Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/329

 FRENCH

277

FREPPEL

Rutland, Vermont; 1888, Nashua, N. H.; 1893, Chi- cago, 111. In October, 1901, delegates (to the number of 742) of the various groups and societies of French Americans in New ImihIiuhI and Ihc Sl:itc of New York met in a "Congress" at S|iiiiiglicld, Mass. The four great subjects of deliberation were naturalization, benevolent societies, education, and the religious situation, and the spirit of the numerous and forcible addresses made on these heads is fittingly and admir- ably reflected in the resolutions. This congress, un- doubtetlly the most successful gathering of French Americans held up to that time, appointed a perma- nent commission consisting of the president of the congress and two delegates from each state repre- sented, authorizing it to take all necessary measures for putting the resolutions of the congress into effect, and giving it the power to call another congress, local or general, according to its discretion.

Besides these general conventions, others have been held at different times and places for the purpose of considering a particular question or the interests of the French Americans of a particular state or diocese. For instance, the F^rench Americans of Connecticut have held eighteen conventions in the last twenty- three years. Political organizations have also flour- ished among citizens of French Canadian origin, and naturalization clubs can be foimd in every city, town, or village where they are sufficient in number to main- tain such institutions. In June, 1900, there was or- ganized in the State of ]\Iassachusetts the Club R^publicain Franco-Am^ricain, with headquarters at Boston, at the first banquet of which, in April, 1907, Hon. Charles J. Bonaparte, a member of the Roosevelt Cabinet, was the guest of honour. The French Ameri- cans, in 1890, had 1.3 representatives in the Legisla- tures of Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con- necticut, and New Hampshire, besides numerous public servants in the city councils and the mimicipal administrations; in 1907 they elected senators in Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island ; their repre- sentatives in New England numbered, in 1907, as follows: —

Maine 5 Representatives 2 Senators

Massachusetts ... 6 " 1 "

NewHamp.shire. . 18 " .. "

Connecticut 2 " . . "

Rhode Island .... 4 " 2 "

— a total of .5 Senators and 35 Representatives. In many instances their candidates for high political honours have been successful at the polls. Such has been the case with the Hon. Pierre Broussard, Con- gressman from Louisiana; the Hon. Aram J. Pothier, of Woonsocket, R. I., elected governor of his state in November, 1908, after having been its lieutenant- governor and mayor of his city; the Hon. Ad^lard Archambault, also of Woonsocket, and who has like- wise filled the offices of lieutenant-governor and mayor; Judge Joseph A. Breaux, of Louisiana; Pierre Bonvouloir, of Holyoke, Mass., whose service as city treasurer covers a period of fifteen consecutive years; Hugo A. Dubuque, of FaU River, Mass., ex- member of the Massachusetts Legislature, and city solicitor; Alex. L. Granger, of Kankakee, 111., district attorney; Aime E. Boisvert, of Manchester, N. H., district attorney; and Arthur S. Hogue, of Plattsburg, N. Y., also district attorney. Studying an earlier

Eeriod, we find the names of Pierre Menard, first ieutenant-Governor of Illinois; the Rev. Gabriel Richard, second Congressman from Michigan (the only Catholic priest who ever sat in Congress), and Louis Vital Bougy, United States Senator from Wis- consin. At the present time, prominent among those who serve the country abroad are the following French Americans: Arthur M. Beaupr{S (Illinois). Envoy Ex- traordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Neth- erlands; Alphonse Gauhn (Rhode Island), Consul-

General at Marseilles, France; Eugene L. Belisle (Massachusetts), ('onsul at Limoges, France; Pierre P. Demers (New Hampshire), Consul at Bahia, Brazil; Joseph M. Authier (Rhode Island), Consul at Guade- loupe, West Indies.

In civil life, belonging to the generation departed for a better world, though their names are still present to the memory of their fellow-citizens and compatri- ots, were Ferdinand Gagnon, of Worcester, Mass., the father of French American journalism; Dr. L. J. Mar- tel, of Lewiston, Maine, his worthy associate in the advancement of the FVench American element in the New England States; Major Edmond Mallet, of Wash- ington, D. C, recognized as an authority upon the history of the North-West, and whose library (pre- served intact by L'Union St-Jean-Baptiste d'Am(5r- ique) is the largest and most complete collection of documents relating to the French Americans ever gathered; FriSdi^ric Houde and Antoine Mousette, pioneer journalists; Judge Joseph LeBoeuf, of Co- hoes, N. Y. ; Pierre F. Peloquin, of Fall River, Mass., and a score of others who for years had been foremost among their compatriots as champions of their rights, both civil and religious.

To sum up, the record of the French Americans in their new country has been such that prominent men of native origin, writers and politicians of note, have sung their praise on more than one occasion. In this respect, one will readily remember the homage paid them upon different occasions by the late Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts, as well as the marks of high esteem shown them by governors and members of Con- gress. As recently as 20 March, 1908, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, of Massachusetts, speaking on "Immi- gration" before the Boston City Club, made the fol- lowing statement: "Later than any of these (move- ments of immigration) was the immigration of French Canadians, but which has assumed large proportions, and has become a strong and most valuable element of our population. But the French of Canada scarcely come within the subject we are considering, because they are hardly to be classed as immigrants in the accepted sense. They represent one of the oldest settlements on this continent. They have been, in the broad sense, Americans for generations, and their coming to the Ignited States, is merely a movement of Americans across an imaginary line, from one part of America to another." In truth, the sentiment of hostility and suspicion, which rebuketl the French Americans at their arrival in the republic, has sub- sided before their splendid conduct and magnificent spirit, and is replaced to-day by that tribute of re- spect which mankind acknowledges as due, and never fails to grant, to men of talent, industry, generosity, and patriotism.

J. L. K. Laplamme.

David E. Lavigne.

J. Arthur Favreau.

French Indo-China. See Indo-China, French.

French Revolution. See France; Revolution.

Freppel, Charles-Emile, b. at Ober-Ehnheim, Alsace, 1 June, 1827; d. at Paris, 22 Dec, 1891. He was Bishop of Angers, France; and deputy from Finistere. He began his studies at a school in this little town; and at seventeen he had received his baccalaureate degree, and entered the seminary of Strasburg. where he received the subdiaconate at the hands of Mgr Roess in 184S, and was at once ap- pointed to the chair of history. Subsequent to his ordination to the priesthood in 1849, he took a note- worthy part in the discussions of Bonnetty and Maret on the subject of traditionalism. He passed a bril- liant examination which secured for him the degree of doctor at the Sorbonne, and after a competitive ex- amination he was named chaplain of the church of Ste-Genevieve at Paris. Here he delivered a course of