More than one did their utmost to teach and improve their Indian neighbor. They forbade at an early date the selling to them of the destructive "fire water." Cadillac did so from the first; the Marquis de Vaudreuil reissued the same orders later. They soon discovered that the northern regions alone could produce wheat enough to feed the whole country, "though it should be quite peopled down to the sea." The question of labor was one of prominent difficulty and importance. Should it be hired labor of freemen or the compulsory labor of the imported negro? On this, one of those early French explorers, Charlevoix, summed up his opinion in the following memorable sentence: "Hired servants should be preferred. When the time of their service is expired they become inhabitants and increase the number of the King's natural subjects, whereas the slaves are always strangers. And who can be a.s.sured that by continually increasing in our colonies they will not one day become formidable enemies? Can we depend upon slaves who are only attached to us by fear and for whom the very land where they are born has not the dear name of mother country?"

More striking than all was the observation of a Frenchman who never visited America, except in thought, but saw distinctly its future. When no one yet believed it, that great economist and statesman, Turgot, said: "America one day will be free."

Years went on. The dark shadows and splendid rays of light with which French history is interwoven shone and vanished in their grand and awful alternance. One day the French flag was lowered in Louisiana; that was at the close of the Seven Years War.

Another day the same flag was seen on the mast of a small vessel leaving the harbor at Bordeaux and sailing for America. The ship happened to bear the auspicious name of _La Victoire_, and it bore Lafayette. Then it was the alliance of 1778, and the coming on the same year of the first envoy accredited by any nation to this country, my predecessor, Gerard de Rayneval, a staunch friend of America; then the peace of 1783, when, with the a.s.sent of the whole world, to the joy of every French heart, 13 stars shone on the American flag.

France recovered, then, neither Louisiana nor Canada, nor anything. But she never intended it. She won a friend, and such a friend is better than any province.

She was very happy, having exactly fulfilled without change, bargain, or extenuation the task she had mapped out for herself in 1778, when she declared in the alliance treaty that the "direct and essential object of the same was efficaciously to maintain the freedom, sovereignty, and absolute and illimited independence of the United States." The joy was such in Paris at the news of American independence that performances in the theaters were interrupted; the great event was announced, and audiences rose to their feet to cheer the new-born Republic.

Festivities were given and colored prints were scattered all over France for the benefit of those who could not be present.

Such souvenirs were proudly kept in families. One such came to the remote house of my own parents in the mountains, and it was carefully preserved and I possess it at this day.

France followed her destinies; in 1800 Louisiana was French again; three years later on the spontaneous proposal of the French Republic, not New Orleans alone, not a mere strip of land, but the whole country became forever American.

The treaty signed one hundred years and a day ago had little precedent in history; it dealt with territories larger than the Empire of Alexander; it followed no war; it was preceded by no shedding of human blood; the new possessions got a hundred times more than they even thought of demanding, and the negotiations were so simple, the good faith and mutual friendship so obvious, that all was concluded in a fortnight. The simplest protocol on postal or sanitary questions takes nowadays more time. Each party found its interest in the transaction, but something more than interest led the affair to a speedy conclusion and that was the deep-rooted sympathy of the French and American nations.

The French were simply continuing what they had begun; they had wished America to be free and they were glad to think that she would be great. Money was paid, it is true; had this been the main consideration, Louisiana would have been preserved, for the money was not by far the equivalent of the buildings and lands belonging to the State. Part of the money was employed in satisfying American claims. "Those," says the French negotiator, Marbois, "who knew the importance of a good understanding between these two countries, attached more importance to the $4,000,000 set apart for American claims than to the $12,000,000 offered to France."

An impending war in Europe, the possibilities of an occupation of Louisiana by a foreign power was not, either, the main motive. In the council held at the Tuileries on Easter day, 1803, the Marshal and Prince of Wagram, Berthier, whose first war had been the war of American independence, said, as to this: "If Louisiana is taken from us by our rivals what does it matter? Other possessions would soon be in our hands, and by means of an exchange, we should quickly obtain a rest.i.tution."

He concluded, "No navy without colonies, no colonies without a navy."

Add again that the value of Louisiana was much better understood than it had been before. "I know the worth of what I give up,"

said Bonaparte; and the French Government knew it indeed. They acted with open eyes, for they had taken care from the year 1800 to gather all available information. One of the memoirs with which they enlightened themselves had been asked of Louis Vilemont, former captain in the regiment of Louisiana. It is still unpublished; and it informed the Government that "from various reports of Canadian and Indian hunters it is possible to walk from Missouri to the sea in less than two months and a half."

An access to the Pacific was not so easy as now, but yet an access was practicable, and the wealth of the country was extraordinary. Warming at the souvenir of what he knew, the retired officer exclaimed, "What sources of wealth can we not expect to find in those parts! At each step made from east to west all produce, all things increase tenfold. It seems as if nature had made this corner of the globe the most favored one of our immense empire. The samples of all reigns have more beauty and majesty than anywhere else. The men born there look more like the descendants of Alcides than the kinsmen of the tribes who worship Manitou."

The main motive power, without which all the others would have been of no avail, was, indeed, mutual sympathy. When the treaty was signed the three negotiators, Barbe-Marbois, Monroe, and Livingston, who had known each other in America at the time of the war of Independence, rose, and, what is rare on such occasions, one of them was able to express in a single sentence the intimate feelings of the three. "The treaty which we have just signed," said Livingston, "will cause no tears; they prepare centuries of happiness to innumerable generations of human beings; from this day the United States take their place among the powers of the first rank."

I do not think that there is another example in the history of the world of a cession of such vast territories thus obtained by the representatives of one of the parties to the applause and with the heartfelt consent of the representatives of the other.

The treaty giving away in full possession and forever Louisiana to the United States, allowing them to spread without meeting any foreign neighbors from one ocean to the other, adding fourteen States to the original thirteen, was signed one hundred years ago, "au nom du peuple Francais" in the year XI of the French Republic. The results have pa.s.sed the most sanguine hopes, but they have not gone beyond the extent of our friendly wishes for the sister Republic of America. The representative of France comes to this spot that was French in former times with a feeling of admiration for what you have done, and no feeling of regret. He sees splendid development, arts, sciences, trade, and agriculture equally prosperous; he applauds your success, and expresses from his heart his good wishes for your grand exhibition of next year.

As for his own country, if she no longer holds those immense domains, she has, on the other hand, found other territories for the peaceful employment of her inexhaustible energy, with results which will forever redound to the praise of the Government of the Republic. And as for Louisiana itself, France rests satisfied with remembering that she could not have more friendly nor more sympathetic intentions. She remembers also, not without pride, that her sons first discovered and tilled the soil, first described it, and first drew a map of it; that one of her most famous writers first revealed to the world the springs of poetry that lay concealed as much under the fir trees of the Mississippi Valley as under the plane trees of Tempe; the diplomat and literary artist who made all those who had a mind and heart weep for the fate of Atala.

Seeing the results, my countrymen have never ceased to approve of the treaty signed a hundred years ago "au nom de peuple Francais." Eighteen hundred and three is the third memorable date in the relations between France and America. In giving the United States, according to the words of your negotiator, its place among the greatest powers in the world, 1803 did nothing but perfect what had been gloriously begun in 1778 and 1783.

Sixth. Music by the Marine Band, playing the Spanish "Himno de Riego."

Seventh. Address by the Spanish minister, Senor de Ojeda:

MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: I greatly regret my inability to respond to the very flattering recognition of the part played by Spain in the early history of this territory. I wish I were endowed with the same eloquence displayed by previous orators, which it has been our privilege to listen to and admire. Still, had not the national glories of Spain been so brilliantly alluded to, were I able to recall them now with colors as glowing as the warmth their memory brings to my Spanish heart, I feel I could not raise to them a loftier or more eloquent monument than has been raised by those immortal works of Washington Irving, Prescott, Lowell, and Ticknor, which have made of Spanish tradition a familiar household patrimony of this nation.

I am sure you will agree with me in thinking that I could do no better, that I could not pay a higher nor more honorable nor lasting tribute to our share in the history of this continent than by invoking the testimony of your own literary genius and by referring now to that grateful recognition which moved the founders of this Republic to a.s.sociate the revered memory of Isabella, the soul-stirring deeds of Pizarro, Cortez, and Ojeda, with the temple of your nationality.

If ever the engrossing conclusions of your wonderful actual prosperity, the intensity of your life, made one of your strenuous citizens forget what your present owes to your past, let him ascend the steps of your national capitol, let him pause before its majestic gates, and there he will behold, carved in bronze on the threshold of your proudest monument, the effigies and the names of those Spanish heroes who discovered, conquered, and pointed to you the way in which path you have so successfully followed.

As a guest, sitting now for the first time at the hearth of the American nation, I feel bound to respond to that high tribute made to Spain by publicly acknowledging here the enviable kindness shown by all cla.s.ses of your people since I landed on your sh.o.r.es.

As the representative of the nation whose ancient and honored flag was the first to be reflected in the majestic course of the father of American rivers, I am happy to feel that my first official appearance before an American audience is a.s.sociated in both your minds and mine with the commemoration of an event which, although involving far-reaching issues in the respective histories of three great nations, has not and never was darkened by the rankling memories which war and international strife always leave in their wake.

For, Mr. President, Spain, exclusively devoted to-day to the task of developing her immense resources, is happy to be a.s.sociated with you in this peaceful celebration of a peaceful event. Believe me, Mr. President, the Spanish people will enter into this n.o.ble compet.i.tion for the prizes of progress and civilization with that same stubbornness with which during seven centuries they maintained the heroic struggle which saved Europe and the Christian world from the baneful invasion of African hordes.

Spain will apply to the arts of peace, to the conquests of progress, that same and indomitable spirit which enabled her to enrich the Old World with a new one, over whose brilliant destinies she watches and ever will watch with intense and undying interest.

Spain hails with pleasure an opportunity like your future exposition will afford of showing her peaceful conquests in the domains of labor, and is especially bent on attracting toward her the benefits to be derived from this growing tendency of her people to an everlasting commercial, agricultural, and industrial interchange. She, more than over anxious to cultivate and strengthen her friendly relations with the world, could not but welcome with sympathy the announcement of this vast enterprise as a right step toward that blending of her material and moral interests with those of other nations, to that better understanding among them which she will indefatigably strive to attain.

You can therefore rest a.s.sured, Mr. President, that my country will contribute to the World's Fair and enhance with its varied exhibits its universal and historical features. I am, in fact, authorized to inform you that His Majesty's Government has decided to ask for the requisite appropriation as soon as Parliament a.s.sembles. Spain will appear before you, if not in all the splendor that the requirements of her wise, economical programme now forbid, at least in the manly garb of a nation meaning to show you and to show the world that her gloriously checkered career, instead of impairing our vitality, has retempered the ever-elastic steel of our national fiber and concentrated and directed all its latent energies toward the modern conquests of progress, labor, and civilization to which the city of St. Louis is now erecting a temple worthy of the city itself and of the auspicious event we are now commemorating.

And now, Mr. President, in wishing success to your n.o.ble undertaking, in thanking you and this city for its cordial hospitality, I beg to acknowledge also my grat.i.tude for the numerous tokens and expressions of good will toward Spain which have been uttered during this solemn celebration and which I so fully appreciate.

I beg to salute reverently in that new-born flag of your exhibition and august emblem of peace and labor, a touching appeal to fraternity among nations. In that flag are blended the past and the present with the glorious colors of the three nations representative of St. Louis's early and contemporary history. Let us welcome its appealing and eloquent symbolism like the herald of an ever-cloudless future.

Eighth. "Hallelujah Chorus" from The Messiah.

Ninth. Benediction by Rev. Samuel J. Niccolls:

Almighty G.o.d, Heavenly Father, whose all-wise Providence did lead our fathers across the seas to this land, and Who hath given their children a goodly heritage, let Thy blessing rest upon their children. Let Thy blessings rest upon all the nations represented here to-day and upon the representatives. May we continue in the bonds of peace for all time. May the grace of G.o.d, mercy, and peace be with us. Amen.

Tenth. Centennial salute of 100 guns.

PROGRAMME

STATE DAY, MAY 2, 1903.

The civic parade a.s.sembled at 10.30 a.m. under direction of Col. Eugene J. Spencer, marshal of the day, and moved from the junction of Grand avenue and Lindell boulevard through Forest Park to the exposition grounds, where the parade was reviewed by the governors of the States.

At 1.30 p. m. the audience a.s.sembled in the Liberal Arts Building. The a.s.sembly was called to order by Mr. William H. Thompson, chairman of the committee on grounds and buildings, and the following programme was carried out:

First. Invocation by Rev. William R. Harper:

Our Father which art in Heaven, whose work for man no man knows, whose heart is full of wisdom, to Thee be our prayers directed.

Hallowed be Thy name. Thou art the pure and the very great. May Thy peace be manifested to us in all Thy work.

Give us this day our daily bread, and for the following day.

Forgive us our sins, as well as forgive them that sin against us. Take away all hatred and strife and whatever prejudice may hinder us from union and concord. Let us be under one bond of faith and peace.

Show us Thy kindness and so fill us with Thy goodness that our souls may be filled with the manifold delights of charity and good will. Let nations abide under Thy law, for Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory. Amen.

Second. Address by Mr. William Lindsay, of the National Commission, president of the day, as follows:

MR. PRESIDENT AND LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: This is the last day of the interesting and memorable ceremonies with which the great exposition has been inaugurated. We have had with us the chief representative of the people. The next day we had with us the diplomats, the representatives of foreign climes. To-day we have with us the toilers. We have had the governors of the sovereign States which make up this great Union. When I beheld the great cavalcade I felt that the time had almost come when the industries will solely be confined to working for peace and divorced from devotion to the implements of war.

It is not merely a question of a fair profit upon money that is uppermost before the people to-day. It is not the question of a fair return for labor. But it is the question of equitable distribution of the products of labor and of the surplus of capital. This is the great question; that is what involves the happiness of mankind, and the man who solves that question will rise in greatness to such a point that other statesmen, or even Presidents, will pale into insignificance.

This is labor day, and as such we should honor it.