224 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Gabriel 

 Bernon 



The French 

 Club 



V 



After the Ee vocation of the Edict of Nantes, the immi- 

 gration to New York was so considerable that the French 

 became an important factor in politics. Governor Lord 

 Bellomont wrote to the Board of Trade in 1698 : "I must 

 acquaint your lordships that the French here are vei-y 

 factious and their numbers considerable. At the last elec- 

 tion they ran in with the Jacobite party, and have been 

 since so insolent as to boast they had turned the scale and 

 could balance the interests as they pleased." That Gov- 

 ernor Bellomont, who was not in good favour with the 

 people, did not despise this French influence in public 

 affairs is proved by the fact that he tried to gain them to 

 his side, and to this end invited Gabriel Bernon, one of 

 the most influential Huguenots in the country, a resident 

 of Providence, to come to his aid. Bernon did his best 

 in this direction, with but partial success. The French 

 were disposed to independence and to choose for them- 

 selves in politics as in religion. 



Among the considerable social factors of the citj^ in its 

 day was the French Club, which was established largely 

 through the influence of the Bayards, the family of which 

 the long time United States Senator from Delaware was a 

 descendant. French became the fashionable language of 

 the new community. From 1648 to 1658 the French ele- 

 ment of North America had become so important that, 

 according to Bancroft, the public documents were issued 

 in French as well as in Dutch and English. It is esti- 

 mated that by 1688 some two hundred Huguenot families 

 had found a home in New York, or about one quarter of 

 the population. In 1661 half the inhabitants of Harlem 

 were Huguenots. 



