La Salle and the discovery of the great West - North Central ...

308 SUCCESS OF LA SALLE. [1682.Shouts of Vive le Boi and volleys of musketryresponded to his words. Then a cross was plantedbeside the column, and a leaden plate buried near it,bearing the arms of France, with a Latin inscription,Ludovicus Magnus regnat. The weather-beaten voyagersjoined their voices in the grand hymn of theVexilla Regis :—" The banners of Heaven's King advance,*The mystery of the Cross shines forth ;and renewed shouts of Vive le Boi closed the ceremony.On that day, the realm of France received onparchment a stupendous accession. The fertileplains of Texas; the vast basin of the Mississippi,from its frozen northern springs toof the Gulf ;the sultry bordersfrom the woody ridges of the Alleghaniesto the bare peaks of the Rocky Mountains, — a regionof savannas and forests, sun-cracked deserts, andgrassy prairies, watered by a thousand rivers, rangedby a thousand warlike tribes, passed beneath thesceptre of the Sultan of Versailles ; and all by virtueof a feeble human voice, inaudible at half a mile.gamias, Arkansas, Natchez, and Koroas.This alleged consent is,of course, mere farce. If there could be any doubt as to the meaningof the words of La Salle, as recorded in the Proces Verbal de laPrise de Possession de la Louisiane, it would be set at rest by LeClerc, who says : "Le Sieur de la Salle prit au nom de sa Majeste'possession de ce fleuve, de toutes les rivieres qui y entrent, et de touslet pays qu'elles arrosent" These words are borrowed from the reportof La Salle (see Thomassy, 14). A copy of the original ProcesVerbal is before me. It bears the name of Jacques de la Metairie,Notary of Fort Frontenac, who was one of the party.