Part 43 (1/2)
”And I, Amos Stoddard, commissary as such, do acknowledge to have received the said possession on the same terms mentioned in these presents, of which I acknowledge myself satisfied and possessed on this day. In testimony whereof the lieutenant-governor and myself have respectively signed these presents, sealed with the seal of our arms, being a.s.sisted with the witnesses signed below. Of which proceedings six copies have been made out, to wit, three in the Spanish and three in the English languages.
”Given in the town of St. Louis of Illinois, 9th March, 1804.
”Amos Stoddard (seal)
”Carlos Dehault Dela.s.sus (seal)
”In presence of Meriwether Lewis, Captain First United States Regiment Infantry.
Antoine Soulard, Surveyor-General, etc.
Charles Gratiot.”
As Captain Stoddard finished reading, the governor turned to him and with formal courtesy placed him in possession of Government House.
Captain Stoddard accepted it with a brief and appropriate speech, and then, the silence still unbroken, the stately don turned once more to the people and spoke to them directly:
”Inhabitants of Upper Louisiana:
”By the king's command I am about to deliver up this post and its dependencies!
”The flag under which you have been protected for a period of nearly thirty-six years is to be withdrawn. From this moment you are released from the oath of fidelity you took to support it.”
There was a stir among the people. Tears were running down the weather-beaten faces of some of the older men, and many of the women were sobbing quietly. Visibly moved himself, the governor added another word:
”The fidelity and courage with which you have guarded and defended the flag will never be forgotten; and in my character of representative I entertain the most sincere wishes for your perfect prosperity.”
The governor bowed and stepped back, and instantly there broke from the people a storm of _adios_ and _benitos_ with tears and waving of hands.
The governor motioned to a soldier standing by. The soldier stepped to a corner of the gallery which could be seen from the fort on the hill, and waved his hat. Instantly puffs of white smoke issued from the full battery of the fort, followed by the roar of the cannon rolling across the wide river to the distant bluffs of Cahokia. As the last echo died away the soldier waved his hat once more. Slowly the flag of Spain floating above the white tower sank. Once more the cannon roared, and slowly the banner of France rose, higher and higher, until its folds were flung proudly to the breeze, above the tower on the hill, above the Great River, above the old French town where it had floated thirty-six years before.
Almost every soul, save negroes and Indians, in that mult.i.tude watching in breathless silence the exchange of the flags, was French, and as the banner of the land they had never ceased to love and to call home floated out on the breeze, with one accord they fell on their knees, eyes streaming, arms outstretched toward the loved symbol of their fatherland.
It had been the intention that the flag should remain there but a few minutes--just long enough to show that Upper Louisiana was French, and that France ceded it to the United States. But now Pierre and Auguste Chouteau, the older Papin, Dr. Saugrain, all the leading citizens on the gallery of Government House, gathered around Captain Stoddard and begged him, with trembling voices and misty eyes, to let the old flag stay for another day.
”Let us be Frenchmen for twenty-four hours,” they begged, ”and after that we will try to be loyal citizens of the United States, as we have been loyal citizens of Spain.”
When Captain Lewis and Captain Clarke added their plea for the Frenchmen, Captain Stoddard willingly granted it, and stepping to the front of the gallery, he announced that for twenty-four hours the flag of the French republic would float over St. Louis.
Then broke forth a delirium of joy. Men threw their arms around one another and embraced and kissed in a fas.h.i.+on strange, indeed, to us Anglo-Saxons; and women fell into one another's arms and sobbed. The roar of the cannon had not ceased to roll over the heads of the people at intervals of every two minutes, and now the United States troops took their line of march up the Rue de la Tour to the fort on the hill (for though the American flag did not float from it, they were to hold it in the name of France); and the Spanish troops marched away.
The ceremonies for the day were over; the cannon ceased to roar, and Captain Stoddard who was now in possession of Government House, invited us all to stay to dejeuner. The meal was a long and ceremonious one, with the Spanish don on Captain Stoddard's right and one of the Chouteaus on his left, and I far down the table with some of the younger men; and through it all I was thinking of that first meal I had taken in St. Louis in this same Government House a year and a half before, and of the toast that roused such enthusiasm then; and every moment my impatience grew to get away and visit emigre's Retreat and Madame Saugrain, and--the Rose of St. Louis.
CHAPTER x.x.x
THE ROSE OF ST. LOUIS
”What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.”
But my impatience was of little avail, for before we left Government House Dr. Saugrain invited me to dinner at emigre's Retreat, and restless and impatient as I might be, I did not dare show myself there until the dinner-hour.