Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1901-04-06
Visited the Place of Her Birth
and Also Stood Alongside
Her Grave.
Delivered Before the Federated
Catholic Societies at st.
Mary's Hall.
STORY OF Her LIFE AND PEOPLE

In our last issue reference was made to
the scholarly and poetic address on the
American Acadians, delivered last week
at St. Mary's Hall before the Catholic
Union by DIR. ]. w. Fowler by special
request. The impression made by the
eloquent speaker on his hearers will be
lasting, and for the benefit of the many
not present we cheerfully print his care
fully prepared address in full. The Doc
tor, who was frequently applauded, spoke
as follows:
Ladies and Gentlemen: l have been
invited by your distinguished President
to address you tonight on the subject OF
Evangeline and her people-the Acadians
of America. l feel somewhat abashed
by the presence of several eminent stu
dents of Acadian history who have dis
tinguished themselves in the field of
letters upon this subject, but as have
traversed the ground where Evangeline
first saw the sunlight of heaven, in the
far northern harbor of Grand Pre-, Nova
Scotia, and have stood on the banks of
the languid Teche, where the old town
of St. Martinsville dreams amid the pro-
found stiffness that lies above the heart
of 1.-THE Eden of Louisiana" possibly
my discourse may prove of interest even
to them.
In the early part of the eighteenth
century large body of French Catholics
emigrated from the fair Provice of Nor
mandy, in France, and established col
ony on the Atlantic coast. at the mouth
of the Gasperean river, in Nova Scotia
They brought with them all the beauti-
full Catholic traditions of their native
land and built typical Catholic village,
with the church. surmounted by the
-erosssfn t1esceuter the -tOwr,s sand
called it Grand Pre-. No language can
describe it so we'll as that of Longfellow:
"Solemnly down the street came the
parish priest, and the children
Paused in their play to kiss the hand be
extended TO bless them.
Reverend walked he among them; and
up rose matrons and maidens,
Tailing his slow approach with words
of affectiouate welcome.
Then came the laborers home from the
field, and serenely the sun sank
Down to his rest, and twilight prevailed.
Anon from the belfry
Softly the Angelus sounded, and over
the roofs of the village
Columns of pale blue smoke, like clouds
of incense ascending,
Rose from hundred hearths, the homes
of peace and contentment.
Thus dwelt together in love these simple
Acadian farmers
Dwelt in the love of God and of man.
Alike were they free from
Fear, that reigns with the tyrant, and
envy. the vice of republics.
Neither locks had they to their doors,
nor bars to their windows;
But their dwellings were open as day
and the hearts of their owners;
There the richest was poor. and the
poorest lived in abundance"
Thus the lives of the Acadian colonists
flowed along in harmony with all that
was pure and good until the fateful
autumn of 1855, when fleet of English
men-of-war entered the harbor, seized
the Acadians and their goods and trans
ported them to distant chimes. Histori-
ans agree that the deepest stain ever at
tached to the British empire was the
deportation of the peaceful Catholic col
ony of Acadians in Nova Scotia, and
scattering them far asunder, from the
cold lakes of the North to sunny Southern
savannas, as Longfellow says:
Bearing nation with all its house
hold gods into exile, an exile without
example in story"
In order that one may fully understand
the situation at the time, it may be well
to state that England and France were en-
gagged in deadly frontier struggle for
supremacy in the new world. The Acad-
ians were neutral, preferring peace to
war. Braddock had just been defeated
at Fort Duquesne, and it was therefore
easy to stir up the hatred Of the New
England troops-who were to be the
chief agents of the deportation-againsi
the "Papists' of Acadia, whose lands
they were to possess.
On the 18th of September, 1854, Major
Charles Lawrence, originally house.
painters apprentice, was made Governor
of Nova Scotia. He was man OF vio-
lent character, and possessed all the
faults of one suddenly raised to supreme
power for which be was not fit. This
was the agent selected by the British
government and upon whom it rests the
responsibility Of the deportation of the
Acadians. He began by letter to the
Lords of Trade, dated August 1, 1854,
before his formal installment as Governor,
in which he threw doubt on the neutrality
Of the Acadians and adding, specifically,