,134 
VIEWS OF LOUISIANA. 
enced a sudden and rapid decay; which was again accelerated 
by the conquest of general Clark for the United States, in 
1779. The greater number of the wealthy and respectable 
inhabitants descended the Mississippi, and settled in New Or¬ 
leans, and the lower country Others crossed the Mississippi, 
and established St. Louis and St. Genevieve. Scarcely any but 
natives of the country remained. The foreigners chiefly re¬ 
turned to the countries from whence they first emigrated. 
Such then, is the origin of the greater part of that class of the 
population of this territory, which I have denominated the an¬ 
cient inhabitants. They are chiefly natives of the country ; but 
few families are immediately from France, or even from New 
Orleans or Canada. 
In the character of these people, it must be remembered, that 
they are essentially Frenchmen ; but, without that restlessness, 
impatience and fire, which distinguishes the European. There 
is, even in their deportment, something of the gravity of the 
Spaniard, though gay, and fond of amusements. From the gen¬ 
tle and easy life which they led, their manners, and even lan¬ 
guage, have assumed a certain degree of softness and mildness: 
the word }laisible , expresses this characteristic. In this remote 
country, there were few objects to urge to enterprise, and few 
occasions to call forth and exercise their energies. The neces¬ 
saries of life were easily procured, and beggary was unknown. 
Hospitality was exercised as in the first ages, for there were no 
taverns. Ambition soared far hence, for here there was no prey. 
Judges, codes of law, and prisons, were of little use, where such 
simplicity of manners prevailed, and where every one knew how 
far to confide in his neighbour. In such a state of things, to what 
end is learning or science? The schools afforded but slender 
instruction ; the better sort of people acquired in them reading, 
writing, and a little arithmetic. The number of those who were 
lovers of knowledge, and made it a profession, was small. From 
the habits of these people, it would naturally be expected, that 
they would have been unaccustomed to reason on political sub¬ 
jects; they were in fact, as ignorant of them, as children are 
of life and manners. These inhabitants were as remarkable for 
their tame and peaceable disposition, as the natives of France are 
for the reverse-. 
