New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-05-16
DIR INDEBTEDNESS TO FRENCH TACT

OUR INDEBTEDNESS TO FRENCH TACT.
These old writings in addition to their value
in history and the formal sciences OF humanity
are OF perennial interest in the study OF human
natuse at large France was then, as now the
most polished of European nations In the New
World the tendency of Frenchmen was to ADAPT
themselves as far as possible to the savage So
cety in which they found themselves. Before
their settlements had taken root In the far East
adventurous spirits were rowing through the
forest about the Great Lakes, penetrating nearer
every season to the heart of the Continent ana
finally passing onward to the shores of the Pa
cifc; searching every valley. padding on every
river. and making welcome for themselves In
every wigwam. Mr. Thwates corrects the state
ment that the Jesuits the first to roam
From the very outset he finds that the traders
looking after peltries the pioneers Of French
advance in the New World. But in the rude
fur buyer and the educated Jesuit the tendency
was the same namely. 10 comprehend the native
as he was. Plainly, If the French had won
North America they would. by the mere force
Of circumstances and by the bent their own
inclination. have built up nation on the basis
Of aboriginal life. just Rome did In Germany
and Gau and Britain. They found in the red
man a virtue and an intelligence which their
rivals the English were slow TO discover. His
frequent outbreaks did not discourage them.
They compared his habits to those recorded Of
their own Gallo ancestors. and they found for
the hominv bread of the Algonquins parallel
in something Pliny had said about the earliest
Romans
They were indulgent rather than aVerse to the
superstitons of the wild races. True. they fan
ced that the devil lurked beneath many Of the
savage rites which they witnessed. but they
were not inclined to quarrel even with Satan
long he displayed a reasonable approach to
French courtesy. 1t is useless TO mourn an ir-
reparable loss: but undoubtedly, If French
Jesuits instead of Spanish Dominicans had got
possession of the libraries of ancient Mexico. the
world would now he the richer by whole realm
Of peculiar and original literature as valuable,
perhaps, as that which is now being recovered
in Egypt. They studied how far it was wise to
Weld TO superstition and as they men
versed in all the learning of their times they
sought guidance from past example. OF course
they would not have gone far as Marc Les
carbot. whose writings among the first In
these volumes This author. though outwardy
q Catholic sympathized with the Huguenots.
who were the first settlers at Port Royal, and
some Of his expressions show that he considered
the Jesuits backbting busybodies whom he
would gladly have excluded from the new colony.
1t was plainly response to covert sneers that
no mission work was done among the natives
when the clergyman Of the colony baptized some
what hurriedly whole group of Indians whose
names were reported promptly In France. But
this proceeding was at once criticised as hasty
and so Lescarbot, apologizing for the heathen-
ism latent and occasionally far from latent, in
the converts, remarked that the deep-rooted
habits of people could not be eradicated in
moment. The Apostles had to yield to the weak
ness of others, and pagansm still affected the
practice of the Church. Witness" he added
"the ceremonies of the candles on Candlemas
the professions Of the Rogation-days, the bon
fires of st. John the Baptists Day. the holy
water and many other traditions that we have
I'm the Church. which have been introduced for
a laudable purpose to convert to a good usage
what had only been abused" If the Spanish
priests could have looked at the matter in this
way they would not have been so ready to flnd
the devil In the startling analogies to Christi
anity which they beheld in Central America and
Peru particularly in the holy water worship Of
the cross the divine motherhood Of a virgin.
and baptism both by immersion and sprinkling.
The Spaniards. as DR.. BrintOn remarks. COM
forted themselves with the thought that ST.
Thomas may have extended his apostolic Jour-
news to the western shores Of the New World a
thing not SO difficult to believe as long as they
thought themselves on the borders of Cathay.
They had to yield much to the natives. particu-
larry the custom Of keeping up perpetual fire.
But the Jesuits. on going to New-France. ap-
pear to have looked into earlier literature for
direct precedents.