RYC : I liked your comment Lynn about the the history of the USA
At my beginning on xanga in 2001 I had a cajun reader . He did not stay
unfortunatly . He lived in the are a of New Orleans and knowing I was
French he told me that in the recreational yard of the elementary school,
it was forbidden to speak their old French between them : only English;
I was somewhat saddened .
After the treaty of Paris in 1763 , the new king of France Louis XV left
all of the areas of French presence in America and India to England. At
this time the king of France did not see the importance of those immense
territories. he was turned towards the European continent.
But what is paradoxal is that France helped a lot the English colonies
to gain their independance a few years later (last battle in Yorktown with
the surrender of English general Cornwalllis of 1782, I am not sure of the
exact date , I write this by memory ). The French navy commanded by the
amiral De Grasse blocked the harbours of the American coast so the English
could not provide renfort in soldiers , arms and food . Régiments of French
soldiers led by Rochambeau and La Fayette helped the Americans to beat the
english.army The french king Louis XVI gave also a lot of money what ruined
France and triggered the French revolution of 1789 .and the martyre of the
King and the Queen ;both beheaded with the " guillotine "
It is why when the first American soldiers came fight in France in 1917
(war 1914-1918), they said " La Fayette , here we are "
But I speak , speak, speak . Sorry,Lynn.
Love
Michel