The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-01-26

true tfiend--Stalwaft. bearded. brave, with Iron hand. but woman's tenderness. Here. no Kindred near. his eyes upon the lilies of France, his heart void of oHense toward God and man, died this where in these woods they laid him to rest with such honors as the horrors of an epidemic permit, and over the un- Known grave the pines have ever since the products of the soil and mines of Alabama from their home to the sea, yet murmur his nraises as they pass his
 houd rse be ty to staees tsee oand
 ca by thee, growing with the life thou gavest, watched by so good and great spirit. must not be ungrateful.
 And there was another. almost equally deserving of our remembrance on this occasion: for here, too, was seen the mightiness of the pen: and may this ceiebratlon tend to rescue from oblivion The Fame of Penicaut.
 No truer painter of Indian customs and Of pioneer life can be found. His Rela- tion is as interesting as a novel, as val uable as a history. and this is the bi- centenary of southern literature as well as of gulf settlement. We can picture the literary ship carpenter" building or repairing boats. with quick ear and eye to all that happens. and a hand no less ready at the pen than tools. Native of Rochelle. he came with Ibervilles first expedition, soJourned at Biloxi. helped build Fort Louis, and lived at the newer Mobile. Member by necessity of all ex- ploring parties, expert in Indian tongues and traits. no one had fairer chance to learn. and no writer has ever told better story. When In 1721 he leaves ment of his eyes. We feel that we have | lost a friend and that Mobile history has | become almost dull. Pleasing indeed is the coincidence that her presence eli | the name of Bienville's latest and best | biographer with that of the earliest. with | Penicaut to think also of Grace King. Another whose name and form IS in. sepdrably connected with this settlement | Is Pere Davion. The French encouraged | missionaries among the Indians. and pro | tected against injury as we'll as they could these intrepid men, laboring far in advance of civilization. Among those of | the Seminary of Quebec already on the | Mississippi when Iberville crossed the | Atlantic was Davion. at his rock among the Tunicas; keeping his sacred relics m ! hollow tree. A brave man. he broke their idols at the risk of his life. but | ministered to their bodily as well as administered the first baptism, and was 1 here to install the regular pastor. entries | of all of which are still in the vener- 1 able church registers of Mobile. On this | rounds like Father Felician in Evange- I line. Unselfish. devoted to duty. he is & | high type of what the French church | furnished this country in pioneer days.
 
 | egn policy. so to speak, and 1t Is pleas
 anter perhaps to trace the growth of
 its external relations than to think of | Its domestic mishaps.
 NobIesse oblige-emplre imposes duties. | as Americans are even now realizing.
 As the settlement was double--the capi-
 tai here at Fort Louis, it's harbor on
 the gulf. in the angle between Massacre l CDauphine) and Pelican Islalds--so the
 object of the colony was twofold. The | first, commercial. was to he carried out
 in developing trade with the Indians and
 Spa niards. and in shipping to France the
 product of the forests, whether timber
 pcltries or minerals. Mines were the 1 ighis fatuus of explorers. The Spanish
 over a century been taking to Europe | the gold and silver which made Spain
 the foremost country of the world.
 Charles V. and Philip II. would have 1 been impossible without the New World | be1ind them. And now
 The French Sought Gold.
 where even DeSoto had missed 1t. No | story was too strange. no glib adven-
 turer incredible. Mathieu Sagear told of
 was @ more nlentful cf' than in "qere Per go9 sn9
 women so numerous that the king chang
 cd wives every day. Such romances are
 laughable now. but they were then be- l lfeved and by infiaming the imagination
 retarded legitimate growth.
 The second object in colonization was
 to be found on the military side. The original enmity to Spain had been checked
 by the ascent of a. French prince to
 that throne. and Louis exclaimed. "there
 are no longer any Pyrenees!' But the
 hatred to England grew with time, and
 to ally all the Indian tribes. with the
 object of driving back into the Atlantic | the English colonists. And had he not
 so early died those of us who are of | British descent might not be standing
 here today to celebrate his exploits.
 Whether t was to be military or com | mercial. the country must be mapped,
 and much of the exploration was done l Mississippi the Missouri, the Red and
 Arkansas rivers, the gulf coasts, tho
 Mobile and Alabama waters. were all ex- | plored while Mobile was the chief set | clement. and there was placed in Texas l the west boundary pillar of Louisiana,
 as the eastern. was towards Pensacola. | The search for mines was not remun- | erative. but the founding of posts, made | from Mobile on the one site or the other ! extended geographical knowledge, in | creased French influence among the In-
 Thus arose Natchez, Fort Toulouse Fort
 Chartres and greatest of all daughters
 of Mobile, New Orleans. which became
 the capital and far outgrew the mother
 It was all Canada could do to keep the
 beaver trade. In fact. at first Canada
 was Jealous of Louisiana, and there was
 a long rivalry as to the growth of De-
 troit and Mobile. both founded by tho |
 | Towards the northeast the neighbors
 were different. The English were there | and by those wonderful men, the traders l were selling goods to the Indians even
 on the Mississippi. These traders deserve
 a special place in history. They were
 the advance guard of Anglo Saxon civ | ilization, and. though fewer in number
 than the French wood rangers, had a
 greater and most lasting influence Their
 names and residences are largely< lost.
 and only through his book is William
 Adair an exception To them was due
 the fixeds hostility of the ChickasaWs
 to the French, and in time they evcn
 Weakened the Choctaw alliance. | Cheaper trade must prevail in the long
 run. whether in colonial America in the eighteenth century or the world markets | ot the twentieth. and to the competition | between the traders and the wood rang | CTS Was largely due the settling of the
 question whether America should be l English or French.
 | The British were not only the better
 traders, but in numerical increase were l more prolific. It was the beginning of a | world process which We see going on
 in still increasing ratio. The Latin races | Italian. Spanish and even French. de-
 spite their Teutonic infusion--are almost
 stationary in population. as their prede-
 cessors became in imperial Rome; the
 can, are increasing, and can better spare | their blood. Incidental 70 this are their | different methods of colonization. The | I4atinS have colonized half the world, | but 1t has been principally a Veneering | of the natives. Mexico is still largely l more so. On the other hand, although | Anglo-SaXons rule the natives in India
 and other tropical countries where they | cannot themselves flourish; their typi-