J V 6754 UC-NRLF Eflfl SEflBBSSPftSsTS CNJ 00 o o o LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. RECEIVED BY EXCHANGE Class THE UENCE OF FRENCH IMMIGRATION ON THE LITICAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. [A Tl. esis for the Doctor's Degree, University of Minnesota.] BY ELIZABETH H, AVERY, N REDFIELD. S. O. THE INFLUENCE OF FRENCH IMMIGRATION ON THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, OF THE UNIVERSITY OF [A Tln-sh tor the Doctor's Degree, University of Miniuvsoia. | BY ELIZABETH H, AVERY, PREFATORY NOTE. investigation of which the results are herewith pre- scnted was begun w r ith the thought of preparing a paper for the Seminary of American History in the University of Minnesota. A very brief survey sufficed to show that here was a field, practically unworked, intensly fascinating, and of no small importance. The study was therefore continued and the paper was expanded to the present limits. At no stage of the research, have I consciously labored to establish a pre-conceived theory. Indeed, in the main, the re- sults reached are far other than I should have anticipated. The conclusions of a first effort in a new field are necessarily somewhat tentative, and I shall be quite satisfied if the results of this study shall lead others, better equipped, to continue the investigation, whether the final results agree with those here reached or not. INTRODUCTION. The formerly accepted theory that American institutions are almost exclusively of Anglo-Saxon origin, has of late been vig- orously attacked. In particular, large claims to a share in the honor of building the American nation have been asserted on behalf of the Dutch. 1 Whatever the final judgment of sober historical criticism on such claims may be, it is evident that much is to be gained by careful study of the influence of other than English-speaking peoples on the origin and development of our institutions. Such a study in regard to the early French settlers will be attempted in this paper. At the outset we are confronted by the fact that, in the main, these settlers fall into two groups: the French Protestants, mostly refuges from persecution at home, who came to the At- lantic colonies; and the French Catholics, who, coming for purposes of traffic or sent by a paternal government, founded settlements in the "old Northwest" and the Mississippi valley. For clearness of treatment, it seems best to study separately the effect of these two streams of immigration, and then to compare their influence. 'Especially in Douglas Campbell's work, "The Puritan in England. Holland, and America. W. E. Gritfis. al-o. asserts that we -borrowed from the Netherlands, "in germ or directly,'' eighteen features of our government. Among them are the separation of church and state, free- dom of the press, freedom of religion, the supreme court, the common '1 system, etc. See National Magazine, vol. XV.. p. 603. I. HUGUENOTS. I. HUGUENOT SETTLEMENTS. jr^UGUENOT immigration to this country began at a very nj early period. It would, however, be quite beside my present purpose to relate the story of the ill-fated colonies sent out by Coligny, or even to give in detail the ac- counts of more successful undertakings in later years. I shall attempt only a brief summary, in the order of colonies rather than in chronological order, of the settlements made by them in the United States. It appears that while the Pilgrims tarried inLeyden, friend- ly relations sprang up between them and some of the French refugees who were also settled there, for the Mayflower brought among its passengers certain Huguenots, Philip De- lanoy and Wm. Molines with his wife, son, and daughter, 1 the latter of whom has been immortalized by one of her own de- scendants as the "Puritan maiden Priscilla" Mullins. In 1662, the General Court of Massachusetts granted to John Teuton, a physician of Rochelle, and other French Pro- testants expelled on account of their faith, permission to settle in the colony. 2 Within the next quarter of a century these were followed by quite a large number of their countrymen. Soon after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the proprie- tors of a tract of land in the Nipmuck country invited some thirty of them thither and made them a grant of eleven or twelve thousand acres. The village of Oxford which they founded flourished for a time but was abandoned in 1704 on ac- M. C. Hotten. Original Lists of Emigrants to America, Introduction, p. XXV.. and C. W. Baird, Huguenot Emigration to America, I., 154 and 158. All the Molines family except the daughter died during the first winter. 2 Mass. Col. Rrcords. vol. IV.. part II.. p. 67. See also, Memorial Hist, of Boston. II.. i:.")i). WJHMV it is stated that Touton came over in 1675 and that the first considerable company came in 1686. Cites MS. copy of Council Records in the office of Sec. of State, p. :>2. 12 count of Indian massacres, the inhabitants going to Boston and other places. 1 Some forty or fifty families made a settlement, which they called Frenchtown, in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, in the autumn of 1686. Owing to disputes about land titles, these settlers were afterwards scattered over the Narragansett country. After the Revolution many of them moved to Ver- mont, New York, Pennsylvania and thence farther west. 2 In the latter part of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century, Connecticut received a small accession of Huguenots who located mostly in Milford and Hartford. 3 Huguenot settlements were made in New York earlier than elsewhere. Indeed there is evidence that the first white child born in that region, in 1614 or 1615, was of Huguenot parent- age. 4 In 1623, a Dutch ship brought over nearly thirty Wal- loon families, some of whom settled on Manhattan Island, others near the present site of Philadelphia, and still others at Fort Orange now Albany. There was considerable desultory migration before the Revocation and settlements were formed on both Staten Island and Long Island. 5 In 1677, several families from the Palatinate located west of the Hudson and in grateful commemoration of their previous place of refuge called their village New Paltz. 6 New Rochellej Westchester Co., was settled in 1689, the land 'Daniels. Hist, of Oxford, p. 19; Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. XXII., p. 29; C. W. Baird gives lists of French settlers in Mass, from a variety of origi- nal sources. 'Baird, II., 291, ff.; Potter, History of French Settlements and Settlers in Khode Island, pp. 17, 18, 88, and 89. This little book contains copies of original documents and is very valuable for the study of this settle- ment. 3 Huguenot Emigration to America, II., 330. ff. The authorities seem to be genealogical records. Memorial Hist, of N. Y., I., 144, 145: Coll. of Huguenot Soc. of N. Y., I., Introd.,p. X. and footnote. Both refer to the Journal of Labadist voyagers, Dankers and Sluyter, whose date was about 1679. *Doc. Hist, of N. Y., III., 35; Huguenot Emigration to America, I., 170; Coll. of Huguenot Soc., L. Introd. pp. XIV. and XV. 6 Coll. of Ulster Hist, Soc. vol. I. part I. p. 34. There had been Wal- loon settlers in that region previously. See Huguenot Coll. L, introd. XIV. The Walloons were people of French extraction living in the re- gion now comprised in the department dn Nord and the S. W. provinces of Belgium. The Protestants among them were practically Huguenots. See Huguenot Emigration to America, I., 149-151 and Huguenot Coll., I. Introd X., footnote. 13 having been purchased from Leister. The settlers were from the city which figures so largely in Huguenot history. 1 Many refugees who went first to the West Indies came thence to New York.- Individual families located here and there in New Jersey a little group of them near Princeton but the first and probably the only settlement looking to permanence was that on the Hackensack. This was begun in 1677 under the leadership of David Demarest. a native of Picardy, who on coming to Ameri- ca first joined a Huguenot colony on Staten Island and later was a prominent citizen of New Harlem. The colony pros- pered, tract after tract of land was added, and before the Revo- lution it sent emigrants to Western New York, to Adams Co., Pennsylvania, and to Harrod's Station, Kentucky. 3 French immigrants came also to Delaware, to Berks Co., Pennsylvania, possibly to Maryland, and in much larger num- bers to Virginia. 4 Some came to the latter colony as early as 1660, perhaps earlier. Between 1690 and 1700, the arrivals amounted in all to '-"00 or 800 men, women, and children, who had fled from France on account of their religion." Their principal settlement was at Manakintown, about twenty miles above the falls of the James River. From this place many of them moved to more desirable lands on the Trent River in North Carolina. 5 Charles II. sent a colony of French Protestants at his own expense to South Carolina in 1679. During the reign of James 'Doc. Hist, of N. Y.. III.. 9.V>. ff. C W. Baird has an interesting note in Mag. of Am. Hist.. II.. 493. It'., in which he argues that Leisler was a Huguenot and hence especially interested in locating these families. Cf. on this point Huguenot Coll., I. Introcl.. XXVI.. footnote and the references there given. 2 N. Y. Col. Doc., IX. ? 309. 3 These and other interesting particulars may be found in "The Hu- guenots on the Hackensack." an address delivered before the Huguenot Soc. by Rev. Dr. Demarest. a descendant of the founder. It is published in Vol. I. of the proceedings of the Soc. and also separately in pamphlet form. *Huguenot Coll. I.. XI V.. Huguenot Emigration to America, I.. 133, ff.. Rupp, Thirty Thousand Names of Emigrants to Perm., pp. XVI. and XVIII.. and Talrott (Jen. Notes of X. V. and New Eng., xn. 'The introduction to vol. V. of the Va. Hist. Coll. states that the names of record in the State Land Registry indicate desultory Walloon immigration early in the 17th centurv. S< i e also Mead, Old Churches and Families of Va.. I.. 4(>3, ff.; Bupp, 3<> C. L. Hunter. Sketches of I'M N. Car.. <>: and Beverly. Histoire De la Virginie, 188, ff. and380,ff. 14 II., collections were made for them in England, Parliament at one time granting them aid. Their early settlements were chiefly near the Santee and Cooper rivers. In 1730 the Purys- burg settlement was made. In 1761 the Assembly of the colo- ny passed an act for encouraging foreign Protestants to settle there, which had the effect to bring over six hundred persons in about three years. The Abbeville District seems to have been settled by these later comers. 1 \ Besides these more important settlements to which I have called attention, there were separate families or small groups of families who came over at various times. The Huguenot Society of America recognizes fourteen "original settlements." New York City, Staten Island, .Long Island, New Rochelle, ^ New Paltz, Boston, New Oxford, Narragansetts, Maine, Dela- ware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, and Florida. As I have shown, nearly all the thirteen colonies received, at some time before the Revolution, at least a few Huguenot settlers. It is probably impossible to ascertain with any approach to accuracy how large a part of the population they formed. Pal- frey says that one hundred and fifty families came to New Eng- iand after the Revocation, and Baird considers this estimate too low. 2 Moreover there had been considerable immigration to that colony at an earlier date, as we have seen. One writer holds that the number who came before the Revocation was much greater than has been supposed, and estimates chat in 1670 the Huguenots were one-fourth the population of New York. Another states that 17,000 has been mentioned as a probable number in South Carolina. 3 And the historian of those who settled on the Hackensack says: "Historians * * know nothing of a Huguenot element as a factor of any impor- tance" in New Jersey. ''But suppose that you were today to remove * * all who bear the names of the original Hugue- not settlers on the Hackensack, and of those who soon after located in the neighborhood * * you would vacate a very 1 Transictions of the Hujusnot Soe. of S. Car., I., 10, 12, 15, II., 55, III., 65 and 66: Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., XXII, 35; S. Car. Hist. Soc. Coll. I., 100, ftV(The French Protestants of the Abbeville District); Holmes, Annals, I., 394, 453, 460, 472, and 489; and Lee, Huguenots in France and America, II., 72 and 73. "Palfrey, Hist, of New Eng., I., preface p. VIII.: C. W. Baird, II., 202. "See Mag. Am. Hist. IX., 295, (an article by Rev. A. V. Wittmeyer, rector of the French church Saint Esprit); and Trans. Huguenot Soc. S. Car., III. 37. 15 large proportion of the houses and farms in an extensive dis- trict. And if, in addition, you were to remove all who, though bearing Dutch names, have quite as much French as Dutch blood in their veins, you would create a wilderness almost without inhabitants." * * * * Whatever may be thought of such estimates, the indications are that they were a larger element of the colonial population than we are accustomed to think. At all events they were sufficiently numerous to make it a matter of interest and im- portance to determine how far and in what ways they in- fluenced national development. A people so industrious, thrifty, and religious would be ex- pected to have a beneficial influence upon the economic and / moral life of the colonies, and the course of contemporary evidence as well as the results of later investigations point in j that direction. It is quite likely, as suggested by some wri- ters, that their more genial type of piety may have softened somewhat the sternness of their Puritan neighbors in New England. And it is at least possible thatlthe milder character of the Pilgrims was in part due to their friendly intercourse with the Huguenots in Leyden. These "men who had the vir 1 tues of the English Puritans without their bigotry," "so far as we can learn, brought only good gifts to the American colo-i nies," and "it seems very probable tha^Jmuch of American quickness and vivacity is due to the early and wide-spread dif-*/ fusion of Huguenot blood." 1 Some of them made, if not more substantial, at least more tangible gifts to the homes of their adoption, from the city clock given in 1716 by Stephen Delancey to Trinity church New York, to Gabriel Manigault's loan of $220,000 at the out- set of the Revolution. 2 The most widely known of these gifts is, of course, the "Cradle of Liberty," donated by Peter Faneuil to the city of Boston. 3 'The quotations are from Bancroft, Hist, of the U. S.. I., 433, and from a review of Baird's work in Atlantic Monthly, LV., 843, ff. Elo- quent tributes to their virtues may be found in the Bi-Centenary Com- memoration. See especially Pres. Jay's address, p. 7, ff., and Prof. H. M. Baird's. p. 14, ff. Pp. 37 and ff. give Prof. Baird's estimate of their influ- ence on American life. 'Holgate, Am. Genealogy, 115: Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., XXII.. 36. ! A copy of the warrant for the town meeting to consider his offer is in New Eng* Hist, and Gen. Reg. XXX., 368. See also Mem. Hist, of Bos- ton, I., 263, ff. 16 That as thrifty inhabitants they were gladly welcomed is in- dicated by the pecuniary aid granted to them in South Caro- lina, the exemption from taxes for a period of seven years in Virginia, 1 and by the general tenor of contemporary reference to them. But they were not, in most of the colonies, at once admitted to full political rights, and in some cases there was evident jealousy of them as a people of alien nationality. In Rhode Island at the outbreak of King William's war, such ap- prehensions of their taking part with the French were felt that they were required to appear before a magistrate and take oath "to behave themselves." 2 In South Carolina during Ludwell's administration, feeling ran so high that he thought it neces- sary for the preservation of peace to exclude the Huguenots from all legislative concerns, since "the haughty spirit (of the English) could not brook the thought of sitting in assemblies with the rivals of the English nation for power and dominion, and of receiving laws from Frenchmen, the favorers of, a sys- tem of absolute government." 3 It is said also that some went so far as to insist that marriages by French ministers were il- legal. But in time these disturbances quieted down, a naturali- zation law was passed^ and intermarriages took place. 4 Special acts of naturalization and "denization" were also passed in other colonies, 5 and we find frequent mention of Huguenots in official positions. 6 But with one possible excep- tion, 7 I can find no evidence that they ever unitedly exerted J Va. Hist. Coll., V., 60. "Rhode Island Col. Records. III., 264. Hewitt, Histi Acc't of S. Car. and Geo. (originally published in Lon- don, 1779), in S. Car. Hist. Coll. vol. I., Hildreth, II., 210, says that in Sothel's time a law was passed for the enfranchisement of Huguenots but was one of those rejected in mass by the proprietors as lacking legal sanctions; and their increasing numbers caused the trouble in Ludwell's time. *Lee, Huguenots in France and America, II., 74, 75, and 77; Hildreth. II., 213; Bancroft, II., 12. 6 The date in Mel. was 1666; .in Ya., 1671; Holmes, Annals, I., 344 and 357. Denization was granted in N. Y. as early as 1698, possibly earlier. Cf. N. Y. Col. Doc., IV., 450, III., 426. Penizaticn, however, did not confer full political rights, (Huguenot Coll., I., 408), and perhaps some confusion of these laws with those for naturalization may explain the discrepancies in the date as given by different writers. "Daniels, Hist, of Oxford. Mass., pr- 12 and 757; Huguenots on the Hackensack, p. 0: Mass. Hist. Coll., XXII., 30: and Mem. Hist, of N. Y., II., 49, ff. This last is a list of the Mayors of N. Y. down to 1700, several of whom were plainly of French extraction. 7 This exception was the Leisler difficulty in N. Y. Prominent Hug- 17 any political influence during the whole colonial period; nor do individuals of the race seem to. have played so prominent a part as in later hisjtory. Yet further, it does not appear that in any way they made definite, original contributions to politi- cal thought in those times. Whatever effect they may have had upon colonial life, politically considered, is for the most part, untraceable. Nor need this surprise us. They had not the training in that self-government which has so characterized the Teutonic peo- ples. Their anomalous "state within a state" had long since ceased to have any vitality, and in its best days was rather imitative than original. They seem never to have acquired, as a people, a stock of political ideas, but probably 'experienced in their thinking upon such subjects though possibly in a somewhat less degree than their fellow-countrymen 'the para- lyzing influence of the French system of centralization. Com- ing then, as they did, solely to escape persecution, and settling among a people who felt entirely competent to solve all polifi- cal pi ; oblens, they were not likely to be important factors in political development till they had become somewhat assimi- lated to the rest of the population. By the beginning of the Revolutionary period this assimilation was quite complete. And I propose to show that during that period and later indi- viduals of French descent did much to shape the course of our national history. It must, however, be premised at the outset that the very completeness of their absorption by the people among whom they settled renders it impossible to trace fully their influence. By the translation of their names into Eng- lish, by the gradual corruption of names through mispronunci- ation, and by intermarriages the lineage has been so obscured that many a man with a pretty large infusion of Huguenot blood may pass for a full blooded Yankee or Dutchman. 1 ueoots were active in tlie affair and a majority of those in and around N. Y. petitioned for Leisler's pardon. They seem. too. to Iiav 7 e acted unitedly, though without absolute unanimity. Nicholas Bayard was one of the opposition. See Huguenot Coll.. I.. Introd., XXVIII.: Mem. Hist, of X. V.. I., chap. XII. (The period of the Leisler troubles ): and II., chaps. 1. and II.: Doc. of Col. Hist, of X. Y.. IV., 5>7ii and 1064. 'The French element was so speedily absorbed by the surrounding Dutch, that not a few of the numerous descendants of the Huguenot pioneers, from whom the farms they occupy have comedown in unbroken nt through seveD or eight generations, verily believe that they are of pure Holland st:ick. a:d the story of their French origin is to them a new revelation." Huguenots on the Hackensack. pp. 1 and -2. II. THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. COMING now to the times immediately preceding the Revolu- tion, it would be easy to compile from Force's Archives a list of men of undoubted French ancestry who belonged to committees, wrote letters, and in various other ways took part in the proceedings recorded in those facinating volumes. 1 From other sources, too, many interesting particulars may be gleaned. At least one Huguenot 2 was a member of the Boston tea party, and another was one of those Americans in England who signed the petition to Parliament representing the possible fa^tal consequences of the Boston Port Bill. 3 Nor can we for- get that, when it came to actual hostilities, the country was indebted to a Huguenot for the "midnight ride" which carried the news of the British march on Lexington; 4 nor that Francis Marion, the hero of so many gallant exploits as well as the sturdy defender of the Tories against those who desired to proscribe them, 5 and John Laurens, whose brave conduct won him the honor of receiving the sword of Cornwallis, were Huguenots. But time does not permit us to dwell on such details, intensely fascinating as they are, in presence of the much more besides those better known, there are such names as Legare, Bouquet, Dubois, Hasbrouck, Bounetheau. De Saussure, etc. 2 Goss' Life of Col. Paul Revere, I., 121. See App. to this paper for genealogical notes on Revere and other prominent Huguenots referred to. 3 Henry Laurens, Hist. Mag. ; X., 234. 4 This was not the only ride taken by the '-patriot Mercury" for his country. In 1774 he carried to N. Y. and Phil, the dispatches in regard U) calling a Congress, and on several occasions took messages to Congress. He was one of the grand jury that refused to serve when Parliament made judges independent of the people. Goss, I., 153 and 159. ff.; Mag. Am. Hist., XV.. 5. 8 He declared that the proposed law for the sequestration of the Tories was riot in "the spirit of American liberty." See Huguenot pro- ceedings, I.. 101. Congress voted him thanks for his ''wise, decided and gallant conduct in defending the liberties of his country, his prudent and intrepid attack on a party of British troops on the 31st of Aug. last, and for the distinguished part he took in the battle of the 8th of Sep." Jour, of Cong., III., 683. 19 important deeds of a group of statesmen who profoundly influenced state and national development during the "critical" and "formative" period. Their work may perhaps best be seen by reviewing, rapidly and with special reference to the part taken by these men of French descent, some of the best known events of our history. It need detract nothing from the honor we are accustomed to pay to those uncompromising Yankee rebels, Samuel Adams and James Otis, to recall another, a man of Huguenot ancestry, whose share in the events that precipitated the Revolution was not less important than theirs, though his name has been suf- fered to become less familiar to our ears. Says Winthrop: "If Otis' arguments ** breathed into this nation the breath of life, few things, if anything, * * did more to sustain that life until it was able to go alone, than the answers of the House of Rep- resentatives of Massachusetts, to the insolent assumptions of Bernard and Hutchinson, mainly draftad by the same James Otis and Samuel Adams, and the answers of the Council, mainly drafted by James Bowdoin." Bowdoin was under- stood by the Privy Council in England to be "the leader and manager of the Council in Massachusetts, as Mr. Adams was in the House." 1 Nor is contemporary evidence to the same effect wanting. Hutchinson says: "Mr. Bowdoin was without a rival in the Council, and by the harmony and reciprocal commu- nications between him and Mr. Adams, the measures of the Coun- cil and House harmonized also, and were made reciprocally sub- servient each to the other, so that when the Governor met w T ith opposition from the one, he had reason to expect like opposi- tion from the other." 2 In 1774, Hutchinson's successor, Gage, removed him, acting, as he said, under "express orders from his Majesty." When Gage called for the surrender of arms, Bowdoin w r as moderator of the great meeting held in Faneuil Hall to consider the demand. He was President of the Coun- cil of twenty-eight chosen in 1775 to exercise the supreme executive authority of the Province, and in the autumn of the same year was chairman of the Massachusetts delegation in the conference with Washington and the committee of Congress l ll. C. Winthrop, Address before the Maine Hist. Snr. at Bowdoin 5j 1 S J'.. As a descendant <>t' Hnvdoin. Winthrop had access to private papers. > that his address has something the character of an original document. . of Mass. Bay III., 293, See also pp, 156, 228, and 374. 20 relative to the best means of conducting the campaign. Only the illness of his wife, on account of which Hancock took his place at the head of the Massachusetts delegation in Congress, prevented his being one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. 1 In New York, not only were Wm. Bayard and John Jay members of the committee of correspondence, but Jay was one of the sub-committee to prepare answers to letters received, and a letter, "probably from his pen, contains the first propo- sition that was made for convening a general Congress to con- sider the (present) state of affairs." When the Congress was convened 1 , he was one of those unanimously chosen to represent New York. Entering upon his duties in Congress, he was placed upon the committee to prepare a memorial to the people of British America, "stating the necessity of a firm, united and invariable observation of the measures recommended by Con- gress," as well as on that which composed the address to the people of Great Britain. 2 B3th these papers were probably written by Jay; the latter certainly was, and "is generally ac- knowledged to stand first amon the incomparable productions" of the first Congress. 3 Jefferson said before knowing its authorship, that it was "a production certainly worthy of the finest pen in America." 4 The idea of the petition to the King, (July 8, 1775), originated with Jay and was carried by him against very strong opposition in Congress. 5 The double honor of being a member of the Provincial Congress of New York and of the Continental Congress at the same time, and the necessity that was felt for his presence in the former pre- vented his being one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- pendence. 6 But the New York convention's resolution of approval, (July 9, 1776), was drafted by him, the manuscript in his own handwriting being still preserved among the records of New York. 7 'Winthrop, 27 : ff.; Bancroft, IV., 242 and VI., 139 and 140. 2 Am. Archives, I., 319, ff.; Jour, of Cong., I., 19: Jay's Life of Jay, I., 24. 8 Webster's Great Speeches, 311. Works, I., 10. May's Jay, I., 36. May's Jay, I., 43 and 44. Correspondence and Public Papers, I., 72. 21 The proceedings of the secret committee of Correspond- ence "with the friends of America in Great 'Britain, Ireland ana other parts of the world," were of great importance in securing the friendship of individuals abroad and probably prepared the way for the mission of Silas Deane to France. But so great was the secrecy observed that it does not seem possible to apportion the honor due to individual members of the committee. I see no reason, however, to question the opin- ion of his son, that Jay was -the chief organ of correspond- ence, 1 ' 1 especially in view of his later correspondence with Deane On the whole, it seems quite fair to claim that there was no pen in Congress more continually and successfully used for the country at this pe'riod than Jay's. That the New Jersey Assembly, disregarding the advice of Governor Franklin, gave "express approbation of the meas- ures of the Congress" in 1775, is attributed by him- to Elias Boudinot, afterward President of Congress, and others, who, as he says, * 'came down from Elizabeth Town and caballed among the members. ' ?2 In South* Carolina, Henry Laurens was not only a member of the First Provincial Congress, but drew up the asssociation to be signed by all the friends of liberty, was also President of the Council, and later, as is well-known, a delegate to the Continental Congress and its President for more than a year. 3 The celebrated Mecklenburg Declaration was drafted by a Huguenot, Dr. Ephraim Brevard. Though the claim of some that this paper was the original of the Declaration can hardly be granted, it was doubtless of much importance in fostering the spirit of Independence in North Carolina. 4 '.lay's -lay. I.. 04. 'Letter from Gov. Franklin, dated Perth Amboy. Mar. 12, 1775, in \rchives. X.. .~>7.~>. 'Am. Cyc. of Bio?.. III.. 630 and G:U. I am not ignorant of tin* fact that Laurens* patriotism at an early stage of the ditlicult ies has been thought to be open to ques- tion. The letter written by him to His Majesty's Secretaries Of State while in the Tower, as well as private letters written during the Stamp- Ad disturbances, are of a >m'what dama^in^ character." They may be found in Hist. Mas?.. X.. '2M.. IT. Sv als > extract from "The Royal Lte," N. V.. Oct. 14. 177s ; . on p. 31(> of the same Maj. Hut the letter to the Secret aries was the special plea of a man who wanted tojjet out of prison and probably puts his conduct in the best possible light for that purpose. There arc not wanting indications in his diplomatic cor- re-pondence that lie never forgot himself lor his country. With that limitation unfortunately not the exclusive possession of citizens of Gallic descent I believe his patriotism to have been sound. 'Randall, Life of Jefferson, III., 570, ff.; Am. Archives, II., 855 22 Not to go further into details, it is evident that in at least five of the colonies, the part taken by men of Huguenot descent in the events leading to the Declaration of Independ- ence was by n'o means a secondary one. When the young nation was once fairly launched upon a war for independence, these men continued the most unre- mitting exertions to that end, 1 but except for the brilliant mis- sion of John Laurens to France, there is nothing of such para- mount and striking importance as to demand our attention till we come to the negotiations preliminary to peace. 2 It is, however, worth while to note that young Laurens not only obtained a subsidy and the assistance of Rochambeau and other officers with land and naval forces, but that he did it by the skill with which he broke through all conventionalties and secured a personal interview with the King, thereby avoiding the delays incident upon negotiations conducted through the ministry. 3 and foot note; Winsor. Nar. and Grit. Hist., VI., 256; Hunter, Sketches of Western N. Car., 22. ff. and 47, ff; Sabine, Am. Loyalist, I., 38, and articles in Mag. of Am. Hist., vol. XXI. ! I find some Huguenots in the list of Loyalists given by Sabine, but they do not seem to have been numerous. 2 Such facts as that Gouverneur Morris drew up, the plan adopted by Congress for' raising funds for army expenses, (Diary and Letters, I., 4 and 5;) that he also drew up the instructions to Franklin at Versailles in 1778 the first ever sent to an .American Plenipo- tentiary (Spark's Life of Morris. I., 188); that Jay drafted the circular letter to accompany the resolutions stopping the emission, of bills of credit in J779. (Jour, of Cong., III., 350 and 358); that Laurens proposed and Hamilton heartily approved a scheme for raising 1 two or three bat- talions of ^egro troops, (Jay's Works, I., 191, ff. and Bancroft, V., 369 and 370); that Washington obtained through Bowdoin's "confidential agency ' a plan of the harbor of Halifax with a view to its des- truction by the-French fleet," in 1780, (Winthrop, p. 29); that on the inva- sion of S. Car. in 1779, Manigault, though over 75 years of age. shouldered a musket and offered himself and his fourteen-year-old grand-son to the service of his country, (Commemoration of Bi-Centennary, p.54); though very interesting, can hardly be said to have had a determining effect on the course of U. S. History. It was possibly more important that some of the best Revolutionary officers were Huguenots. (Proceedings of Huguenot Soc., I., 41. and Cf. Register of Officers). 3 Army Correspondence of John Laurens, p. 31, ff. Congress passed the following resolution: '"That the conduct' of John Laurens in his mis- sion to the court of Versailles as special minister of the U. S.. is highly agreeable to Cong, and entitles him to public approbation," Jour, of Cong., III., 663. III. THE TREATY OF PEACE. COMMITTEE that negotiated peace with Great Britain consisted as finally constituted, of John Jay, Henry Laurens. Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams. It is, of course, a matter of interest to know just how far we are indebted to each of them for the important provisions of the treaty. If we accept the views of all who have written on the subject, we shall be compelled to believe among other things that it was essentially the work of Franklin, 1 that we are in- debted for the concessions in regard to the fisheries to Adams, 2 that the glory belongs to Jay and Adams but especially to Jay, 3 that it was owing to Laurens that the frontiers of the Repub- lic were extended to the Mississippi river, 1 and'in this way the later annexation of Louisiana provided for, 4 and that on this very point "we have greater reason for gratitude to John Jay than to either of his colleagues." 5 The truth probably is as stated by Fiske: ''To the grand triumph the varied talents of Franklin, Adams and Jay all contributed." 6 Yet I venture to hold the opinion that the services of Mr. Jay were even more important than those of either of his col- leagues, valuable as those doubtless were. The subject cannot, as it seems to me, be fully understood without reading the re- markable series of letters written while he- was Minister Plenipo- tentiary to Spain, as well as the correspondence after his trans- fer to Versailles. 7 It must be borne in mind that the ' 'family com- pact' 1 between France and Spain rendered it of the first im- portance to avoid giving offence to Spain, not only for the sake 'Parton, Life of Franklin, II. 650. "He saved the alliance over and over again and brought the negotiations to a successful close." 'Life by C. F. Adams, 380, ff. 'Roosevelt, Life of Morris. 124. 4 Wri>s. Hist, of French Protestant Refugees, I., 366. 5 Hinsdale, Old Xorthwest, 182. Critical Period of Am. Hist.. 7 The letters are in Sparks' Diplomatic Correspondence. VII. and VIII., and the more important ones in Jay's Works, I. and II. 24 of an alliance with her, but for the continuance of friendly re- lations with France. And the fair inference from the way in which the Ministers were treated is that neither France nor Spain was anxious to secure great advantages for the young Republic, and that the latter at least was most unwilling that its borders should be extended to the Mississippi. That her intention to prevent this result was only prevented by Jay's firmness and foresight is the conclusion to which one is irre- sistibly drawn on reading the correspondence. Nor is there more reason to doubt that his courage in accepting the bills which Congress, depending on the financial assistance of Spain, had drawn upon him, and his skill in securing the means to redeem them, probably saved the country from imme- diate bankruptcy, which would have been fatal to all hopes of -independence. What was thought of his statesmanship at the time may be seen from the letter of Samuel Huntington, President of Con- gress, written under the direction of that body, in which he says, "throughout the whole course of your negotiations and transactions, in which the utmost address and discernment was often necessary to reconcile the respect - due to the dignity of the United States with the urgency of their wants and the com- plaisance expected by the Spanish Court, your conduct is entirely approved." 1 And later, Robert R. Livingstone wrote, "your conduct through the whole of your negotiations has been particularly acceptable to Congress.'' 2 After he joined Franklin in France his zeal and sagacity in securing the ends sought were no less apparent. It is not necessary to decide whether Vergennes was more friendly than he thought, nor whether Vaughan's mission to England was the bit of diplomacy that secured the recognition of United States Independence as a preliminary to entering upon the treaty. In any case there can be no question that he showed great adroitness in his plan for outwitting what seemed to him a wily maneuver. And in breaking loose from the instructions to follow the advice of the French Court, it was Jay who took the lead and almost compelled Franklin to follow. He says in his report that Franklin was "fettered" by 'Jay's Works, II., 32, dated, "In Cong., May 28, 1781." May's Work, II., 188. The letter, Apr. 16, 1782, is in answer to Jay's of Oct. 3, 1781. 25 > them, but that he "could not believe that Congress intended that we (they) should follow any advice that might be repug- nant to their interest." 1 From all the evidence, then. I feel compelled to infer that s influence in keeping the country from utter bankruptcy till peace could be secured, in obtaining the Mississippi boun- dary. in making the recognition of independence one of the prior conditions of the treaty and in breaking away from French dictation as to the terms, was second to that of neither of his colleagues. The "Yankee shrewdness" which Fiske thinks was more than a match for the "traditional French '. subtlety'.'- was itself of Gallic origin. As to the Fisheries question, his share of the merit is not so clear, though Hamilton says that the people of New England talked of. offering him an annual tribute' of fish. 3 He seems, however, at the very least, to have seconded Adams very ably in that matter. Speaking in general terms of the whole treaty. Adams said that the principal merit was Jay's. 4 And Fitzherbert, in 1853, said that it was "not only chief but solely through Jay's means that the negotiations between England and the United States were brought to a successful conclusion.'' 5 These statements from other chief actors in the affair do not seem to me too strong. Laurens* part in the negotiations seems comparatively un- important. Nor do his letters have the same ring of statesman- like and unselfish patriotism as Jay's. 6 But in his own opin- ion. after being admitted to bail in London, he made many converts to the idea of American Independence * 'among people of the first importance." 7 And Bancroft credits him with haying proposed the clause forbidding the British to carry away Negroes or other property. 8 However, the work of Jay alone during these trying negotiations would compel the admission that our national independence with the favorable 'Works, II., 384. 'Critical Period of Am. HNt.. '24. > Hamilton. Works. VIII.. 148. 4 Letter to Jay in 1880, Jay's .lay, I., 418. Narrai ivr and Critical Hist.. V 1 1.. Kilt: Flanders, Lives and Times of the Chief .}\i>\ Ices, I.. :>4:{ and :{.">! and foot note. 6 They are in Sparks' Dip. Cor., vol. II. 7 Dip Cor.. II.. 406 and 469, ff., Cf. also 482. "History, V., 579. 26 conditions secured was not altogether an -^Anglo-Saxon achievement. Our interest in American history from the stamp-act to^the treaty of Paris is apt to center about the stirring events of the Revolution. But during- those years the foundations of trans- Alleghany commonwealths were being laid with-a^heroism worthy of the times. Among [the backwoodsmen' -who --first peopled that region were quite a number'of Huguenots, , and one of them, John Sevier, 1 was a principal actor in some of the most important events connected with state-building there. So that not only in the thirteen original colonies, but in some of the earliest off-shoots from them, we may trace the influence of exiles from France. 'Sevier's work has been well told by Roosevelt, Winning of the West, and in Phelan's Hist, of Tenn. IV. STATE CONSTITUTIONS. HILE the war was sti11 in P ro ress > most of the states formed new constitutions under which they lived for many years. Bowdoin was President of the Massachu- s Convention in 1779 and with the Adamses prepared, dur- ing a recess of the convention, a draft which with some modi- fications was adopted. Judge Lowell %i who was himself second > one in that convention for the zeal and ability which he brought to the work,'' says of Bowdoin that >; it was owing to the hints which he- occasionally gave and the part which he took with the committee who framed the plan that some of the most admired sections in the Constitution of this state appear in their present form.'' 1 To have been one of the chief framers of the Constitution under which with an occasional amendment the old Bay State has lived and prospered for more than a century, is surely no slight honor; but that is not all. ''The ordinance of 1787 is a condensed abstract of the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780. Every principle contained in the former either in a germinal or a developed form, except that relating to the obligation of contracts, and some temporary provisions relating to the organization of the territorial gov- ernment is found in the latter, and often in the same language."- And since the development of the country west of the Alleghanies owes so much to this ordinance, and since, further, the Constitution of Massachusetts and hence the Ordinance owes so much to a descendant of the Huguenots, it may as well be granted at once that some of the most boasted characteristics of our national career are due neither to the Anglo-Saxon nor to the Dutchman. After the new constitution went into effect, Bowdoin was appointed with the Justices of the Supreme Court, the Attor- n t-y- General, and John Pickering ; 'to revise the laws in force in 'WinUirop. :>><> and 31; Ilildretb. III.. :r t :>. 8 I>r. Cutler and t In- ( >niinanr- .f 17*7. hy W. F. Pool.-. X. Am. Re- vi.-w. ( 'X x 1 1.. *i. tf. The quotation is on page 258. A comparison of tbe Ordinance I'oniv. I.. 4:2'. 4'.V2 with tin- C'ons. of Mass. I'ooiv. I.. 973) will abundantly repay any student. 28 the state, to select, abridge, alter, and digest them so as to be accommodated to the present government." Winthrop says: "I have seen ample evidence in his papers of the labor which he bestowed on the duties of this distinguished and most responsible commission." 1 In the New York Convention of 1776, Jay and Gouverneur Morris were leading members. Jay is said to have prepared the draft of the Constitution and his eulogists are probably right in attributing its most important features to him, though it is difficult to find direct and positive evidence of the fact. He made strenuous exertions to obtain a clause excepting Roman Catholics from toleration till they should abjure the authority of the Pope to grant absolution. The most that could be obtained, however, was a proviso said to have been proposed by Morris and which was retained in subsequent revisions of the Constitution, that "the liberty of conscience hereby grant- ed shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness or justify practices inconsistent with the safety of the state," and an amendment to the naturalization clause requiring all persons to "abjure allegiance to all and every foreign king, prince, potentate, and state, in all matters ecclesiastical as well as civil," before becoming naturalized citizens. It was also due s to him that acts of attainder were not allowed to work corrup- tion of the blood. It seems quite likely that his urgency on this point was due to his knowledge of the wrong endured by his ancestors and the ingrained hatred of all that caused those wrongs, The restriction of suffrage, in some cases, to freeholders was in accordance with his favorite maxim that "those who owned the country ought to govern it."- 'Address, p. 32. 2 On the points covered by this paragraph, Cf. Jay's Jay, I., 70; Roosevelt's Morris, 66: and Pellew's Jay, 85-87. V. THE NATIONAL, CONSTITUTION. WAR being closed and independence secured, it might be hoped that the young Republic, entering upon its course un- der such favorable circumstances, endowed with such a wealth of natural resources, and above all rich in men of such con- spicuous ability, would move forward in a path of uninterrupted prosperity. But there were only too evident signs of danger from w r ithin which threatened its very existence. The Confed- eracy proved to be a rope of sand, and there was no power to v cope successfully with the pressing financial and other prob- lems. Men of judgment and patriotism were by no means agreed as to the wisest measures to be taken. It is a curious and, as I think, a very significant fact that, when the Anglo- Saxon spirit of localization was endangering the life of the Re- public, men of French extraction who were prominent in public life expressed with wonderful unanimity 1 a belief that a stronger central government was imperatively demanded. A few cita- tions will establish this point, but I do not propose to discuss, still less to answ r er, the probably unanswerable question, how /"/ their views were due to inherited and innate tendencies of the Gallic mind. As early as 1779, Elias Boudinot said in a private letter: "I am not afraid of the dissolution of the Con- federacy in my day, but I dread the consequences on the pres- ent basis to posterity. In my weak opinion. Congress has not power enough."- In 1783, Jay wrote: "I am perfectly convinced that no time is to be lost in raising and maintaining a national spirit in America. POIO-I' to (/<<' m ////- racy c* t<> U. gen- > sj,nt//<1 be (jr<<> and 507. 32 the eleven propositions which he submitted to the Convention 1 do not seem to be of superlative importance, the speech by which he supported them was one that, as is evident from the draft what remains to us 2 must have carried great weight, especially when coming from a man of so vigorous a personal- ity. And the full plan of a constitution that he gave to Madi- son 3 presents with, it is true, many points of divergence, points of coincidence with that finally adopted, so many and so strik- ing, as to force the conviction that it must have been known to the Committees who drafted the different articles and must have modified the result to a large extent. We must remember, too, that by this time his views had probably become well known to most men in public life and could not have failed to influence some of them. There is a tradition that he did much in private conversation, during the time the Convention w T as in session, to "filtrate" his ideas through the material of the Constitution. 4 The splendid services of Jay and Hamilton in securing the adoption of the Constitution have never been questioned. The numbers of the Federalist written by them are enduring monu ments of their w r ork. 5 In the Massachusetts Convention that ratified the Constitution, both James Bowdoin and his son made speeches in its favor. (i To sum up the fragmentary details, I am thoroughly con- vinced that, for the advocacy of ' ; a more perfect union," for efforts to obtain a convention with that end in view, for able and influential services during its sessions, and for vigor- ous and successful efforts to secure the ratification of the Con- stitution, we are more indebted to four men of Huguenot ances- try, James Bowdoin, Alexander Hamilton, Gouverneur Morris, and John Jay, than to any other four statesmen of the time. 7 J Elliot, I., 179, or Madison Papers, 185, ff. 2 Works, I., 353, ff. 3 Works. I.. 334, ff. It may also be found in Supplement to Elliot, App., 585, ff. *Morse Life of Hamilton, I., 184. G See also, Jay's Address to the people of N. Y., Works, III, 294. Cf. Jay's Jay, I., 260-262 and 269; Elliot, II., 283. ff. For Hamilton's work in K. Y. Convention, Elliot, II., 231369. 6 Elliot, II., 81; 125, and 178. Revere bad something to do with securing Samual Adams', at first doubtful, support. Goss, II., 451., ff. 7 To Morris also we owe the suggestion for our decimal system of coinage, though his plan received important modifications from Jeffer- son before it was adopted. VI. THE EARLY DAYS OF THE CONSTITUTION. BUT no plan of government, even if it be * 'the most won- derful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man," will execute itself. And "the more perfect union, '' which owed so much to Gallic brains in its inception, might have been as disastrous a failure as the old Confederacy, had not those same brains devised the meas- ures for its workings in its early years. To tell adequately the part taken by these men, especially by Jay and Hamilton, during the first decade of the constitutional period would be to rewrite the history of that decade. For present purposes, it it will suffice to assume the facts known to every reader of our national history, in order to trace their effect in the evolution of that history. We are apt to think of Hamilton as the man who ' 'smote the rock of the national resources and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth." The idea, which I believe to be alto- gether correct, that all his work tended toward centralization, though advanced by some writers, is not so prominent in the popular thought as it deserves to be. That it was, in fact, a deliberate purpose with him, to effect that endacan hardly be doubted by any one who makes a study of all his writings. His dread of giving too much power to individual states, his desire to make the central government strong and controlling must impress the most casual reader. That, to some extent, "he builded wiser than he knew" is very probable. 1 His schemes for assumption and funding too well known to need explanation here though strenuously opposed at the time, are now generally admitted to have been, from a financial standpoint, eminently wise. . Indeed it would seem that there was no escape from repudiation except through some system 'Jefferson says, (Works III.. 4 "so "ocwit'-hed and perverted by British ex- ample as to be under thorough conviction that corruption was essential ..-nmieiit of a nation." Works. IX.. '.7 . He also plainly im- ual the Bank was intruded to control the action of Congress, p. 95. 2 The opinion may be found in his Works. III., 453, ft., and 2 Dallas, 419, II. 38 least supposable that the conflicts of succeeding years would have led to an early disruption of the Union. No other question of paramount constitutional importance seems to have come before him for decision. 1 Scarcely less important, however, is the fact that as "Chief Justice of his own state and of the United States, he impressed Grand Jurors and all concerned with the necessity of encouraging a profound respect for law and constitution in the new order of things, and at the outset, through his own personal dignity and integ- rity gave character to our highest courts since traditionally preserved." 2 Jay's treaty with England excited violent opposition at the time so little seemed to be gained in comparison with what was granted. Opinions regarding it will always differ, probably, since the question is largely whether war, especially in view of the probably resulting alliance with revolutionary France would have been a national calamity. But in view of his long, tedious, and so eminently successful negotiations in the Revo- lutianary period, it will not do to assert, as does one historian, that "he had always been a timid negotiator on America's be- half." 3 Neither does his correspondence in connection with the treaty justify such a statement. 4 His own opinion that no more favorable conditions were at that time attainable, 5 is also entitled to some weight. It should not be forgotten, either. that in the course of negotiations with England for twenty-five years subsequently this nation scored no very marked suc- cess. 6 It was necessary to demonstrate our claim to b a great ^is charge to the Grand Jury at Richmond, (Works, III., 478, ff.), is considered by Pellew to have placed our international relations on a legal basis. It may be questioned, however, whether that was really done till actual questions came up for adjudication. H. L. Carson says. , (Supreme Court of the U. S., 160, ff.), that the first important cause (Geo. v V. Brailsford and others, 2 Dallas, 40, ff., and 415, ff.), involved the theory that the treaty of peace was part of the supreme law and could not be restricted in its operation by state action or state laws. 8 Johnston, Preface to Jay's Works. 3 Schouler, I., 293. 4 Am. State Papers, Foreign Relations, I., 470525. The more im- portant letters are also in Works, Vol. IV. 6 Works, IV.. 138. 6 "It is a little remarkable that no subsequent arrangement with Great Britain has been equally advantageous." Dwight, Hist, of Hart- ford Convention, 51. "Jay's treaty was a masterpiece of diplomacy, considering the time and circumstances of the country." Sumner, Life of Jackson, 12. See also Jay's Jay, I., 378. for the commercial privileges and the 39 nation before that claim was accepted. That Jay's Treaty se- cured a period of comparative quiet, in which the national life hud time to mature, is its chief, and probably a sufficient de- fense. The most important from a national point of view of Jay's arts while Governor of New York has already been noticed. In general it may be said, that his political conduct was dictated by a high sense of honor and a lofty patriotism. He always refused to use his influence with the President or the heads of Departments in securing appointments to office. 1 Win n in 1702, by methods since quite familiar to the citizens of New York, the office of Governor to which he had undoubt- edly been chosen was given to his opponent, the popular indig- nation was so great that a word from him would probably have led to methods for redressing the wrong as illegal as those which procured it. 2 That in a state and nation just learning the difficult lesson of self-government, such a course would have fostered a disposition to exercise a sort of political lynch law can hardly be doubted. So that his holding his followers to a reverence for law { was not the least of his services to his country. Again, in his refusal on moral grounds to support one of the candidates of his party and in his published vindi- cation of his course, he pointed out. with a clearness that has not been improved, the somewhat difficult line between party fealty and personal independence. 3 The reader of JA//-/-/V diary arid letters is at once im- pressed by the fact that he was of all our Revolutionary Hu- guenot statesmen the most thorough^man of the world, and in so far the most typical Frenchman. Possibly it was owing to this characteristic that he was able to overcome some of the difficulties incident to the position of Minister at the Court of Versailles during the trying period of the French Revolution. indemnities received by Am. merchants under the treaty. It is of interest to note Unit the claims were prosecuted in the English Admir- alty Court* b\ another Huguenot. Samuel Bayard. (Proceedings of Hu- guenot Soc., II., 144. May's .Jay.. 1.281. 'For an account of the fraud, see Jay's .Jay. I., 284, ff. Bays -< we are and will be faithful to the * * party, but we will also be faithful to our sense and conviction of what is decent and becoming for us to do. Adherence to party has its limits, and they are ribed and marked by that Mipivme wisdom which lias united and ;uted true policy with rectitude and honor and self-respect." This was in 1*12. -Jay's Jay. I., 449. 40 He was probably the only ambassador who was able to remain during the Keign of Terror. 1 His principal work was the management of our debt to France and the protesting against outrages upon our commerce. To have obtained just satisfac- tion at that juncture would doubtless have been out of the question for any one. Not to "sacrifice personal or national .dignity" 2 -was clearly a work of some importance and one for which there were few Americans of the time so well fitted. After his return to this country he served an unexpired term of three years in the Senate but without any noteworthy connection with measures of far-reaching importance. His sympathies were strongly Federalist and at one time he evi- dently desired a union of the northern states against adminis- tration measures. 3 Boudinot remained in Congress for two terms after the adoption' of the Constitution and the meager details given in the Annals of Congress, show him to have taken an active part in the questions that came up for consideration. We have al- ready seen that he favored Hamilton's financial measures. On another great Constitutional question that of removal from office he argued in favor of giving that power to the Presi- dent alone, arid thought the efficiency of the government might depend on the determination of the question. 4 Bowdoin recommended to the Legislature of Massachusetts, as early as 1786, measures for the protection of manufactures, mentioning iron and wool as of especial importance, and under his lea,d the Legislature passed a bill to counteract the 'restrict- ive 'policy of foreign nations. The operation of the bill was to cease whenever Congress should receive power to take the a Dfary and Letters, I., 576. Lodge asserts it as a fact, Atl. Monthly, LVIL, 444. 2 See entry in his Diary, II., 70, Oct. 12, 1794, the day of his leaving Paris. He says he "would have gained everything," if the Am. govern- ment had refused to recall him. His recall was not due to any dissatis- faction on Washington's part with him or his conduct of affairs. See Writings of Washington, XII., 4,33, ff. Lodge in the article cited above makes a much stronger presentation of the case for Morris than I have done. While not Questioning his opinion, I have found no evidence by which I can reach his conclusion independently. 3 Diary and Letters, II., 542, 545, 546, 547, 551, ff., will give an idea of his political views. His biographers and eulogists represent him to have been the origi- nal proposer of the Erie Canal. (Sparks, I., 495, ff.; Roosevelt, 359; and Lodge in the article already cited.) Evidence against his claim may be found in Vol. II., of the Publications of the Buffalo Hist. Soc. 'Elliot, IV., 357, ff., and 389, ff. 41 matter under national control. For this early recommendation. Winthrop thinks he should be considered the grandfather of the American system, whoever may rightfully claim to be its father. 1 The views of the Huguenots on the question of slavery should not be passed without notice. Anthony Benezet, who devoted his life to the cause of religion and humanity largely in connection with this question was a Huguenot. His work was chiefly done before the Revolution, but he is said to havr had a personal conference with every member of the Pennsyl- vania Legislature that passed the act of gradual abolition in 17*0.- Manigault refused to traffic in slaves and treated his own with kindness. 3 Henry Laurens wrote to his son in 177H. expressing in unmistakable terms his abhorrence of slavery and his determination to free his own slaves as fast as possible. 4 Preneau also wrote against slavery. 5 In the Constitutional Convention, arguing for representa- tion according to the number of free inhabitants, Morris declared he would never "concur in upholding domestic slavery,'' charac- terized it as a nefarious institution and "the curse of Heaven on the states where it prevailed. 6 Hamilton had previously moved a resolution for representation on that basis." but. he was absent from the convention for several weeks including the day, August 8. 8 on which the discussion took place, and this accounts for his taking no part in it. His sentiments may be easily inferred from the fact that the Manumission Society made him one of their counsel in 1798. 9 He was also one of the petitioners who declared to the New York Legislature in 17N> that the men held as slaves by the laws of New York were free by the laws of God. 10 Boudinot's strong anti-slavery views . j 1 Addn-^s. 44. ff. -Wilx.n. Rise and Fall of the Slave Power. I.. 1<>. 3 Lee ; II.. 77. 4 An extract from the letter is given by Greeley. Am. Conflict. I., :w. footnote. 3 Proceed ings of Huguenot Soc.. II.. 71. MadNnifs -Journal. 478. 7 Madi>oifs .Journal. TO. "Sunnier. Life of Hamilton. i:<4. siy> lie \va> absent .June i2 ( .-Aug. 13. Pk, -I.e. Hamilton's ed.;. VI.. 208. 10 Goodell. Slavery and Anti-Slavery. !7. He n-IVrs to MSS. of Win. Jay. 42 come out clearly in the Congressional debates on the slave trade. l But it is John Jay of whose opinions on this subject we have the fullest record. In the New York Constitutional Convention, Morris introduced a recommendation to future Legislatures to take measures for the abolition of domestic slavery, but it was not adopted. Jay. who was absent at the time and seems not to have known of the proposition, wrote to Livingston and Morris that he should have been "for a clause against the continuance of domestic slavery." 1 Writ- ing from St. Ildefonso in 1780 of the plan for gradual abolition, he said: "Till America comes into this measure, her prayers to Heaven for liberty are impious. This is a strong expression, but it is just. Were I in your Legislature I would prepare a bill for this purpose with great care, and I would never cease moving it till it became a law or I ceased to be a member. I be- lieve God governs the world and I believe it to be a maxim in His as in our courts, that these who ask for equity ought to do it.'' 3 Notwithstanding these strong expressions he made no recommendations for such a measure in his lirst message after he became Governor of New York. In the opinion of ; his son. he refrained from doing so from a belief that, in the state of politics, such a proposition from him would arouse party antagonism. 4 At any rate, early in the session an intimate friend of his introduced a bill for gradual emancipation. It was defeated, as were two subsequent attempts, but in 1790 such a bill actually passed. "Probably," says his son, "no measure of his administration afforded him such unfeigned pleasure." He was the first President of the Manumission Society and himself purchased slaves for the purpose of freeing them. 5 From the above survey, it is quite evident that for the curse of slavery left as a legacy by the Revolutionary fathers we are not indebted to statesmen of Huguenot descent. It thus appears that for invaluable services during the con- Especially Annals, II., 1466, ff. "Works, I., 136, and footnote. Also Morris, Diary and Letters, I., 7. 3 Works, I., 407. The letter was to Egbert Benson. 4 The opposition to him at a former election was largely on account of his views on this question. Jay's Jay, I., 284, ff. For the history of his connection with the bill, see I., 390-408. 5 For such facts and for valuable expressions of his views. Cf.. Jay s Jay, I., 230, ff., and Works, III., 185, 340, ff., IV.. 430-4:52. 43 for Independence, for wise contributions to State and National Constitutions, and for important measures in the early years of the nation's life, we owe a large debt to the descendants of French Protestant refugees. Were this study to be carried through our later history, it would include the work of our second martyr President, of Gallatin. Poinsett, the Bayards, and many another. Were it to include the labors of men outside of political life, the names of Maury and Agassiz in science; of the philanthropist. Gallaudet; of the railway magnate. Chauncey Depew; of the founder of the Chautauquan movement: of the poets, Longfellow and Whittier; and by no means least of the Historians who have done more than all others to familiarize us with the character and heroic deeds of the Huguenots, the Baird brothers, would need to be mentioned. Nor would this exhaust the list. The longer one investigates, the clearer it is that in every honorable walk of life our Huguenot fellow -citizens have attained distinction. In any accounting for the forces that have made us, Gallic brains and character must be held to have been of incalculable value. II. THE FRENCH CATHOLICS. I. THE OLD NORTHWEST. story of the exploration and settlement of the North- west and the Mississippi valley by the French is one of the most romantic in our history. But it would be quite irrelevant to repeat it here. The fact of French occupancy is all that is essential for present purposes a fact not likely soon to be forgotten, since from Lake to Gulf our national map is liberally bestrewn with names whose Gallic origin is not to be concealed even by our grotesque Anglo-Saxon mispronun- ciation. When the region known as "the old Northwest"' passed under the control of the United States, the population was almost entirely French. 1 Their principal settlements were Detroit and its immediate vicinity, Vincennes on the Wabash. and the Illinois villages, Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Prairie du Rocher, and Prairie du Pont. We should then expect to find marked traces of their influence on the early political life of Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. Ohio was settled later, mostly by immi- grants from the older states, so that we should hardly look to find the French a political factor in that state. In Wisconsin there were scattered forts but no extensive settlements. 2 Moreover that state was much later in its political development. It is impossible to determine exactly the number of French inhabitants of the region. It is probable, however, that about the time of the French and Indian war they numbered not far from 10,000 souls, but there was considerable loss of population prior to the Revolution. 3 'King's Ohio, Chap. VIII.; Western Reserve Hist, and Arch. Tracts, No. 55, The State of Ohio Sources of her Strength, by Chas. Whittlesey. 2 See Turner, The Character and Influence of the Indian Trade in Wis., J. H. U. Studies, 1891; Draper, early French Forts in Western Wisconsin, Wis. Hist. Coll., X. 321, ff.; and Neill, Notes on Early Wis. Explorations, same Vol., 292, ff. 3 I have examined a large number of reports, travellers' accounts, and histories, on this point, with no very satisfactory results. The 45 When Geo. Rogers Clarke made his expedition to the Illi- nois and Wabash regions in 1778 the expedition that secured for Virginia and hence for the United States the possession of that country he was so fortunate as to conciliate the French priest. Father Gibault. who gave the most valuable proof of his loyalty by securing the release of Vigo. The latter, a St. Louis trader, had been taken into custody by Hamilton, though apparently without justification under the laws of war. and was held at Vincennes. Father Gibault placed himself at the head of the French inhabitants after service on Sabbath and inarching to the fort threatened to cut off all supplies from the garrison unless Vigo were released. Once set free, Vigo hastened to Clark with information that enabled him to march against Hamilton with success, thus completing the conquest of that part of the territory. In the opinion of Judge Law. Next to Clark and Vigo the United States are indebted more to Father Gibault for the accession of the states comprised in what was the original Northwest Territory than to any other man." In view of all the circumstances, this does not seem an exagerated estimate of the value of his services, for there can be little question that the French were in position to turn the scale in favor of either party. 1 It is not a little curious, however, that almost equal credit is due to another Frenchman, a Protestant and a son of Hugue- nots exiled from their historic city, LaRochelle Charles Gra- tiot. When the army was in danger of starvation he "made himself accountable * * to the full extent of his vast estate for statements are contradictory and in no fuse bused on reliable statistics. Some of the estimates are undoubtedly guess-work. Cf.. Walker. The Northwest during the Revolution. Mich. Pioneer Coll.. III.. 12. tf.: Hins- dale. The Old Northwest. 4*: Roosevelt. Winning of tin- \\Vst. I.. 33 and 35, with footnote-: St. flair Papers; Scharf. Hist, of St. Louis. Tti: Burnet. Notes on the Northwest. 31 and L'**: and the Histories of Ran- dolph and St. ( 'lair Count ies. 111. >lt is claimed that these i wo histories art- hast-d. so far as possible, on original data, many old and valuable MSS.. both French and English, having been examined. I have found them inor- reliable than the ordinary county historic-. 'Cf.. Hinsdale. Old Northwest. 1-V.t: Law. Address on the Colonial Hist, of YinceniM's. A pp. .V>. tf.: Roosevelt. Winning of the West. II. 88, Hamilton himself gives among reasons not mentioned on the face of the capitulation the certainty of the Inhabitants of the village having joyned the rebels." He also pays his respects to the priest as tin- -wretch who absolved t lie Krench Inhabitants from th.-ir allegiance to the King of (Jreat Britain." Report. Haldimand Paper-, ^iveii in Michigan Pioneer Coll.. IX.. 4*!. tf. 46 the supplies." Had it not been for this generosity, the cam- paign would very likely have been a disastrous failure. l In Michigan there was less opportunity for active sympa- thy with the colonies and the French took no decided stand.-' Immediately after Clark's campaign, Virginia undertook the government of the conquered country and in the fall of 1778, Col. John Todd was made County-Lieutenant. To his "Record-Book," fortunately rescued from a mass of papers used for fuel in the courthouse of Randolph County, 111., we are indebted for the most that is certainly known about the his- tory of the territory during his administration. 3 There is nothing to indicate that the French concerned themselves much about the government, although in accordance with his instructions, Todd held an election for Judges, all of whom w r ere chosen from among the French settlers. All the officers appointed by Todd. except Winston, the commandant at Kas- kaskia, were also Frenchmen. Roosevelt says the "Judges governed their decisions solely by the old French laws and customs." 4 One incident given in the > Record- Book is ^fairly typical of their attitude when the task of self-government was laid upon them. During one of Todd's absenc'es, the Judges adjourned court to what seemed to him too distant a day. "Pleasure first had always been the rule in Kaskaskia, and to compel a man to hold court when ,he preferred to smoke a pipe in the sun or go fishing was an unreasonable hardship." But on his return they were ordered to hold court at no distant day and doubtless complied with the demand. 5 Reynolds, Pioneer Hist, of 111., 256 and 257. Washburn, who mar- ried Gratiot's grand-daughter, quotes. him, Wis. Hist. Coll., X., 240 and 241, so that it must have been a family tradition. Neither Gratiot nor Gibault secured any substantial -reward for his services, though both made some effort to do so. In regard to Gratiot's claim, Cf., with refer- ences previously given, Billon Annals of St. Louis. 214 and 215, 221-225, and Hist, of St. Glair Co., III., 45. In regard to Gibault 's, St Glair Papers, II., 179. All the French settlers were generous in support of the expedi- tion and most of them were never reimbursed. St. Clair Papers, II., K5S. 2 Hinsdale says, p. 159, that "in the far north the French were more favorably disposed toward the British," though '"the officers complained of * * (their) apathy.'' Cf.. Campbell, Early French Settlements in .Midi., Pioneer Coll.. II.. !>5. ff. ' He savs there were soitfeTnciicaTiQns of sympathy with the United States, p. 103. 3 For an interesting account of the book, now in the possession of the Chicago Hist. Spc., see Illinois in the Eighteenth Century, 49. Its sub- stance is given in the succeeding pages of that valuable little tract. 4 Winning of the West. II., 171. He refers to State Dept. MSS. No, 48. Mllinois in the Eighteenth Century. 01. 47 After Todd's departure in 1780 there was very little civil rninent. but the local officials, in imitation of practices pved amon.ir the English, indulged in gigantic land specu- lations, in-anting to each other large tracts of land under the pleasing delusion that their powers in that direction were unlimited. 1 The Virgin!; n brought the territory under the direct control of the United States. The successive divisions of the territory, the different stages of territorial government, and. the advance to statehood of the five commonwealths carved out between the Lakes and the Ohio, are in their general features well known. For a minute study of their national relations, recourse must be had to Congressional documents. Consider- ing the fact the French continued for many years to be a large proportion of the population.- we should expect to tind numer- ous and important references to them. Such an expectation is not realized, however. The student of their part in the polit- ical development of these states is compelled to learn from what can not be found rather than from what can be. Such explicit allusions to them as occur in the Annals of Cong and the State Papers of those early years may be grouped under two heads. In the first place there are acts and petitions relating to land and land titles. The Ordinance of 17 S 7 secured to "the French and Canadian inhabitants and other settlers of the Kaskaskies. Saint Vincents, and the neighboring villain--, who have heretofore professed themselves citizens of Virginia, -their laws and customs now in force among them relative to the descent and conveyance of property." 3 Further provision was made by acts of Congress. June I'M and August 1'i*. 17^. for confirming in their possessions such as had professed themselves citizens of the United States or any of them on or before 17^:5. At the sain*' time a tract of 4<>< acres was granted 'Law. ('<>!. Hist, of Vi nee noes, Api>.. I V.. no. tr.:St. Clair Paper. II.. \m. Stai. Pap"r<. Public Lands. I.. 111.: Hoosi-vHt . Winning of t lu- ll. M and I*!'. P-ferrin^ to Stat e Dept. MSS.. :jn and 4*. Then- an- in i-xact and reliable statistic- on This point. I have com.- to i lie conclusion Mated aftt-r examining official list sot' voter- at different election-, property-holders, militia companies, and tlic like, and comparing them with statements found in conteinpoiay letter-. The following reference-, are ot value: The Indiana Gazetteer. !'T. 98, 41.',: Hist, of St. Clair < >.. 70, 1.4. !:;:.: Mich. Pioneer Coll. I.. :',4:.. VIIL. :><. tr.: :>:;<). tr.. :>4:i. and xii.. :>". tr. Poore, ( 'on-lit ut ions. I.. 4i".. 48 to each head of a family among such citizens. 1 There were other acts of Congress and a long ser.es of petitions and deci- sions in regard to land titles, showing plainly the effect of the French system of land-tenure, and of the different grants under which lands were held, in complicating the titles. But none of these were of more importance in our national history than or- dinary private land bills. 2 In the second place, we find that there were petitions pre- sented by the French settlers for the publication of the laws in their own language. But these are of interest only as showing that they were still thoroughly French and unable to under- stand the legal terms of the government under which they lived. 3 It has sometimes been held that the French were largely responsible for the attempts to fasten slavery upon Illinois and Indiana. It is a fact that slavery was first introduced by them. 4 It is also true that the Ordinance of 1787 was held not to be retrospective, so far as they were concerned, though many of them at first moved across the Mississippi lest they should lose their slaves under it and in short that the valid- ity of French slavery was never questioned. :> The movement for the legalization of slavery in those states appears in the national records in the form of petitions for the suspension of the sixth article of the compact. A care- ful examination of all the petitions, remonstrances, and reports so far as they are printed in the public documents discloses not the slightest reference to any French settlers as such. Two things may, however, indicate their presence and possible influence. First, there were petitions from the Illinois counties, (Randolph and St. Clair). in which the French villages '.Journal of Cong., IV., 823, ft 1 ., and SoS; St. Clair Papers, II., 165 and note. "These decisions about land titles among the French occupy a very large space in the early State Papers on Public Lands. Interesting particulars about land grants and titles may be found in Col. Hist, of Vincennes. App.. IV., 106 and VII.. 136 and 137: Mich. Pio- neer Coll., L, 341. ff.; VIII.. r,49. ff.; XIV.. 643, ff.; Hist, St. Clair Co.. 74 and 7.V. St. Clair Papers. II.. 104. ff. The lands granted to the French passed out of their hands with great rapidity. : St (Mair Papers, II.. 179. Their petitions were not granted. See Am. State Papers, Misc., II., 71. 4 By Renault in 1720. See Reynolds, My Own Times, 207. 5 On these points. Cf.. St. Clair Papers. II.. 117. ff.. 119. 176, 318. 319, 330, ff.: State Papers, Public Lands. II.. 103: Scharf. Hist, of St. Louis, 49 were located. Second, in the petition to the Fourth Congress, the petitioners say they are sure that "if the people then in the territory. (/. <-.. in 17 S 7). had been called upon to make such a compact, they would never have consented to enter into one that would deprive them of their most valuable prop- erty." 1 And one petition from the Legislature of Indiana re- cites that in 17^7 slaves --were generally possessed by the citi- sens then inhabiting the country." Of course we know that in both those cases the original settlers were French. And it is quite clear that their presence with slaves afforded a pretext for the still further introduction of slavery. On the other hand, the reasons most urged for the suspension of the article were, that it would be better to have the black population more diffused, and especially that it was; desirable to encourage im- migration from the slaveholding states. - All these attempts failed and slavery was never legalized in any part of the territory, except in so far as has been already indicated. But an effort was made to make it legal in Illinois after her admission as a state. The Constitution of 1>1^ had a clause prohibiting slavery "hereafter." which was so construed that slaves previously held w r ere not liberated. Very soon Missouri became a state with slavery legalized in its borders. Emigrants from the other slave states with their ne- irrne> began to pass through Illinois on their way to the new state and we:v not slow to remind the people of the former I.. '21-2: Dunn. Indiana. 2M: Mich. Pioneer Coll.. XII.. :>ll. if. Tliis last is a decision of .Judge Woodward to the effect that slavery was legal under .lay's treaty for previous settlers. Some of the slaveholders at the time of tin- irealy wen- Ilritish. however. T. M. Cooley. Michigan. 1M2. Then- was also a decision in 1*(7 that "except a< to persons in the actual ion of British settlers in the territory on the 16th of June. 171M5." "a right of property in the human species can not exist." Mich. Pioneer Coll.. XII.. oH). ff. It is printed from the MSS. opinion of the ( 'hief .lust ice in the possession of Mich. Hist. Soc. It cannot have been true therefoiv in Mich., however it may have been in other states, that slavery was permitted for the special benefit of the French. 'State Papers. Public Land-. I..i. The four signers of this petition "for and on behalf of" the people of those counties were none of them French. They pet it ioned aNo the ith and the 9th Congress. Annals 6th <'oiiL r .. T:',"). and '.nh Cong.. S 4 S . iMinn says the signatures to the petition to the fith Conn.. i>7o jn number, were mostly French. He refers to the original on the Senate tiles. Indiana. - "Annals t h Congress as above: State Papers. Misc.. I..4ii7. See also speeches of Douglas and Chase on the compromise measures of jv:,u. c.,ng. iJlobe. :ilst Cong., i App.. :{4. fl\. and 4f,s. tl'. Both of them dwell at some length on these early attempts to legali/e slavery but neither of them alludes to the French settlers. Douglas says, p. 369, that "the people were mostly from the glaveholdiDg state-,." 50 that the constitutional enactment concerning slavery alone prevented their remaining east of the Mississippi. 1 Beside this many of those already settled in Illinois were from slave states and felt that slavery would be an advantage to them.- An attempt was therefore made to procure a Convention for the amendment of the Constitution in the interests of slavery. The movement was precipitated by the Governor's recommen dation of a law for the liberation of slaves held by the French. 3 But when the vote w r as taken St. Clair County gave the heaviest vote against it. and that vote was deci- sive. 4 It is hardly probable that the French settlers voted against the measure. Indeed, Brown says, they were ''the nat- ural allies of the conventionists and desirous of their success." But I have found no evidence that they inaugurated the move- ment or that when it was once begun they were very active in its support. The brief outline that is here given covers the essential features of both the earlier and the later move- ments so far as they relate to the subject in hand. And it seems to indicate that the presence of French slavery was made a pretext by later settlers for pressing a demand for the legalization of the institution. Further, we must infer it is mainly inference that when it came to political action the French acted, so far as they overcame their inertia enough to act at all. with the supporters of slavery. But "the active and dangerous championship of slavey in the Northwest did not come from the French inhabitants."' Moreover, the history of the Kansas struggle suggests the strong prob- ability that had there been no French slavery, no toleration of it as an inheritance from former claimants of the territory, border states like Illinois and Indiana would not have escaped a contest upon the subject. It is noticeable in this connection that, not only did the northern states, Michigan and Wisconsin. 'Brown, Early Movement in 111. for the Legalization of Slavery. 16 and 17. Brown was a participant in the struggle and therefore must have known its causes. See also Wilson. Hist, of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power, I.. ](>3. 'Early Western Days, by J. T. Kingston: Wis. Hist. Coll.. 295. ff. See 298. ff., and 313, ff., for an account of the slavery movement. King- ston's father was a resident of Kaskaskia at the time and lie himself was old enough to have some personal recollections of the matter, Cf'., :m. 'Brown, Hist. Sketch. 20. 4 Early* Wester n Days. 31."). 5 llinsdale. Old Northwest, 351. 51 have no such struggle, but that the other border state of th<' Northwest. Ohio, was the object of desire on the part of slaveholders. 1 Furthermore, there are indications that slaves \\vn actually introduced into Illinois and Indiana by other than French settlers.- It is therefore highly probable that the location of Illinois and Indiana had much more to do with the efforts to legalize slavery in their borders than had French influence. The local government of the Northwestern states, by the provisions of the Ordinance was copied from the older states, and there is no evidence that it received any important modifi- cations from French ideas. In _safar as the older states were Anglo-Saxon in their local institutions these were also. 3 It has already been mentioned that Todd's appointments to office were mostly from the French and the same is true of St. Clair's early appointments, but he speaks of the difficulty of finding persons "in any degree qualified to hold the necessary offices." In the succeeding years of his administration French names are less frequent in the lists of officers. 4 In later his- tory the records show surprisingly few French names. :> And when the State Constitutions were formed there were hardly 'Burnet. Notes on the Northwest. 3 wen- _ s in isiio. 13.~> in 1810. Now as the American population was gaining. Tic- French declining, this increase of slaves could not be from further French immigration. AS it obviously was not simply their nat- ural increase, they must have been introduced by the Americans. Still further, the other counties. Clark and Harrison, which were unsettled in 1*1 o. had 1<)2 -laves in 1810. St. Clair Co.. Til., had none in 1800. 4 in Randolph Co.. on the other hand had 107 in 1800, 12 in 1810. Howard. Lo.-al Cons. Hist, of the V. S.: Shaw. Local Govern- ment in 111.. .1. H. T. Studies. Fir-t Serie- : Bemis Local (iovt. in Mich.. .1. II. l". Studies. Fir-t Series : Spencer Local (Jov't in \Vi>. Wis. Hist. Coll.. XL. :><>2. If.:. Cf.. the Constitutions in Poore. 4 St. Clair Papers. II.. 172 for quotation. For lists of appointment^. 1. 131. 311. 322. 323. 324. 33n. 344. and foot no!.-. Many of the authorities consulted give lists of Territorial and early state officers. Among others. At water'- Ohio: Tut tie's Michigan: Histories of Randolph and St. (.'lair counties: Mich. Pioneer Coll.. I. and VIII. In pursuance of an act of the Midi. Leg., S. I), liingham com- piled a volume of Mich. Hiographie-. in l*sx. -to preserve in compact form tlie record of State-men. Judges, and Legislators of Mich." It is very noticeable that the French name- are very few. Some that do ap- pear are of immigrant- from the eastern -tales, one at least being of Huguenot descent. See p. 223. any men of French parentage in the conventions. 1 One French- man, Father Gabriel Richards of Detroit, was chosen Territorial Delegate in 1823 from Michigan, though singularly enough his support was only in small part from the French. During his term he exerted himself in behalf of the Indian tribes of the Northwest and at his instance appropriations were made for the opening of several roads leading into Detroit, thus hasten- ing the material development of the region. His services were so satisfactory that he would have been re-elected had not his own countrymen defeated him though only by about half a dozen votes from the notion that a priest had no business in a legislative body. 2 This incident points to united action on the part of the French. And as late as 1831, a meeting was held at Frenchtown to endorse the nomination of Austin E. Wing as Delegate to Congress, which was evidently a meet- ing of Frenchmen and intended to influence French votes. y Various scattered and indirect allusions tend to confirm the idea that when they diu rouse themselves to political action they ''pulled together." 4 But while the direct and positive influence of these people was so slight, they were, nevertheless, a factor to be reckoned with. The great divergences of their customs from those of the Americans caused many inconveniences. Though they are almost uniformly represented to have been well disposed toward the United States government and to have become faithful and at- tached citizens, 5 there were frequent complaints from them ir The Constitution of Indiana is. with signatures, in Nile's Register, XIII., 85. ff.. of 111., in XV., 93, ff., and of Mich., in XL VIII., 345, "ff. It -is to be remembered, too, that the region had not been long enough settled by Americans to have given men of mixed parentage to the con- ventions, even if intermarriages at an early day had been more frequent than there is reason to suppose. 2 Life and Times of Rev. Gabriel Richards, by J. A. Girardin, Mich. Pioneer Coll., I., 481, ff. 'Mich. Pioneer Coll., XII.. 569 and 570. They say they look upon Wing "as a genuine republican, educated in the Jeffersonian school." He was the man who defeated Richards at a former election. 4 Much of the material upon which positive conclusions on this point might be based is either entirely lost or is at present inaccessible. It is much to be desired that local investigators should hunt out and make available all such bits of local history. Until this is thoroughly done, a complete political history of the Northwest cannot be written, and one's conclusions on some vital points must be merely tentative. I have en- deavored, however, to weigh carefully all the evidence within my reach. Such as it is. it points to the conclusion I have indicated. 5 Cf., Tuttle. Hist, of Mich.. 114 and 115: St. Clair Papers, II., 27. 31. 53 of the changed order of things in legal matters. To wait the slow, tedious progress of an American court" was felt to be a hardship by a people accustomed to the summary decision of a Commandant. 1 And the American judges experienced so much difficulty from being unacquainted with the nn/fntnf !<>. f.. II., 103: The Red Hook of Midi.. 4:jfi. For a different view, see Early Western I >ay<. L )( .t<>. ff. 'Burnet. Notion tin- Nortli\v- footnote: Col. Hist, of Vin- enne-. 4U: Volney' View. 37:!. 'Am. State Paper-. Mi-c.. I.. 4r,l. TliN was in 1806. besOD the Northwest. '2*'2. footnote. 4 The letter is in App.. H.. of Burnett \ The petition and letter are in Mich. Pioneer Coll.. VIII., 594, ff. 54 cally speaking, was their unwilling-ness and. unfitness to assume the duties of citizenship. When Volney visited Vincennes in the last century, the Americans there complained to him that the Frejich "understand nothing of political, civil or domestic affairs. * * * Their first demand was for a commanding officer, and it was the most difficult thing possible to make them comprehend anything of a municipal administration chosen by and from among themselves. Even now they have no per- sons lit for forming one." 1 This political inertia is mentioned by nearly every writer. And in one notable instance their unwill- ingness to assume the duties of self-government retarded by nearly a decade the political advancement of a common- wealth. In 1818 it was found that the population of Michigan was sufficient for the second grade of government, but the proposition to establish.it was voted down by a large majority, and it was not till 1827 that it was secured. The defeat is ascribed on good authority to French votes. v Says Campbell, speaking of their, lack of political training under a paternal 'government: "Those who reached middle age before the peo- ple of the Territory became entitled to vote for their own officers were not always pleased with the change, and some of those who survived to a very recent period never ceased to sigh for the good old days when the commanding officer was the whole government^ 1 View of Climate and Soil of the U. S.. 373. IT. 'Political Hist, of Mich.. 392. The book was published in 1876. The author's opportunities for learning the facts from those who were active in political life at the time make his testimony on such points especially valuable. II. THK LOUISIANA PURCHASE. now to the regions included in the Louisiana purchase. \v> tind that there also the population was pre- dominantly French when the United States obtained con- trol. 1 Prom the first there was jealousy between the French and American citizens. Laussat. the prefect who had handed over the government to the United States, thought the errors of our government could hardly have been worse.- It is -ible that the dissatisfaction of the French was manufac- tured or at least fostered by him and other officials. At any there //v/x considerable dissatisfaction. No sooner had Congress made provision for the temporary government of the Territory of New Orleans, than the people of the territory re- monstrated. 3 They show in this remonstrance an unwilling- ness that former customs and laws should be changed as well a feeling that they were not being dealt with according to the terms of the cession. They also request the appointment of officials who can speak the French langauge. The narrative of events at that time, as given by Gayarre. tends to the im- ->ion that intriguing politicians of American birth had gained an ascendancy over the Creoles and were using this dissatisfaction for their own ends. The Territory was organ- ized under the terms of the act, notwithstanding their objec- tions, but early in 1805 by a further act 4 they were put on 'Clairborne reported to the Sec. of State, in 1809. that there were, - -;s taken in 1806, 52,998 inhabitants. The white population was . "t whom at least 1.3.000 were natives mostly of French descent, about 3.500 natives of the I*. S.. the rest mostly Europeans, part of them French. The letter is quoted by Gayarre, Louisiana under Am. Domi- nation. 211. ff. Jefferson's report to Cong., Annals, 8 Cong.. 2 sess.. 1506, <. r ivc< somewhat different estimates, but they are confessedly not exact. : His report to the French government, in which he instances some things which he thinks might have been better done, is quoted by Gayarre, 7. ff. remonstrance presented to the Senate may be found in Annals, JS., AI>I... l.V.'T. That to the House. 1H08. ff. 'Annals, 8 Cong.. \pp., 1674, ff. 56 nearly the same footing as other Territories. Concerning this change. Claiborne wrote: "The people have been taught to expect greater privileges and many are disappointed. I believe, however, as much is given them as they can manage or as they ought to be trusted with until the limits of the ceded territory are acknowledged, the national attachments of our new brothersless wavering, and the views and character of some influential men here better ascertained." 1 But notwithstanding some complaints and jealousies of the Americans, there is no reason to think that the French were at heart disloyal. In 1806 Claiborne wrote of them: "My opinion of the native Louisianians has always been the same; a majori- ty are well disposed, and were it not for the calumnies of some Frenchmen who are among us, and the intrigues of a few am- bitious, unprincipled men whose native language is English. I do believe that the Louisianians would be very soon the most zealous and faithful members of our Republic." He adds, how- evor, "Until a knowledge of the American government, laws, and character is more generally diffused among the people you cannot with certainty count upon their fidelity. "- At the time of the Burr conspiracy, the Legislative Coun- cil were "convinced that it is not among the ancient inhabi- tants of this territory that proselytes had been made to such a project and that there was no perfidy, no treason to be ap- prehended from them.'" 3 Disloyalty was indeed alleged against them in the war of 1812 but with insufficient reason. Half the Committee of Pub- lic Defense for New Orleans in 1814 were French. 4 And "if New Orleans and the Creoles had been unpatriotic, Gen. Jack- son would have been at their mercy." 5 The same peculiarities that marked the French of the Northwest are to be found also among these Creoles. They 'Quoted from Ex. Jour, by Gayarre, 67. 2 Quoted by Gayarre from E-x. Jour., 159. "Quoted by Gajarj, ITiJv&frT 4 See signatures to their address to the people, Latour's Hist, of the War in West Florida and Louisiana, App., XIV. s Maurice Thompson, Hist, of Louisiana, 215. See also his discus- sion of the whole subject. 211, ff. He speaks of the services of French volunteers and of French women who did brave work as hospital nurses. His opinion is that disloyalty was rather against state than U. 8. govern- ment. Cf.Jngersol, Hist, of the War in 1812, IV., Chap. II. His conclu- sions seem to be substantially the same as Thompson's. 57 petitioned for the use of their own language by officials, 1 were unable readily to reconcile themselves to the slow administra- tion of justice and to trial by jury and great difficulties arose in the adjustment of land titles.'- The same unwillingness to be taxed and the same indifference to the right of citizenship may be seen also. In 1808 the Legislative Council said that the people i% felt the imposition of taxes as a great hardship." And a year later Claiborne urged that feeling and their neglect of political duties as reasons why they should not assume the task of self-government. He quotes from 4i a very respectable and influential planter" that "the taxes already imposed by the Territorial government were as great as the people could conveniently meet and that no change was for the present de- sirable." As to their political inactivity, he instances cases where less than thirty out of two hundred voters exercised the right of suffrage, and says "it has seldom happened that at any election, however contested, a majority of the voters have attended the polls." 3 The question whether the ordinance of 1787 was applicable to Louisiana came up in 1805 and agents for the inhabitants argued that it was not. 4 Its principles must have been par- ticularly distasteful to them. But the enabling act of 1811 re- quired some of the provisions, which the ordinance had secured to the people of the Northwest, to be incorporated in the Constitution; the fundamental principles of civil and re- ligious liberty, trial by jury in criminal cases, and the privi- lege Of habeas m/ym.s. :> Of the forty members of the Constitutional Convention in 1812, twenty- two were of French origin; and of the seven who drafted the Constitution, four were French, if the indications of name can be trusted. 6 Some slight traces of their probable 'See remonstrance before alluded to and Am. State Papers, Misc.. II.. :1 and :>2. 'Breckenridge, Views of Louisiana, 143 and 144. His book, pub- lished in 1H14. was founded on observations made in his own travels. This Chap.. VI., is also printed in Niles' Reg., I., 243, ff., so that it must have been written as early as 1811. On land titles see State Papers, Pub- lic Lands, II. 'These various quotations may be found in Gayarre, 192, 211, ff. 4 State Papers, Misc., I., 418. *Poore, I., 699. For opinions as to their untitness for self govern- ment, see debates in Cong, in 1804, Benton's Abr., III. Marbois, Hist, of Louisiana, 339, and Gayarre, 272. 58 influence appear in the Constitution, noticeably the large pro- perty qualifications for some official positions, and the exclu- sion from office of any "clergyman, priest or teacher of any religious persuasion, society, or sect.'' 1 That in general features it should be like those of the older states, was m>r<>s sary to secure the assent of Congress. It is well known that the Louisiana Code is founded largely on the Code Napoleon. But the Common Law is so univer- sally accepted in the United States that, while the Civil Law has to be recognized in suits concerning Louisiana, it has had no appreciable effect on the jurisprudence of the country at large. 2 A majority of the members selected for the legislative Coun- cil of the early Territorial government were taken from among the Creoles and in the early history of the state they had the principal voice in the towns and a majority in the legislature. 3 Out of the first eight governors, three were of French origin. As late as 1859 there had been but one gubernatorial election in which at least one of the candidates was not a Frenchman. 4 But the only man of mark among these early officials was Francois Xavier Martin, the. jurist and historian. The Frenchmen of the Northwest and the Mississippi val- ley then were, as a rule, patriotic and peaceable citizens. 5 They have added numerous picturesque features to our history and our landscapes. . They still furnish us bits of dreamy European and mediaeval life in the midst of our wide-awake, progressive, nineteenth century, American civilization. The New Orleans of today is a foreign and an old-time city, while mediaeval France yet lingers in the Illinois country. Little more than a decade since, a traveler to that region said of Kas- kaskia, there "is little to disturb the impression that it is still the Kaskaskia_of the olden time," and of Prairie du Rocher, 'Poore, I., 702. 2 Some account of the "Digest of Civil Laws" of 1808 and some inter- esting particulars of the growth of jurisprudence may be found in Louisiana Hist. Coll., Part II., 22-25. But for the material on which this paragraph is founded I am especially indebted to Hon. W. S. Pattee, of the Law School of the Univ. of Minn., who 'kindly gave me information not accessible in print. "Gayarre. 19 and 68, Breckenridge, 139; Martin in a letter of July 22, 1818, an extract from which is given in Hist. Mag., VIII., 241, ff. 4 See table of popular votes for Gov.. 1812-1864, Hist. Mag., IX., 373. 5 Reynolds, My Own Times, 79, says they were never intemperate in 59 It is as if a piece of old Prance had been transplanted to the Mississippi a century since and forgotten; or as if a stratum of the early French settlements at the Illinois a hundred years ago or more had sunk down below the reach of time and change, and with its ways and customs and people still intact had still pursued its former life unmindful of the busy nine- teenth century on the uplands above its head." 1 Again the records of early explorations and early history that have come to us through them are of much value. Much of our knowledge of Indian habits and language are from the same sources. And when the minute details of local history in the Northwest and the Mississippi valley have been fully investigated, it will probably be found that many episodes in tli at history were due to their presence, their customs, or their idioms of language as was the case with the Iowa and Missouri boundary war. But their contribution, in any large sense, to the political development of those regions can not be reckoned of vital importance. Their political activity- what there was of it was mainly in the line of opposition to the unfamiliar ideas of an advancing civilization. At some points they may have stayed for a little time and only for a little time the chariot wheels of progress. But for that fact, tuey might almost be omitted in writing the political history of our country. drink, that They rarely engaged in common broils or personal combats, and that no Creole was ever hung or sentenced to the penitentiary in 111. For interesting particulars about their customs, see Chaps. VIII. and XII.. of his book: Monnette. Hist, of the Miss. Valley. I.. 1*1. ff.: Burner. Nor-s on the Northwest. 2*1. If. footnote: Reynolds' Pioneer Hist, of 111.: Maria Hamlin. Legends of Le Detroit: Old" French Tradi- tions -am' author : Mich. Coll.. IV.. To. f. Wallace. Illinois and Louisi- ana under Frerch Rule. la>t chanter: Scharf, Hist, of St. Louis. Chap. XII. I consider the last the mo. COMPARISON AND CONCLUSION. jrn reviewing and comparing the facts adduced in the forego- II ing study, the two main lines of French immigration to this country present a striking contrast. The Huguenot as a Huguenot, a Frenchman is and has been for many a decade practically forgotten. 1 His descendants speak the same language as the descendants of the Puritan and the Cavalier. They mingle with them in the mart, the Senate House, and the place of worship, and are practically undistinguishable from them. 2 No peculiarity of costume or manner calls attention to them as a people of alien race. The worthy deeds of their Rev- olutionary ancestors are reckoned to the credit of the Anglo- Saxon race, and the very Constitution that those ancestor did so much to fashion and the national career that owed so much of its early success to their guidance are vaunted as the pecu- liar glories of the same race. Thatjour debt to the Huguenots is a great one is a fact that does not lie upon the surface history. It is indeed only beginning to be recognized. The traveller through the Atlantic states must 'needs look carefully to find traces of these early French immigrants; the traveller in certain parts of the Northwest and of Louisiana must needs close his eyes, if he would forget the fact of French occupancy. But the peculiar feature of the contrast is, that the Hugue- not who seems to have disappeared and left no trace behind him, proves on careful investigation to have made a mighty impress upon our national history, the records of which fill many of the most valuable and fascinating pages of our public documents; while the Frenchman of the Northwest, 'The organizotion of the Huguenot Soc. and the researches of indi- viduals have done much of late years to call them to mind, but for most people, the fact stated in the text is doubtless still true. "There are still a few Huguenot churches in the U. S., the most im- portant being in N. Y. city and in Charleston, S. Car. For some particu- lars, see Introd. to Vol. I. of Huguenot Coll. and Bi-Centenary Com- memoration, 8, 51, 63, 65, and 68. Their very existence is probably unknown to the majority of well informed people. 61 whose picturesque and romantic memorials are so abundant, has left no enduring mark and the pages of the national records in which he appears are of little value in the study of our growth into a nation. It is a pertinent and perhaps a timely question, why this difference? Why should people of the same race, coming to the new world at so nearly the same time, differ so widely in their influence upon the young nation of which they became a part? To some the off-hand, easy answer may seem to be the true one. "'The Huguenot was Protestant, therefore progressive; the other was Catholic, therefore reactionary." But an answer based on hasty generalization and religious prejudice cannot be accepted as final; especially as on the surface of history there is no evidence that the moving force of Hamilton's career, for instance, was an absorbing devotion to Protestantism. On the other hand, there can be no question that the Protestant Reformation in Prance was a mighty link in the chain of causes that have led to our national greatness. The Huguenots were tested and sifted by fierce religious perse- cutions, and when at last the infamous Revocation drove them from their native land, it was verily a chosen remnant that sought these western wilds% Let Pilgrim or Puritan boas t as he may of the zeal for religious freedom that exiled him from home, the Huguenot can point to yet a nobler record of unswerving devotion to principle*) Yet further, it was not true, as it has been so often elsewhere from the days of the primitive church onward, that 4 'not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble were called;" the best blood of France flowed in the veins of the original Huguenots, and when they came to America, "they brought with them * * an ancestral influ- ence of education, refinement, and skillful enterprise, as well as of religious fidelity." 1 Hence if the doctrine of heredity be admitted to have any force, we may partly understand how the graceful diplomat up- holding his country's honor with skillful tact at a court where all was chaos should be of a race celebrated for its ease 'R. S. Storrs. The Early American Spirit and the Genesis of it. 51; see, also, an eloquent passage in Schaff 's address on the Hist, of the Edict of Naiitc<. Huguenot Proceedings, II., 101. ff , and another in II. M. liaird'* addivss at the Bi-Centenary, p. 38. 62 and polish of manners; how the founder of our financial pros- perity should be descended from a race of people renowned for their success in amassing wealth; and above all how the suc- .cessful statesman who carried his honor so unsullied through all his political life that "when the spotless robe of the judicial ermine fell upon him, it touched nothing less spotless than itself," should trace his ancestry to a refugee to whom freedom of conscience and loyalty to principle were even dearer than was the historic city so beloved by every Protes- tant in Prance. Their influence has been altogether disproportioned to their numbers, for in "determining the character of a country, a hundred selected men and women are more potent than a thousand men and women taken at random." 1 The French of the Northwest and the Mississippi valley were of an altogether different type and their occupancy of the country was due to far other causes. Whether from the lower strata of society, or as in some cases from the higher grades, they were uneducated and unused to self-government. They were in general well disposed, cheerful, contented, often indus- trious and enterprising in business ventures. Yet on the whole, their virtues were those of the slave rather than of the freeman. "An ignorant population, sprung from a brave and active race, but trained to subjection and dependence through centuries of feudal and monarchical despotism, was planted in the wilderness by the hand of authority and told to -grow and flourish." 2 They could obey unquestioningly the command of priest or governor. To think, to decide for themselves, and then to follow loyally, if need be heroically, the dictates of reason and of conscience was entirely foreign to their habits. In these contrasting types of character is to be found the first and probably the most potent cause of the remarkable contrast in their influence on American history. That a people brave, refined, intelligent, loyal to principle, sifted by long and fierce persecutions, fleeing to the New World solely that they might be free to follow the very highest ideals, should have 'Fiske's Beginnings of New England, 47. To understand fully the influence of the Huguenots on Am. history one must know something of their own early history and heroic struggles. In this view, The Rise of the Huguenots in France, and The Huguenots and Henry of Navarre, by Prof. H. M. Baird, are valuable contributions to American History. Turkman, The Old Regime in Canada, 394. 63 proved one of the most powerful factors in national development is not at all surprising. That a peo- ple of a low grade of inte! ligence and wholly un- trained in the art of self -government, should have neither the desire nor the ability to be an active force in nation-building, is also not surprising. So far as these types of character were determined by differences of religion, so far has the Protes- tantism of the one. the Catholicism of the other contributed to the result. But while difference of character counts for so much in the solution of the problem, another factor must also be reckoned with, namely: the different circumstances under which these two off-shoots from the French race entered into our national life. The Huguenot became an American citizen before the formative period" of our history. The time and the circum- stances favored his throwing himself as a vitalizing force into the political life that was just beginning to be. The French- man of the Northwest became an American citizen by the issues of war. and the Louisiana Creole by purchase. In both cases, an already organized government extended its sway over him. He was not asked nor expected \',t take part in it. except under established conditions, and his rem:>nstran;-,>> and peti- tions were, as a rule, dismissed or unfavorably reported on. It was the intention to arrange matters for all newly acquired ter- ritory in accordance with principles previously determined. Habituated to altogether different methods of jrovernment. un- familiar with democratic ideas, untrained in political thinking, the new citizen had small chance to make himself felt. To character, then, must be added opportunity as having favored the political influence of the Huguenot. To lack of opportunity may be attributed in some degree the want of political influence on the part of the French Catholic. Vet another element must be noted an element, however, that is pei-haps the resultant <>f the two already mentioned the complete and rapid absorption of the Huguenot in the mass of the American people. -Sooner than any other, and more completely, they became American in speech, conviction, and habits of thought." 1 This complete absorption, which has tended to make them forgotten as Huguenots while they are . Wh;ii Americanism Mc;n^. F<-nnn. Apr.. 1-xm. p. 2< 5. Cf. address of Richard Olucy in Hi-( Vntmary Co iiiin'iiKiralioii. S2, ff. 64 gratefully remembered as American patriots and statesmen, probably contributed very largely to their political influence. Because they were so early and so completely Americanized, there was no occasion for race jealousies and antipathies; they had no French notions to import into governmental methods; they did not act unitedly as a faction but individually as citizens devoted to the best interests of their adopted country. That thus acting, the leading men among them almost with- out exception w r orked for the same ends, and especially for greater centralization of government points strongly in the di- rection of an inherited race tendency. The Canadian and the Creole on the other hand, were not absorbed nor assimilated. Even after the influx of American immigrants intermarriages were for a long time infrequent. Indeed their assimilation was more often with the Red Man than with other European settlers. Slowly and unwillingly they assumed the rights and duties of American citizens, cling- ing all the while tenaciously to their own customs and language. Had they been a more aggressive people politically than they were, they could not thus as aliens have forced the ideas of a decadent old-world despotism upon a vigorous and growing young nation. Many minor causes were doubtless contributory to the re- sult; more extended investigations may yet reveal other impor- tant causes; but the facts at present accessible emphasize these three, difference in character, in opportunity and in ability to be assimilated. And they are amply sufficient to account for the observed differences in result. To the Canadian and the Creole, we owe gratitude for patriotic services; for much of the material development of the regions that they were the first white men to enter; for a great part of the romance of western history; and for picturesque survivals: but for political development, almost nothing. To the Huguenot we must be grateful, that while bringing no new political inventions, he brought himself, and gave him- self with all his heritage of character and ability to the new nation, working w r ith energy, persistence, and success to make the best political ideas of the age supreme in its Consti- tution and potent in its development. * * * * # * Of late years we are having another influx of French 65 immigrants, this time threatening to overwhelm Puritan New England with a Catholic population from across the Canadian borders. It is yet too soon to determine the effect of this mi- gration, but it has caused grave concern to many observers. It is but a part of the general problem of foreign immigration than which no other question is of more vital importance. The facts herewith presented point by an easy inference to a speedy and complete transformation of the immigrant from an alien into an American with American habits of thought, as one of the essential principles for its solution. APPENDIX. GENEALOGICAL, AND BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. BAYAKD. The Pedigree of the American family is sup- posed to have been traced to Balthazar Bayard, whose ances- tors fled from Dauphine about the time of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. There were also families of the name in Cham- pagne. Languedoc. and Flanders. Cf. Am. Ancestry, III., 79. and Mag. of Am. Hist.. XVII. The latter is an answer to the doubt raised by Arthur Richmond in N. Am. Review, Jan. 1885, as to the Huguenot ancestry of the family. BENEZET. Anthony Benezet was born in St. Q.ientin in 1713. The family fled from persecution to Holland. Thence they went to London and afterwards to Philadelphia. Anthony joined the Quakers at the age of 14. His life was mostly spent in religious and philanthropic labors. See brief biography prefixed to Views on Slavery. BREVARD. Ephraim Brevard is generally admitted to have been of Huguenot descent, but I cannot trace his ancestry. He was born in Maryland in 1744; went to N. Carolina when about 4 years of age; graduated at Princeton in 1768; was later a surgeon in the army; was made prisoner at the surrender of Charleston and died from the effects of his imprisonment. He was secretary of the Mechlinburg Convention, and the resolu- tions differed but slightly from his draft. Hunter, Sketches of Western Life in North Carolina., 47 and 48. BOUDINOT. A family of this name came to Mass. The name is found in the records of Oxford. They probably moved to one of the middle states. The Elias Boudinot known to American history was born in Philadelphia. Apr. 21, 1740. His grand-father, also named Elias, came to America in 1686. Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., XXII., 51; Sketch of Elias Boudinot by Helen Boudinot Stryker, Penn. Mag. III., 191. BOWDOIN. Pierre Bowdoin, said to have been a physician of Rochelle. fled to America at the time of the Revocation and settled in Casco. Maine, probably in 1687. His grand-son, James, was the distinguished Governor of Mass. Gov. Bow- doin's daughter, Elizabeth, married Sir Wm. Temple, and her daughter Elizabeth married Thos. L. Winthrop, from whom Robt. Winthrop was descended. The direct line ended with Gov. Bowdoin's son James the founder of Bowdoin Col. but 67 some of the descendants of his sister Elizabeth assumed the name. See Mass. Hist. Soc.. Coll., XXV.. 49, 50, and 78; New Eng. Hist, and Gen. Reg., X.. 78, and VIII.. '247. There were Bowdoins in Virginia, probably descended from John Bowdoin. a brother of James, who moved to that state about 17<>f. (Va. Hist. Coll., Vol. V.. p. XL. footnote.) FAXEUIL. Three brothers, Andrew. Benjamin, and John Faneuil. settled in Boston as early as UiUU. John returned to France. Peter, the donor of Faneuil Hall, was a son of Benja- min, but received his lar*re fortune from his uncle Andrew. Cf. Mass. Hist. Soc. Col XXII.. 53. Mem. Hist, of Boston, II.. r>."4: and the chapter on "The French Protestants of Bos- ton" in the latter volume. GALLATIN. Schaff, (Huguenot Proceedings. I. .-95), and other writers sp.>ak of Albert Gallalin as of Huguenot descent. The truth seems to be that the family, though Protestant and close allies of Calvin, were hardly refugees for the faith. They moved from Savoy to Geneva in 1510. See Apn. to H. Adams' edition of his Writings and Adam^ 1 Life of Gal latin. Book I. GALLAUDET. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. the founder of the first institution in America for the education of deaf-mutes, descended from Pierre Elise Gallaudet one of the earliest settlers of New Rochelle whose wife. Margaret Crezot, was a descendant of the 94th Doge of Venice. For interesting par- ticulars concerning him and his work, see Bi-Centenary Com- memoration. 74. If. GRATIOT. Charles Gratiot was the son of Huguenot parents who ned from La Rochelle on the Revocation. They took up their residence at Lausanne. Switzerland, where Charles was born in 1758. He received a mercantile education in London and came while quite young to Canada to engage in the fur trade. In 1774 he settled in Cahokia. After the Revo- lution he moved to St. Louis, where he married a daughter of Pierre Choteau. Henry Gratiot.. his son. was the father of Mrs. E. B. Washburne.' See Wis. Hist. Coll.. Vol. X., articles by Hon. E. B. Wash- burne and Mrs. Adele Gratiot: Scharf. Hist, of St. Louis. I. :>7; Billon, Annals of St. Louis. 214. if. HAMILTON. Alexander Hamilton was born in the West Indies and came at an early age to X. Y. There is some obscurity about his parentage, but I am not aware that anyone has 'iously questioned his descent on his mother's side from a Huguenot family who took refuge in the West Indies. A discussion of his ancestry may be found in Lodge's Life of Hamilton. App. A. JAY. Augustus Jay, one of the numerous exiles from the 68 city of Rochelle, settled in New York in 1697. He married a daughter of Balthazar Bayard. Their son, Peter, married a daughter of Jacobus Van Courtland, by whom he had ten children. John was the eighth, born in N. Y., Dec. 12, 1745. It will be noticed that none of his ancestors had intermarried with the English, so that he was of French and Dutch blood. See Jay's Jay, Chap. I. MARION. The ancestors of Francis Marion came from La Chaume. C. W. Baird, (II., 52 and footnote), gives this fact, re- ferring to Liste de Francois et Suisses refugiez en Caroline. See also Mass. Hist. Coll. XXII., 56. LAURENS. The ancestors of Henry Laurens were French Protestant Refugees who first settled in N. Y. and moved thence to Charleston. See "Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., XXII. , 55. MANIGAULT. Gabriel Manigault w r as descended from Pe- ter Manigault. who went from Rochelle to England in 1685 and came to Carolina about 1696. See Am. Ancestry. V. 85, ft', and Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., XXII, 55. A Dr. Gabriel Manigault. presumably a direct descendant, is one of the Ex. Com. of the S. Car. Huguenot Soc. See Transactions, No. 3. MORRIS. The mother of Gouverneur Morris was one of the Huguenot Gouverneurs who settted in N. Y. after the re- vocation of the Edict of Nantes. See Roosevelt's Life of Morris, 2. REVERE. The Revere or Rivier family was one of the old- est in Europe may be traced, perhaps to the time of the first crusade. They lived in Dauphine and had large estates and many titles of nobility. Paul Revere was the son of Apollos, a Huguenot who went from France to the island of Guern- sey and thence to Boston. See Am. Ancestry, V. 41, and Goss's Life of Revere, Chap. I. Goss also has an article on Revere in Mag. of Am. Hist., Jan. 1886. SEVIER. John Sevier came of a Huguenot family named Xavier. though his immediate ancestors were from England. See Phelan, Hist, of Tenn.. p. 72, and Roosevelt, Winning of the West, I.,' 180-183. TYLER. Anne Contesse, a Huguenot, was the mother of Gov. Tyler and the grandmother of Pres. Tyler. See Va. Hist., Coll. V., Introd. VINCENT. The pedigree of Bishop Vincent may be found in Am. Ancestry, VIII, 25. It is traced to a refugee who set- tled in New Jersey. WHITTIER. The poet Whittier's maternal grandmother was Sarah Greenleaf. The Greenleaf family were from 69 France, the name being originally Peuillevert. which was translated as so many other Huguenot names have been into English. See Linton's Life of Whittier and Bi-Centenary Com. 70. 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