover. 1t must be remem-
bered that the victory at last was not VIC
tory for England. bu. for the English IN Amer'-
ca. which proved to be very dinereht tn'ns
The English method In taking possession OF ne"
territories had been apparently unsys'ema.'c'
II had been hampcred rather than controiieo ny
the Government. But the colonists chung 10 '"e
soil while the Frenchmen Of the North became
nonadic In the pursuit Of peltres The Ens"s"
created new customs for themselves. suited 10
their changed condition. while the FRENCH iee'-
ing no individual affection for their new places
retained their feudal traditions
From the first there were numerous causes for
ouarrels between the nations sometimes In
European politics. sometimes in the fur traffic
.omet,ues in the relations with Indian tribes
and ALWAYS when either encroached on GROUND
which the other claimed. But the main motive
in the great drama which ended practically IN
17s3 but was formally completed by Jefferson's
Louisiana purchase, was the opening up OF the
Mississippi Valley. The pc: sibilities OF this re-
gion are even yet only partially grasped. They
are indicated by Mr. Winsor In the remark that
It is capable Of supporting 200.ooo,OOO people and
that throughout Its length and breadth there Is
not physical obstacle great enough to prevent
those millions from being united. The main
stream Is fed by forty or fifty large tributaries
and a hundred thousand affiuents In ALL with
$4,000 miles Of navigable waters. The Ola
World knew nothing Of such gifts Of nature
The Himalayas In Asia and the Alps In Europe
kept humanity separated: the Mississippi Basin
was apparently to unite all races In one.
Other great rivers flowed through an almost
uniform climate: the Mississippi Joined regions
that were sub-arctic with those that were semi
tropical Such was the prize held up before the
ewes of the rival nations when Joliet and Mar
ouette descended the Mississippi to the mouth
of the Arkansas in 1873 and later when La Sale
pressed on to the Gulf In 1881 Against the
claims which France based on the discoveries OF
these men England had nothing but the artin-
ciai assumption Of her charters. which allotted
the lands in zones from sea to sea. But this
allotment rested on misconception which
was only very slowly eradicated from the minds
Of men. In the early part OF the seventeenth
century the belief was still general that the
land between the Atlantic and the next ocean
TO the westward was comparatively narrow
The effort to reach the hypothetical sea was the
occasion for nearly all the early inland discov-
cries. Even after explorations had been made
along the Pacific Coast the defective calculation
OF longitude led men to think that the distance
across the continent much less than 1t was
in reality.
II.
would not do. and that Verrazanos Sea. made
UP Of glimpses Of Albemarle Sound and Chesa-
peake Bay and the like. was a mere myth OF
observation. geographers and imaginative
travellers contrived other means OF filling up
the body Of the continent with sea water. Con-
lecture was not put down by the discovery and
exploration Of the Mississippi Valley. One OF