veloped under the rule of the conqueror, then France is not a colonizing nation.

But, if to found prosperous settlements amid strange and often savage populations, to teach those people the advantages of civilization and the blessings of Christianity, to win their love and respect by kindness and justice allied to firmness, is to fulfill some of the requirements of colonization; and, if a colony founded upon these principles happens to pass under the rule of a foreign conqueror, and the colonists, be they few or many, exiles banished from the mothercountry or voluntary emigrants,-if these colonists and their descendants persist despite harsh measures and persecution, despite coaxing, bribery, and even increased prosperity, in clinging to the language, the customs, and the religion of the mother-country, so that their nationality is changed only in name, then France is a colonizing power of the first order.

Undisturbed possession reveals strength; material prosperity indicates intelligence in developing resources; it is in the hearts and minds of men that we should seek the unfading record of national genius. A century and a half of British rule has not eradicated French characteristics from Canada or any other of the colonies which France lost through the imbecility of a corrupt king. In Louisiana, which became American by peaceful transfer, these characteristics still strike the stranger as an anomaly. They will be found wherever the French have colonized in by-gone days.

It must be admitted, however, that the French do not possess the migratory instinct so developed as we find it in other European nations. No more daring explorers, no bolder adventurers (in the better sense of the word) can be found in history, and men like De Brazza, Trivier, Crampel-worthy rivals of Stanley, though they make less noise in the world-prove that the race has not degenerated. But the same incentive that moves the few to court hardships and danger in distant lands, keeps the many at home. Love of country induces the former to risk their lives in enterprises which will redound to the glory of France; love for the native land deters thousands from seeking mere personal advantages in emigration.

It is not to be wondered, therefore, why immigration from France has done so little, comparatively, toward swelling the populaE-Apr.

tion of the United States. It is estimated that there are now 125,000 French in the states. While this increase would be far from proportionate to that of the whole population during the last decade, we are of the opinion that it is greatly exaggerated. The ruinous consequences of the Franco-Prussian war, the exodus from Alsace-Lorraine, the succession of bad harvests which marked the years that followed, and the terrible ravages of that scourge, the phylloxera, had no perceptible effect on French emigration between the years 1870 and 1880. In 1872, the total number of French emigrants, to all countries, was 9,581, the highest number attained. The next highest were 7,109 in 1871; 7,161 in 1873; 7,080 in 1874. From 1870 to 1883, inclusive, the total emigration was 70,423; if we subtract the four years previously mentioned, the annual average for the remaining ten will be about 3,950, which is, at most, the normal annual emigration. Nothing has occurred since 1880 that could have materially changed this average.

The majority of these emigrants do not come to the United States; they go to SouthAmerican countries. Among the reasons for this preference is the very important one of language. The English language presents difficulties that are almost unconquerable by a Frenchman's tongue, while he will promptly master any of the languages which, like his own, have a Latin origin. He feels, besides, more at home among people of the Latin race, their habits and customs generally coming nearer to his own.

He

The French in the United States, it has been shown, are in comparatively small numbers. They do not represent an important factor in American politics. It takes a long time for a Frenchman to become an American citizen, unless he has come with no thoughts of return, which is rarely the case. comes, generally, with the often delusive hope that after a few years of self-imposed exile he will return home with improved fortunes, but disappointment awaits him, his stay is indefinitely prolonged; he has contracted new ties, the old ones have been severed by death. With a sigh of regret he bids adieu to his fond dream and takes naturalization papers. Henceforth he will be faithful to his new allegiance; the pang he felt at renouncing the old is a guarantee of this.

French immigration is not wholly due to

in France have always had a great deal to do with it. From the time of the first French revolution and the San Domingo insurrection it has been so. The old soldiers of the first Napoleon turned their backs upon the restored Bourbons and sought homes in the United States. Quite a colony of these veterans settled in Alabama. It was not a successful venture. 1830 sent us both Legitimists and Republicans. During the reign of Louis Phillippe a number of communists-the original communists, of milder stamp than those of the present day-known as Cabetiens, after their leader, Cabet, came over and settled in Louisiana and Texas. In 1848 they removed to Nauvoo, whence the Mormons had just been driven. Subsequently, they founded "Utopia," in Kansas, where they and their descendants, faithful to their old principles, still live in community. A few Orleanists left France in disgust on the proclamation of the Republic of 1848, and a much larger number of republicans fled or were "deported" after the coup d'état which, for the greater misfortune of France, turned the adventurer, Louis Bonaparte, into Napoleon III., Emperor of the French. The wretched Commune of 1871 contributed perhaps a larger share to emigration than did the Franco-Prussian war. That undesirable element ceased to be dangerous, however, after it had reached this "land of freedom." Not speaking the language of the country, these deluded wretches could not make incendiary speeches to American audiences, and to deprive your communard of the right to vociferate nonsense, is to rob him of the power to do evil. From their countrymen whom they found settled here, they could obtain assistance if they were suffering want, but they met no sympathy for their mad dreams. And as the old rule, Il faut manger, holds good even in this land of plenty, they soon settled down to work and have become harmless, industrious citizens.

French emigrants, questions them whether they have sufficient means to live a reasonable time after their arrival at their destination, or whether they have any immediate prospect of finding work; if not, the officer will try by arguments to dissuade them from emigrating, but he will not prevent them.”

Despite these praiseworthy precautions, some of the emigrants, arriving in a country whose language is unknown to them, are helpless and soon see the end of the scanty means with which they left home. In every American city where a hundred Frenchmen, or even less than half this number, have settled, they have founded benevolent societies which assist and advise their poor compatriots and endeavor to procure work for them. New York City possesses several of these societies, besides a French hospital and asylums for French orphans. New Orleans also has its French hospital, as have, if we are correctly informed, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and some other large cities. The French in the United States, therefore, try to take care of their poor, and the state is seldom burdened with them. The criminal records of the large cities show very few French names.

On the whole, then, French immigration to the United States is desirable rather than otherwise. Another glance at the official reports will strengthen this claim. Nothing is so convincing as figures, especially when they come from an official source. The quota of France in the "skilled labor" that came to this country during the fourteen years-1873 to 1886 inclusive—was as follows: professional, 3,262; skilled, 16,237; miscellaneous, 29,836.

Referring to the average of the normal annual immigration already given, the natural conclusion must be that the number of French "without trade or occupation" who arrived during these fourteen years must have been very small, especially if we deduct therefrom the children, and a certain proportion of the women as having no occupation.

The number of skilled workmen in the principal trades, who arrived during that period of fourteen years is apportioned as follows: jewelers, 433; glove-makers, 399; weavers, 317; book-binders, 225; watch and clock makers, 198; hatters, 181; buttonmakers, 147; dyers, 110; saddlers, 101; machinists, 90. Under one hundred we also

The liberal professions are well-represented. In New York City there are sixteen French lawyers, thirty-two physicians, eight dentists, eighteen pharmacists, eight painters, seven musical composers, three sculptors. Quite as many, if not more, will be found in other large cities-San Francisco and New Orleans, for example. The bench and bar of New Orleans once enjoyed a merited reputation. The names of the Canonges, Maurians, Canons, Mazureans, are not forgotten in the Crescent City. Their successors, no doubt, strive to emulate those shining lights of bygone days. It was the time when the young Frenchman Pierre Soulé held the juries in the criminal court and the crowd at political meetings, spell-bound by his matchless oratory. He rose to represent Louisiana in the American Senate the peer of the Calhouns, Clays, and Websters-and the United States at the court of Spain.

The medical profession has counted and still counts in its ranks not a few celebrities. It is principally in the states visited by that Scourge, yellow fever, that the French physicians have done noble work. In New York, the Pasteur Institute for the cure of hydrophobia was founded and is managed by Dr. Paul Gibier, a pupil of the great French savant. Paintings by French artists, statues, and monuments due to the chisel of French sculptors, adorn the public places and public and private galleries of many American cities, including the national capital. French teachers are met in every town and village in the Union. This profession is somewhat over-crowded, it being the first choice of newcomers who possess no other capital than a good education; and both sexes seek an honorable livelihood in the performance of its arduous duties.

Several flourishing French educational institutions exist in different states. Some are due to individual enterprise; others have been founded by French religious orders devoted

(Indiana), where the superior general of the order, Father Sorin, who is an officer of French Public Instruction, has his residence. Since the days of the missionaries who first explored the wilds of the Western world, the Catholic Church has sent a number of priests to this country, and several of the American bishops are of French birth or descent. Of French origin are also many of our charitable institutions; the youngest and most popular of which is, perhaps, the Little Sisters of the Poor who are respected by Protestants and Catholics alike, and are doing immense good. There are several French churches, mostly Catholic; the largest number being in New Orleans. There are also two French Protestant or evangelical churches in New York, one in Philadelphia, and two or three more, probably, in other cities.

Although Frenchmen do not generally take a very active part in American politics, a few at different times have been elected to the legislature of their adopted state or to municipal offices. Such is the case, not only in Louisiana, where it might have been expected, but in Illinois and Iowa. In the late Civil War Frenchmen fought on both sides, and rose to distinction. A rather remarkable coincidence was that while the Count de Paris, the representative of the Orleans dynasty, was serving as aid-de-camp to General McClellan, Prince de Polignac, one of the staunchest supporters of the dethroned Bourbons, was leading a Confederate brigade. We might name other distinguished soldiers, but laurels won in a fratricidal contest had better not be paraded.

We feel more at ease in speaking of another army, one whose self-imposed mission is not to kill but to sustain life. We allude to the great army of French cooks. Truly their name is legion and they are a power in the land. Their proper place should be immediately following the liberal professions. And who doubts that they are entitled to a place among them? Professional cooks-French chefs-are often men of finished education, of sound learning-especially in all that concerns man's digestion. It is possible that the rank and file do not all come up to the chef's standard; many a poor Frenchman, unable to find employment here in his par

ticular calling, has turned cook without going through any novitiate. What does it matter, so long as he has pleased the palate of his employers?

A lady once asked the writer of this article some information about the manner of preparing a certain French dish. As he pleaded ignorance of the culinary art (or science), she exclaimed, "What! you don't know? Why, I thought every French gentlemen understood cooking." This notion like that entertained of old by the English cockney, that every Frenchman must be either a hairdresser or a dancing-master, is dying out. But it cannot be denied that, thanks to the French cook, the American cuisine has improved wonderfully since those by-gone days when it inspired Talleyrand's sarcastic wit. The French press is honorably represented here. The New Orleans Bee (L' Abeille) is the oldest newspaper published in the French language in the United States, but the New York Courrier des Etats Unis is the acknowledged organ of the French population and the able and true exponent of French politics and ideas. The Courrier has reached its sixty-third year-a career of uninterrupted prosperity. A score of minor lights in French journalism shine in various localities. Many others after giving proof of undoubted talent, have flickered during some brief years and gone out of existence, as many bright young journals of all nationalities will do. Yet, not a few successful writers in the American press are of French birth. They have conquered the first obstacle to success-the language and can now fight their way.

In trade and commerce the share of our French merchants is large. The wine trade is almost entirely controlled by them, and to some extent, the French dry goods and fancy goods trade. This is particularly applicable to the retail trade in the large seaport towns and many inland cities. French hotels and restaurants are plentiful and thriving; and it were idle to enumerate the barbers, tailors, hair-dressers, bonnet and dress makers, whose skill helps to bring out, more conspicuously, the native elegance of American beaux and belles.

The French miners attracted to this country by the prospect of making more money, come principally from the mining districts of the north of France. Many of these are employed in the coal mines of Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, and Missouri. The gold and silver

mines have also had their attraction. They have drawn capital as well as labor from France. The Lexington mine, in Montana, belongs to a French company, as do some of the Colorado mines. California, as might be expected, has also its French miners and mine owners and also numerous French winemakers and fruit-growers.

Industrial enterprises requiring a large outlay of capital are not so frequently started by our French residents. Yet some valuable and successful ones have been founded, especially in the West. The glass-works of Ottawa (Illinois) founded by Mr. de la Chapelle, have won quite a name by the excellence of their products. Several prosperous tanneries, in Chicago, are run by Frenchmen. In the latter city, Mr. Millet, a nephew of the celebrated sculptor of that name, has formed a partnership with the son of the American painter Healy, for the manufacture of painted glass and house-decorating articles of art. We might name several other enterprises of like importance, did the limits of this article permit. Quite a large number, the greater number, in fact, of the French here are engaged in agriculture, principally in the Western and Southern states. Of late years cattle-raising has attracted the attention of the French. A number of the newcomers engaged in this in. dustry are members of the old noblesse, who, disgusted with the republic, impelled by a consequent feeling of misanthropy to flee from civilization, looking at the cattle-king's life through poetical eye-glasses, or, in a more matter-of-fact spirit, calculating upon the dollars it may bring, have bought ranches and gone into the business with commendable energy. Marquis de Mores, notorious for his quarrels with the cowboys and for his more recent participation in the Boulangist conspiracy, owns a vast tract at Medora, or Little Missouri, on the confines of Dakota and Montana. A little farther on, at Miles City, Mr. Vibeaux has shown himself a very successful ranchman, while on the very edge of Yellowstone Park, in Wyoming, close to the Montana line, Count de Mailly-Nesle and Marquis du Doré own important ranches. In the southern part of Dakota, before reaching Deadwood, is the Fleur de Lys ranch, where special attention is given to raising Percheron and Arabian stock. This valuable ranch belongs to Baron de Mandat-Grancey, who, in addition to being an experienced