Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1896-02-27

Ifu loss, Is forced to retreat with stained
uniforms and trailing banners, 1t hopeless
ly turns away to whence 1t came. The
Englishman retreats, theiFrenchman holds
the fort. But neither is the retreating
Abercrombie nor the victorious Montcalm
The central figure of this crowded picture.
1t Is France herself. looking down from the
pinnacle of her glory on this Western con-
tinent on this Sth day Of July, 1853, she
holds possession of greater area in North
America than all the other nations of the
world combined. Twenty times as much
as England Five times as much as Eng
land and Spain together. And her threat
to drive every English settler from the val
ley Of the Ohio literally executed But this
was last success.
In a short time, comparatively, she holds
nothing here. We are at the beginning of
a chain Of decisive events, and they follow
each other in astonishing rapidity. On the
Goth of the same July Louisberg was sur
rendered to Gen. Amherst. On the 26th of
August the French, fort, Frontenac, was
| yielded to Gen. Bradstreet. On the Hth
of November Fort Du Quesne fell and re-
stored to England the command of the
Ohio valley. on July % of the next sum-
mer, after an heroic defense of three
weeks. the French flag went down before
| the red cross OF England at Fort Niagara.
On the 26th, Tlconderoga was abandoned
by the French, and in a few days their flag
ceased 10 HOat over crown 1Olnt, anu us
appeared forever, with the single cxcep-
ton Of the mouth OF the Mississippi, from
| that territory now known as the United
States. on the 18th of September the his
toric glorles of Quebec are enacted. Wolfe
dies happy in knowing that the French re-
| treat, Montcalm too soon to feel It's dis
grace. on the 18th the city is formally sur
rendered to the English. on the Sth of
September, 1850. Montreal opens its gates
| to Gen. Amherst. All that France has
discovered, acquired or possessed England
has taken: and the English speaking race
still holds.
The termination of the French rule in
America was attended by many pathetic
and tragic scenes. The story of Acadia
has melted many heart, and, catching its
romance, Longfellow has sung 1t into one
of the gems of our language. But, in the
picture of the Frenchman, turning his
back upon this beautiful valley. which had
been his by right of discovery and possess
sion for $50 years, there is more than
pathos. more than tragedy. 1t teaches the
result. of an underlying. active. resistless
principle of action. l mean the motive
from which nations and men fight. 1t has
been said that the Frenchman fights for
glory: me Englishman for an idea. For
the former. If the missionary to the In
dams of New France received the bene-
diction of the church, his soul was salts
/
praise of his commander and the general
the decoration of his sovereign 1t was
enough. To the ru.er the vision of "a vast
French empire on this Western continent
was dream of glory. To that end, trad
ing posts were established throughout the
valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi With
Quebec and Montreal as strongholds, they
began to follow these trading posts with
military posts. In the Champlain valley
they built forts at Chambly, Crown Point
and Ticonderoga, expecting to extend the
chain to Manhattan island. In the West
they built Frontenac, Niagara and Du
Quesne, intending to thus possess the whole
valley to the Gulf of Mexico. Think Of
what those intentions were. Study your
maps little and you have before your
minds the grandest. boldest scheme of en-
pire and glory ever conceived since the
days of Caesar.
Why did 1t fall? When George Washing
ton, as the AMBASSADOR of Gov. Dinwddle
of Virginia, bore letter to the commander
of the French, on Lake Erie, asking why
he was there, the Frenchman's dream was
brought face to face with the English
mans idea. The English settled this East
ern coast from Maine to Georgia, filed
with the pervadng idea of home. The
very circumstances under which the most
of them eft their homes forbade return.
They came here to stay, knowing If this
could not be their home they had none this
side of eternity. And when this English
idea of home, with all that Is sacred with
I'm 1t. and all that Is good growing out of
1t, met the Frenchman's dream of glory.
the dream faded and the idea possessed
the land. For that idea men have braved
all dangers faced al. odds and fought until
eternity dawned upon them. 1t is that
idea which has made, and still makes, us
the longest and hardest fighting nation of
the world the happlest and freest people
on the globe.
The red man, the Frenchman, the Eng
lishman. has each. I'm turn. claimed and
occupied this wonderful valley. But we
the curtain of the past; we are the actors
of to-day. What will be, when some
future race shall shift our scenes and ring
down our curtain, we know not. He only
knows. VINO has seen and directed all these
changes from the beginning. Africa has
her broad lakes with royal names: Europe
her gems dropped into Alpine valleys and
among Brittany's hills; South America
lifts her wonder OF the Andes far above the
clouds, more than 1900 feet above us;
North America boasts her vast chain of
inland seas from Ontario to Superior; and
yet in the wonderful teachings of its geo.
logical story, in the value of its geograph-
lea! shape and location, 1t its great histor-
ical events past, and present historical as
sociations, in the beauty of its settings In
the fair women and brave men, peaceful
dwellers within the friendly Enclosure of its
ancient shores. Lake CHAMPAIGN Is the
peer of them all.
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