University of Virginia Library

3. CHAPTER III.
SCENE IN THE COUNCIL-CHAMBER.

These hostile proceedings had been watched in silence
from the council-chamber up to this moment;
but now the excitement and alarm became terrific.
There was but one cry to be heard above all others,
and this was for instant surrender! To increase the
universal consternation, a boat filled with men, and
bearing the Spanish flag at the stern, was seen to put
off from the larger brigantine, and rapidly to approach
the shore. At this crisis, those careful citizens who
believed the preservation of their goods, families, and
homes, as well as their own safety, depended on submission
to the Spanish dominion, became convinced of
the necessity of immediate action; and, resolving to
give up the town at all hazards, they were prepared
even to sacrifice their rulers, should such a step become
necessary to effect their objects. Pressing back
into the hall, they thronged the forum, and loudly called

upon them to give up the city. In vain were the
voices of the firm and loyal council raised to inspire
them, even at this last hour, with a spirit of resistance.

“Surrender! Surrender!” was the response that
sternly and menacingly met their words.

“Never!” cried the president of the council, in a
loud voice, which was responded to, not less resolutely,
by his colleagues.

“What hinders us, fellow-citizens, from dragging
them down from their crimson cushions, and casting
them into the dungeons of the Calaboose if they refuse?”
cried the young creole with the crimson plume,
in a tone as threatening as his language.

“Be it so!” firmly responded the undaunted president;
“but never shall the province of Louisiana, or
the fair name of France, be dishonoured while it is in
our power to maintain either.”

“Bear down the tyrannical burghers! Down with
the false councillors! They count our blood as water!
We will be our own judges in this matter!”
cried the infuriated townsmen, pressing forward upon
the steps of the forum.

Here, each man as firm as his chief, stood the city
rulers, breasting, with a moral grandeur that could
have been the effect only of the purest patriotism, the
rage of their fellow-citizens, and ready even to make
sacrifice of life in defence of the lofty position they
had conscientiously assumed; for, by an unaccountable
silence on the part of France towards the provincials
in relation to their transfer, they had yet received no
official intimation of it, and had no other ground to
believe that such a cession had been made than what
was implied in the haughty demand of Spain. Therefore,
they resolutely and heroically determined to
maintain the province and its capital until they should
be formally commanded by France to surrender it to
the Spaniard. In the midst of these outcries, several
men, more bold or infuriated than their fellows, leaped
upon the forum, and one of them violently laid his
hand upon the breast of the president.

“What would you, citizens,” he demanded, in an
elevated but composed tone of voice, without attempting
to resist his rude violence, “that you bay us like
wolves? We but do our duty as your rulers!”

“Down with such rulers! We want no one to rule
over us! Hurl them from the forum!” was shouted
from one extremity of the hall to the other.

“Get possession of the keys,” cried a short, swarthy
creole, with a lurking eye like a snake's, and a forbidding
countenance, in a voice that rose above every
other in the crowd; “the Spaniard will receive these
signs of submission from us as well from those gray-beards.
Holla, Carra!” he continued, to the man who
held the president in his grasp, “if they will not yield
them quietly, take them by force.”

“The keys! Seize the keys!” resounded from a
thousand tongues; and the man who had been addressed
by name released his hold to wrest them from
his girdle, where, in anticipation of the demand for
them, the resolute ruler had placed them for safe-keeping
but a few moments before; but they were too securely
attached to it by a chain of steel to yield to his
extraordinary efforts to tear them away. As he was
about to make use of harsher means to gain possession
of them, the low, swart individual who had given
the order to seize them, having with great exertions
succeeded in forcing his way through the tumultuous
throng, sprung like a lynx upon the forum. Then
drawing a dagger, he cut the belt that held them with
so free a hand, that the blood gushed forth from the
side of the president, and, dying the keys with crimson,
trickled freely to the ground. Instantly the arm
that dealt the blow was seized with a grasp so strong,
that the reeking weapon dropped from the unnerved
fingers to his feet.

“Assassin! would you slay the old man?” demanded,
at the same time, a voice of mingled indignation
and horror, as the other staggered backward with the
force with which the speaker hurled him from him.

“Ha, Quadroon!” he cried, fixing upon him a glance

of deadly hostility; “thou shalt die for this!” The
individual addressed, who was distinguished by a gray
capote negligently dropping from his left shoulder,
steadily met for an instant his vindictive gaze; and
then, without replying, save by a slightly contemptuous
curl of his lip, turned to the wounded president, and
asked, with sympathy as tender as his indignation at
the act of the assassin had been stern,

“Thou art not much hurt, I trust, venerable sir?”

“No, Renault! no, boy! It might have been a
deeper cut but for my stout leathern belt; for it was
given with a good will and ready hand. As it is, 'tis
a mere needle scratch.”

“I will support thee, councillor!”

“Nay, good Renault, I need not thy arm. See,
thou hast already incurred their wrath. Take heed to
thyself, rather. Hear their cries! Will not even the
blood of their president appease their ferocity?”

“Give them the keys, father,” said the young man,
as the cries for them grew louder and fiercer. “It is
in vain to attempt to withstand this tornado of human
passion. Ha, Rascas, that blow was not so steadily
aimed as thy first one!” he cried, arresting an uplifted
dagger in the grasp of the revengeful creole who
had wounded the president; “an old man's breast is a
better mark for thee than a young one's, who has an
eye to make thine quail and an arm quick enough to
turn aside a dagger from his heart!”

As he spoke, he cast at his feet, for the second time,
the stiletto that before had been evidently aimed at the
president's life under the mask of securing the keys;
and the foiled assassin, maddened with rage and disappointment,
with a vow of fearful vengeance upon
his tongue, leaped from the forum and disappeared
among the crowd.

“Thou hast, in defending me, placed thy life in peril,
brave Renault,” said the president; “leave me, lest
your blood be on my head!”

“Heed me not, venerable sir! Hear! they still
demand the keys of the Government House and

treasury! Thou canst no longer defend them but
with madness! Give them up, sir; save thy life and
those of thy colleagues, who, not less firm than thyself,
will nevertheless yield if thou dost!”

“Be it so, Renault,” answered the president, with
emotion; “the time has at length come for gray
hairs to learn wisdom from youth, and councillors to
be led by the son of a bondwoman. Nay, Renault,
I would not offend thee by my words! It shall be as
these madmen wish, who, if they may be suffered to
hold their household goods in peace, are content to become
base servitors in the halls of the Spaniards. I
would rather my own wealthy bazar should be despoiled,
my own dear fireside made desolate by the
Castilian invader, and myself left without roof or rood,
than consent voluntarily to this degrading submission.
But be it as they cry out! Yet first I will return my
staff and seal of office to those from whom I derived
them. Behold, ye Orleannois!” he cried, stretching
forth his arms to command their attention.

Then, solemnly taking from his hand his magisterial
signet-ring, on which were cut the arms of France, he
cast it into the midst of the people, disrobed himself
of his black gown, and broke in two pieces across the
railings of the forum his snow-white baton, which was
sprinkled with his own blood. Casting them on the
ground, he trampled them, with his robe, beneath his
feet, and continued,

“Behold, thus do I dissolve the provincial council of
which ye are no longer worthy, and solemnly extinguish
my office. Those crimson stains on ring and
baton do bear honourable witness that your council
have well maintained the honour of their city. That
council has now ceased to exist, and you are free to
fasten the yoke of Spain upon each others' necks.
Witness all of ye! that we pronounce ourselves clear
of this act of submission, and do wash our hands of it
before ye all. There lie the keys of your city at my
feet! Let him who is the basest slave among ye lift
them! Heaven grant, the dishonour that will have

come to them this day be washed away by the honest
blood with which they are stained!”

There was a moment of irresolution at these words
on the part of those who crowded the forum, no man
present desiring to obtain possession of the keys at the
expense of the personal odium his words conveyed.
But the inaction was not of long duration; for an extraordinary-looking
being, accoutred in a motley garb
of many colours, and wearing a fantastic, high-crowned
red cap upon his head, his broad, farcical face expressing
mingled cunning and idiocy, leaped like a cat
from the embrasure of the window above the forum,
whence he had been hitherto delightedly surveying the
exciting scene beneath, and lighted upon his feet in the
midst.

“Bon diable!” he cried, in a singularly hoarse, grating
voice, “shall we fear to touch the jinglers, gossips,
now old white pow has done with 'um?”

“Lift them, Gobin! lift them!” cried those around
him, as if his presence had suddenly relieved them
from an unenenviable responsibility.

“Gobin's got the state-ring,” he said, holding up his
fore finger, and exhibiting the broad carnelion signet
which the governor had cast away, and of which he
had unaccountably possessed himself; “make me governor
till the black Don comes to land, and I will take
up the keys!”

“Vive Governor Gobin! bravo, motley!” shouted
the multitude, between jest and earnest.

With a hoarse shriek of laughter he acknowledged
their assent, and, snatching the massive keys from the
floor, held them up for an instant before all eyes, and
then shook them, with idiotic glee, triumphantly in the
air. At this act, deafening cries of “Vive Gobin!
Vive the new governor!” filled the hall, amid which the
idiot or jester, for his character seemed not to be accurately
defined, attached them nimbly to the longest
fragment of the broken baton, arranged his grotesque
person in the cast-off robe of the president, and, lifting
the staff high in his hand, bounded from the forum
upon the level shoulders of the crowd.

With loud hurrahs, and cries of “Bear him to the
Spaniard!” the multitude carried him above their
heads through the midst of the hall towards the door,
that they might, without farther delay, as evening was
rapidly approaching, lay the tokens of their submission
at the feet of the Spanish governor. Before,
however, they could reach the outlet of the councilroom,
intelligence came that the boat they had seen
put off from the brigantine had touched the shore, and
landed two Spanish cavaliers, with a small party of
soldiers, who at that moment were together advancing
across the Alaméda towards the council-hall.

This announcement of the immediate presence of
their new masters had the effect of sobering, in a degree,
the agitated temper of the multitude; and cool
reflection on the position in which they had placed
themselves in relation to the Spaniards, took place of
the excited feelings by which they had hitherto been
governed. The power that they so fiercely had
sought, now that it was in their possession, they trembled
to make use of; and, as the moment for transferring
their allegiance to Spain approached, many of
those who, a brief while before, were the most violent
for this abject step, now felt returning patriotism, and
were ready, had it not been too late, to stand by the
councillors, and cheerfully aid them in maintaining the
town. This feeling of degradation was mingled with
a certain kind of shame, when their eyes rested on the
grotesque figure and grinning visage of their mock-governor,
who, they keenly felt, was now their only
head until the possession of the Spaniard; and those
who immediately supported him on their shoulders,
beginning also to entertain some not very flattering
notions of the pageant they were acting, would have
let him down bodily to the ground. But, divining their
purpose, the obstinate dignitary clung to their necks,
with his long, pliant feet, like a monkey, and, rapping
them over the head with his baton, bade them uphold
their lord and governor on peril of a broken sconce.

A retreating movement of the throng about the entrance,

such as subjects make when their masters walk
among them—for so early did the townsmen begin to
manifest the cringing spirit of subjection—now caused
every anxious eye to turn in expectation and with feverish
curiosity towards that quarter. Amid the momentary
deep silence that at once settled over the
multitude was heard a rattling of swords, spurs, and
armour, and the heavy tread of soldiers approaching
through the paved corridor. In an instant afterward
there appeared in the doorway two Spanish cavaliers,
attended by a trumpeter and a guard of halberdiers.
The eldest of the two, whose locks were just touched
with silver where they had escaped from beneath his
helmet, was a handsome, bold-looking gentleman, richly
attired and gay with diamonds, chains, and nodding
plumes, with a stout sword at his side and pistols in his
belt; while the younger, whose years could not have
exceeded twenty-two, wore a plain undress of blue
cloth and an unornamented cap of the same colour, and
carried at his side only a slight small-sword in a highly-polished
steel sheath. But the plainness of his attire
served rather to display than obscure a form and
face which seemed to have been moulded to present
to every eye the perfection of manly beauty.

They paused a moment on the threshold, and surveyed
with astonishment the disorganized multitude
which their eyes encountered, in the place of the orderly
body of submissive councilmen they had expected
to meet, ready to tender them, on bended knees, the
keys of the city.

For an instant they appeared to be overcome with
surprise; but, as if readily appreciating the cause of
so singular a scene, they advanced boldly into the
chamber, as far as the lane opened for them by the
submissive and awed townsmen would permit, and then
looked towards the forum as if to discover a head to
the multitude. But, seeing it also occupied by the
crowd, the eldest demanded, in a high and haughty
tone, who were the chief men of the province. There
was no response; for mingled fear and shame kept the

people silent; while one or two bared daggers displayed
in the hands of those near him, and the menacing
looks of others, intimidated the jester, who, waving
his baton aloft, was on the eve of making answer
himself to the demand.

“Have ye no ears? or do your tongues refuse their
office?” said the cavalier, with irony; “where hide
your rulers, that they do not appear and tender their
submission to Spain?” he demanded, casting a stern
and inquiring glance around upon them.

Every face was involuntarily turned towards the
forum, where, nearly hidden by the throng, stood, in
grave silence, the president with his council; and loud
cries of “Give back, citizens, let them be seen!” at
once placed them in view before the retiring crowd,
and enabled the glance of the Spaniard, thither also
directed by theirs, to rest for the first time on this dignified
body.

“Ha! well discovered, signors!” he said, on recognising
their late official character by the black
gowns they had not, like their chief, yet thrown aside.
“By the mass! we owe you little courtesy for the
grace of our reception. But let that pass! we shall
have time and occasion to better your manners when
we shall have settled the government. I come now to
receive your submission. Methinks, the sun being
down, it should be ready. So, give your attention, and
hear! In the name of his Catholic majesty, Carlos
III., king of Spain, I, Louis Garcilaso, do demand the
surrender, presently, of this province of Louisiana, to
his just rule and right; El Excmo, Señor Conde de
Osma, grande de Espana de primera clase, gentilhombre
de Camara de S. M. con exercicio, &c., being
appointed governor thereof!”

“Sir Spaniard,” answered the president, with quiet
dignity of manner, but not without evincing in the
tones of his voice some mortified feeling, “in us you
address but the semblance of power! The provincial
council is dissolved, and its authority returned to the
people who gave it. They will themselves confer

with you, and doubtless will do it through the agency
of yonder excellent personage, whom, with more justice
than they are conscious of, they have invested
with our late honours and authority.”

The Spaniard's eyes followed the glance of the sarcastic
speaker towards a quarter of the council-chamber
where, hitherto concealed from his view by a massive
column that intervened, as well as by the obscurity
into which the twilight had cast that part of the
hall, was the jester elevated above the heads of the
crowd, and holding aloft proudly, and, seemingly to
himself, with great dignity, the broken baton, with the
state keys dangling from its extremity. For a few
seconds the astonished gaze of the Spaniard continued
to be riveted on the remarkable object it had so unexpectedly
encountered. Gobin no sooner saw that
he was regarded, than he made some attempts to arrange
the folds of the black robe about his parti-coloured
person, settled his peaked cap more firmly on
his head, and, making a prefatory jingling of his keys,
cried out, in a loud voice,

“Gramercy, brother Spaniard! We give thee peace
and welcome, thou and the rogues at thy back! albeit
we have a mind not to treat with thee, inasmuch as
thou hast but now discovered our august presence.
Approach and kneel, cap in hand, before us, and, peradventure,
it may be, we will graciously look over this
offence!” Thus speaking, he flourished his keys in
the air, and rapped smartly his supporters over the
shoulders for endangering his equilibrium while he
was in the midst of his luminous address.

The Spaniard's brow darkened, and his eyes flashed
fire, while his young companion smiled with humour
at this ludicrous turn of the negotiation.

“Are we mocked?” he cried, in a voice that rung
through the vaulted hall.

“Gently, sweet cousin! Be not ireful, lest it hinder
digestion! We will have nothing eaten in our realm
that is not like to be well digested; nor will we let
any man be choleric. Fair and softly, brother! Gobin

the First reigneth here! Lo! I am governor! in
token whereof, behold the keys of state, my silken
gown and baton!”

“What means this mad mummery?” demanded the
cavalier, looking first with stern inquiry at the president,
and then round at the multitude.

“It being resolved, doth mean, that I am Gobin the
First,” said the jester, instantly answering for himself,
“being governor, council, and jester of this mighty
realm, which before had never governor with merit,
council with wisdom, nor jester with folly. Fear and
tremble.”

“So, we are made a jest of, slaves!” shouted the insulted
cavalier; and, drawing his sword, he laid the
flat sides of it with more good-will than gentleness on
the shoulders of those who stood between him and the
object of his indignation, and quickly opened a passage
towards him. As he approached, the jester began to
jingle the keys merrily, and, reckless of the consequences,
amused himself by encouraging with his voice
the fiery Spaniard in his attempts to reach him.

“Bravely laid on, brother Don! Give Jean Rascas
another thwack in his ribs, for he hath put a poniard
aneath the ribs of a better man than thou, and, besides,
he hid a peascod in grandam's shoe last Michaelmas,
and it gave her the rheumatiz. Bravo! good
cavalier, prick that Pierre Lecat with the sharp end
also, brother, for he stole my red cock's feather to
make a weathercock for the town lamp-post. Stir 'um
up, cousin! Pummel 'um well! Bravo! thou didst
make gouty pére Brissot skip then quicker than he
hath done for a twenty year. Gad! devil a podagratoe
will be left in the church, if thou hast the stirring
of 'um up, brother Spaniard! Ah, knaves, but you
are letting me a-down! Courage, mes enfans! Let
not your governor down to the common level! Ye
are the pillars of my empire! my chair of state! the
supporters of my throne! Bear up stoutly! for how,
if you let me a-down, shall I receive with proper dignity
this valiant ambassador of my cousin Don Carlos!

Nay, then, brother don, and most puissant plenipotentiary,
harm not the fleshy pillars of the state—the upbearers
of all the honour that remaineth in the province
and—”

Here, deserted by his terrified bearers, who, desirous
of consulting their own safety, fled as the Spaniard,
goaded to madness by the words of the clown,
effected an opening through the crowd to within a few
feet of the spot where they stood, Gobin the First toppled
from his elevation towards the ground; but, ere
he touched the earth, where his foe the next instant
would have placed his foot upon his body, he arrested
his fall by fastening himself with wonderful activity
upon the backs of those nearest, and in an instant recovered
his previous elevation. Then, skipping lightly
from one man's head and shoulders to another's, he
reached the forum. Here, finding himself beyond the
present vengeance of his pursuer, he laughed shriekingly,
and jingled his keys with exulting delight. The
baffled Spaniard stood for an instant on the spot so recently
deserted by the wily idiot, looking after him, as
he was effecting his singular escape, with an expression
of doubt and irresolution, which he, however,
speedily put an end to by deliberately drawing from
his belt a long, slender pistolet, cocking and levelling
it as if about to fire.

“Nay, nay! He is a fool—a natural! Do the
creature no harm!” came from all parts of the hall;
while the idiot himself, with the vacillating and volatile
temper of his kind, emitting a fearful cry of mortal
terror, crouched down among the councillors, and covered
his face with his hands.

The Spaniard quickly withdrew his finger from
the trigger, and, with a smile, replacing the weapon,
said, half aloud to himself, “By my knighthood! verily
am I an ass that I did not guess as much. In absence
of wiser governors, I will needs treat with this
fool, who appeareth to be the only one that hath the
possession of his senses. If he deliver me the keys,
with the approbation of his subjects here, it will be a

surrender that will satisfy Ramarez—though, by the
rood! he would (if the council give them not into his
hands) that they should come to him through those of
a fair creole rather. “Come hither, merry fool,” he
added, addressing him in an encouraging tone; “I will
not harm thee. Here is a trinket for thy red cap that
will out-jingle thy steel keys!”

As he spoke, the good-humoured cavalier, whose
wrath had become appeased as suddenly as it had been
roused by what he believed to be a prepared insult to
his dignity and the demand of Spain, held up to his
view a silver chain, composed of numerous links of
little globular bells, such as the Arragonese cavaliers
were wont to suspend from their guitars when serenading
their ladye-loves. As he moved it carelessly in
his fingers, it gave out silvery sounds that charmed
every ear with their sweetness. The terrified Gobin
removed his hands from his eyes, and looked incredulously,
and with a glance of suspicion, upon the Spaniard
and his tempting offer. At length, encouraged by
the tones of his voice, and the glitter and wondrous
melody of the bawble, he gained confidence, and—but
without venturing from the shelter of the protecting
robes of the councillors—cried,

“Wilt give it to me, brother Spaniard?”

“It shall be thine for the keys, good fool.”

“And that long pistolet, good brother, again?”

“It shall not hurt thee. Nay, henceforth we are to
be friends.”

“Wilt thou not let Jean Rascas buffet me hither and
thither, then, at his will, valiant gossip?”

“Nay, he shall not hurt thee. Come and receive the
chain for thy keys.”

“Wilt be my champion when I am beset, and break
heads for me, gossip steel-cap?”

“Ay, good fool, and ribs too, an' it suit thy humour.”

“Good, cousin! I will come to thee.”

He was about to spring from the forum into the
midst of the crowd, when, as if losing confidence, he

again drew back among the magistrates, saying, with
a shrewd, expressive smile upon his broad features,

“In the multitude of councillors there is safety, good
brother of Spain!”

“Nay, Gobin, they are no longer rulers! Behold,
here, verily are the multitude of councillors,” said the
Spaniard, looking round upon the assembled crowd with
a glance of slight contempt.

“Gramercy for thee, long sword! Thou hast spoken
truth!”

“Then quit them, wise fool!”

“Thou hast well said `wise fool!' My folly would
make me put my neck in reach o' thy sword for that
tinkling chain, whereas my wisdom keepeth me here
in safety. Wisdom causeth me to lose my chain, so
that my folly cause me not to lose my head!”

“I'faith, thou art both logical and wise, fool,” answered
the cavalier.

“Marry, then, gossip, I'll tell thee a secret! 'Twas
the weight o' logic that cracked my brain, and folly
jumped in at the hole. Wisdom hath patched it up o'
the outside, but, as thou see'st, has made but sorry work
at it.”

“By the rood! thou art a merry jackanapes! I
will make thee my page; come hither.”

“I will not, lest, when thou catchest me, thou beat
me, anon, for old scores.”

“I will not lift a finger to thee, by my troth! But
it waxeth late apace, and I may not parley with thee
longer, fool.”

“Call me governor, and I will come to thee, gossip,”
said Gobin, advancing. Thus speaking, he came forward
from his shelter to the verge of the forum, and,
grotesquely assuming the dignity of the station with
which he had been so singularly invested, said, “Nay,
again — but thou shalt come to me! So! advance,
brother of Spain. I am ready to treat with thee, but—”
he added, with wily care for his own personal interests,
“do thou not forget to give me the bells!”

“They shall be thine,” said the Spaniard, amused

at the diplomatic cunning evinced by his brother potentate.
Then, commanding his guard of halberdiers
to advance, and being joined by the handsome young
Spaniard who hitherto had taken no part in the scene,
he approached the forum through the dividing crowd,
when, coming into the immediate presence of the jester,
he adroitly chimed in with his extravagant humour,
and with gravity made him a profound obeisance.

“Most high and might signor, Gobin the First, governor
with merit, councillor with wisdom, and jester
with folly! We, poor subjects of Spain, do pay thee
homage as becometh us on bended knee!”

“Rise, brother Spain!” said Gobin, reaching forth
his hand to raise him up.

“Nay, good Signor Gobin, not till thou hast given
me the keys! Ha, buffoon! what royal signet hast
thou on thy finger?” he instantly demanded, springing
to his feet as the broad seal-ring for the first time
caught his eye.

“It is the state signet, brother. Marry come up!
am I not governor?”

“It cannot be!” exclaimed the Spaniard, looking inquiringly
at the president of the council, who, with a
countenance between sadness and indignation, stood
not far from him.

The affirmative was too plainly expressed in the peculiar
smile that passed over the president's features to
require words.

“By mine honour! but this mummery hath had deeper
meaning in the people's hearts than it shows upon
the surface!” he cried, in a voice that startled every
ear, and drove the blood quicker through the veins.

He gazed sternly round upon the multitude as he
spoke, and then directed his glances suspiciously upon
the body of councillors, while his looks implied a determination
of revenge that should measure the offence.
He believed now, that, in mockery and contempt of the
Spaniards, the citizens, in conjunction with their councillors,
seeing longer resistance would be fruitless, had
chosen to express their bitter feelings at their compulsory

surrender in a shape that, while it served to cover
the humiliation of a formal submission, evinced their
scorn for their new masters. Without betraying his
suspicions in the fiery words that leaped to his lips, he
suppressed his emotions for a more suitable time, and
said to the jester in a dignified tone, from which all trifling
had vanished,

“You have indeed power to treat with me, poor
fool! Take this bawble in token of my sincerity, and
of my protection if you should e'er chance to need it.”

As he spoke, he cast the chain of musical bells over
his head, and in turn received from the intimidated yet
delighted jester the state keys and seal. Holding them
up to their view, he then demanded of the president
and council if they were the same which they had resigned
with their office.

“The same!” answered the president.

“Enough,” said the Spaniard, sternly.

Then, turning round to the multitude before him,
which was composed of nearly the whole body of the
citizens, and holding them up also to their eyes, he
cried, so that his voice reached the utmost extremity
of the hall, and was heard even in the Plaza without,

“Do ye acknowledge these keys and this signet to
be the signs of your government and the token of your
submission?”

A thousand tongues replied, as the tongue of one
man, in the affirmative.

“It is well! ye have sanctioned with your voices
this act of your governor!”

“We have no governor!” cried many in the throng.

“You will have one ere the morrow's sun set,” was
the stern and menacing reply of the cavalier. “I ask,
do ye sanction this surrender of the signs of authority
which you have now witnessed, and acknowledge yourselves,
henceforth, loyal and obedient subjects of Spain?”

A low, deep murmur of reluctant assent ran through
the assembly; but a few young men in the corridor,
ringing their swords upon the pavement, fiercely cried,

“No! Spaniard, no!”

Without regarding these words of hostile dissent, he
placed the signet ring and keys upon his sword, held
them up in the sight of every one, and cried, “Viva
Spain and Don Carlos! In the name of his Catholic
majesty, Carlos III., king of Spain and the Indies, I do
herewith receive the submission, and take formal and
solemn possession, of this city and isle of Orleans and
territory of Louisiana. God and Spain.”

“God and Spain!” enthusiastically repeated the
youthful cavalier by his side; “God and Spain!” responded
the halberdiers, clashing their battle-axes together;
the trumpets sounded a loud and triumphant
peal; “Vive Spain! Vive Don Carlos!” filled the air
from the fickle multitude, both in the hall and without,
while the thunder of answering artillery from the Spanish
artillery shook the capital to its base, and sealed the
subjection of the province.