. Historic towns of the Southern States. by rightand title the sole French metropolis of NorthAmerica, made so rapid and so great a strideforward in wealth, population, and commercialactivity, that even its easy-going, pleasure-loving citizens beofan to feel the exhilaratin<j- New Orleans 423 reality of the possibilities of their geographicaland political situation in the country ; of theirimportance, not alone to France, but to theAmerican continent. But the awakening ofthe people to the consciousness of their polit-ical virility wasno better thanan awakening bythe hand of anexecutioner. O
. Historic towns of the Southern States. by rightand title the sole French metropolis of NorthAmerica, made so rapid and so great a strideforward in wealth, population, and commercialactivity, that even its easy-going, pleasure-loving citizens beofan to feel the exhilaratin<j- New Orleans 423 reality of the possibilities of their geographicaland political situation in the country ; of theirimportance, not alone to France, but to theAmerican continent. But the awakening ofthe people to the consciousness of their polit-ical virility wasno better thanan awakening bythe hand of anexecutioner. On a brightday in October,1764, the men ofthe city werecalled togetherin the place damies, to listento the royal edictthat transferredthem, their fam-ilies, and prop-erty ; in short, all the territory and subjects yetpossessed by France in America, to Spain. Theconsternation of the people, their indignationand excitement, their public meetings, addressto the King, their repudiation of Spanish au-thority and Spanish government, the bloody. THE JACKSON MONUMENT- 424 New Orleans punishment by OReilly, executing six and im-prisoning in Havana five of the conspirators,as he called them, and, finally, the forcing ofthe colony under the domination of Spain —all of this can but be enumerated here, but itforms a chapter in the history of New Or-leans, the omission of which can be justifiedonly by necessity. The city became Spanish in language, law,manner, dress, — in all externals, but its heartremained firmly French, as after events is ever acknowledged, however, in the his-tory of the city, that the Spanish rule was awise and just one ; and, as is well said by allchroniclers, the Spanish found the city a cityof wooden one-story houses, and left it a cityof brick mansions. It was during the Spanish domination thatthe great conflagration of i 788 took place—when the heart of the vicii carrc was left amere heap of rubbish and ashes. Bienvillehimself had not a barer spot be
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