The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-14

evidence Of the enterprise and the dar- | ing of France. X
 We are studying that romantic spot on an Alabama plantation this after noon, for it's French history. though we may well believe that this same | tongue of land between the two rivers has in It's Indian Period and It's Amer ican period each with its own rich- ness. We study not because ft was the center of the Creek Country when it was the site of the original town of Tuskegee. nor are we Investigating it for its picturesque history when Andrew Jackson on his tour of ven genace out of Tennessee. camped here when he had defeated the Indians and sarrisoned 1t with soldiers of the Am erican army.
 For the present our interest is not m the Indian village of Tuskegee nor in the American Fort Jackson. We study AUX Alibahmos" and we study Fort Toulouse half a century, between 1714 and 17e3
 It begins with the siow journey up the Alabama River of De La Tour and nis hundred men sent out when ca . fort in the far-off Creek Country. es- Y tsblish power and foster the trade of the French. It ends with the with drawal of the French in res. after tragedies. romances and disappoint- ments. E 2 A
 Alabama TraaitiSn.
 We hear of the French Fort through Indian tradition that found living voices fn Alabama's pioneer days. There was the Scotchman Mcqueen. deserter from an English vessel, who came to the Creek Nation and lived the life of an Indian. And he lived among them for nearly a century. for he is reliably said to have been 1fs when he died near the beginning of the last century
 He remembered the fort weli--the Greeks called 1t Frankxa Chucca Chula. or the French Trading Post Mcqueen was often there, for he lived not far from where his dust now rests, about twenty-five miles from Montgomery, near the Tallapoosa River and almost in sight of the Western of Alabama Railway. Mcqueen and he was Joined in the boast by some of the older In- dians was accustomed to claim that he and the Indians drove the French back to Mobile. But the enemies which forced France to take her hand from the blow and retreat, where she once advanced. were the enemies of circumstances. To me, not the least interesting romance of the old fort is French when the Alabama pioneers first came among the Indians and heard them tell of trading days at Fort Tou- louse.
 stood in the fort solemn with the thoughts of other days, and asked. what was France doing here7'
 History is not an array of epochs nor collection of Incidents. It is chain of circumstances, each link con- meeting and interdependenf.
 And seeking for Fort Toulo the gen. esis of Fort Toulouse established in a new and savage land found the light in the life work of the great Colbert, who served Louis the Fourteenth and who served him perhaps better than any monarch was ever served by a prime minister. Cardinal Mazarin de- eiared that when he brought Colbert to Louis and put him in his service he discharged every obligation he had ever owed the French king. Before Col bert came the business of a kings cabinet was to organize armies and Kind money with which to pay the soI- diers. Colbert, first of all ministers, weighed and gauged the importance