e on a grand scale the development of the rich lands
along the Mississippi.

But the story which Joliet took back with him to Quebec fired anew the
ambition of La Salle. He conceived New France as a great empire in the
wilderness, and he determined to descend the mighty river to its mouth
and establish a city there which would hold the river for France against
all comers. Such occupation would, according to French doctrine, give
France an indisputable right to the whole territory which the river and
its tributaries drained, and La Salle's plan was to establish a chain of
forts stretching from Lake Erie to the Gulf, to build up around these
great cities, and so to lay the foundations for the mightiest empire in
history. We may well stand amazed before a plan so ambitious, and before
the determination with which this great Frenchman set about its
accomplishment.

To most men, such a scheme seemed but the dream of an enthusiast; but La
Salle was in deadly earnest, and for eight years he labored to perfect
the details of the plan. At last, on April 9, 1682, he planted the flag
of France at the mouth of the Mississippi, naming the country Louisiana
in honor of his royal master, whose property it was solemnly declared to
be. That done, the intrepid explorer hastened back to France; a fleet
was fitted out and attempted to sail directly to the mouth of the great
river, but missed it; the ships were wrecked on the coast of Texas, and
La Salle was shot from ambush by two of his own followers while
searching on foot for the river.

So ended La Salle's part in the accomplishment of a plan which,
grandiose as it was, reached a sort of realization--for a great French
city near the mouth of the river _was_ built and a thin chain of forts
connecting it with Canada, where the French power remained unbroken for
three quarters of a century longer; while not until the beginning of the
nineteenth century, when the royal line of Louis had been succeeded by a
soldier of fortune from Corsica, did the great territory which La Salle
had named Louisiana pass from French possession.

* * * * *

On the nineteenth day of November, 1620, fourteen years after the
settlement of Jamestown and twelve after the settlement of Quebec, a
storm-beaten vessel of 120 tons burthen crept into the lee of Cape Cod
and dropped anchor in that welcome refuge. The vessel was the Mayflower,
and she had just completed the most famous v