The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1900-11-29

err. Ill students of American or Spanish
| history know how he died and was buried
| in the great stream he had discovered, anC
! some of his followers escaped in frall bark
| Of their own construction to the Gulf OF
Mexico. Louisiana was soon dropped out
of the knowledge of that small part of the
world called civilized, and does not reap
pear in history until the latter part of the
18th century. This time glimpse is
gained of it through the French explora'
lions. Shortly after the French estab
lished themselves in Canada, they discOv-
cred the Mississippi and Travelled along ii
in canoes to its mouth. Father Marquette
and few companions did this in 1873,
about 1872 years after De Soto saw it. In
1852 La Sale went down the river, and
when near its mouth, as we learn from
the records of the expedition, he prepared
a column and a cross, and on that column
was painted the arms of France and this
inscription:
Louis the Great, King of France and
Navarro, reigns. April 9, 1882
The column was then held up and all
stood under the arms Of the cross and
sang the tie Deum.'
Though the French went through the
form of taking possession of Louisiana, the
first settlement was not made until 1899,
when DIberville started colony at Biloxi,
which is in the present State of MISSISSIPPI
pi. New Orleans, which was the first per-
manent settlement within the limits of
what is now the State of Louisiana, was
founded in 171S. 1t was named for the
Duke Of Orleans, as the whole Territory
was named in honor of Louis XIV.
After having had many Governors, and
passing through various fortunes, the
Province, which was transferred to a cor
poration III 1717, came back to the French
Crown again in 1872. The Crown man
aged the Provinces affairs until 1T62,
when it secretly ceded the whole Territory
over to Spain. In the meantime Louisiana
had acquired considerable population and
some commercial Importance. The rrov-
ince remained 3S years in the possession
of Spain, during which time it made no
progress, and in 1900 it was ceded back to
France, and was in 1903 coded to the
United States.
The important dates in connection with
this great acquisition are these: The con
tract of purchase was signed by the rep
resentatives of France and the United
States on May 8, 1903, and on Oct. IL of
the same year the treaty was ratified by
the Senate. The vote on it in that body
was q in favor to against. On the 21st
of the same month Congress, by a large
majority in each branch, provided for the
bonds with which to pay the purchase
money On December 20 the Americans
w. C. g. Claiborne. the American Com
missioners, went to the City Hall in that
town, where the treaty by the respective
Governments was read. when Laussat, the
retiring French Governor General, pro-
nounced these words:
I'm conformity with the treaty / put
the United States of America in posses
sion of Louisiana and its dependencies.
The citizens and inhabitants who wish to
remain here and obey the laws are from
this moment absolyed from the oath of
fidelity to the French Republic"
On Monday, Dec. %, 1903, at noon, the
tri-colored flag of France, which foated
from the staff in the public square of New
Orleans, and upon which the eyes of ex-
pectant thousands were fixed, began to de-
scend. At the same moment the Stars and
Stripes Of the American Union appeared
above the crowd and slowly mounted the
staff. Midway the two standards met, and
for two minutes were lost in each others
friendly folds. Then amid the thunders
of cannon, the music of Hail Columbia,
the cheers of the spectators, the waving
of handkerchiefs and banners, the tri-
color continued to descend to the ground,
and the flag of the United States SCARED
rapidly aloft to the summit of the mast
and flung out its folds to the breeze Lou
isiana was oursi The mouths of the Mis-
sissippi were free. The prosperity of the