France and England in North America, Part III: La Salle, Discovery of The Great West - Francis Parkman

What manner of man was he who could conceive designs so vast and defy enmities so many and so powerful? And in what spirit did he embrace these designs? We will look hereafter for an answer.

FOOTNOTES:

[ [67] Lettre de Frontenac à Colbert, 13 Nov., 1673. This rumor, it appears, originated with the Jesuit Dablon. Journal du Voyage du Comte de Frontenac au lac Ontario. The Jesuits were greatly opposed to the establishment of forts and trading-posts in the upper country, for reasons that will appear hereafter.

[ [68] Lettre de Frontenac au Ministre, 13 Nov., 1673.

[ [69] Faillon, Colonie Française, iii. 497, and manuscript authorities there cited. I have examined the principal of these. Faillon himself is a priest of St. Sulpice. Compare H. Verreau, Les Deux Abbés de Fénelon, chap. vii.

[ [70] Information faicte par nous, Charles le Tardieu, Sieur de Tilly, et Nicolas Dupont, etc., etc., contre le S^r. Abbé de Fénelon. Tilly and Dupont were sent by Frontenac to inquire into the affair. Among the deponents is La Salle himself.

[ [71] In his despatch to the minister Colbert, of the fourteenth of November, 1674, Frontenac speaks of La Salle as follows: "I cannot help, Monseigneur, recommending to you the Sieur de la Salle, who is about to go to France, and who is a man of intelligence and ability, more capable than anybody else I know here to accomplish every kind of enterprise and discovery which may be intrusted to him, as he has the most perfect knowledge of the state of the country, as you will see, if you are disposed to give him a few moments of audience."

[ [72] Mémoire pour l'entretien du Fort Frontenac, par le S^r. de la Salle, 1674. Petition du S^r. de la Salle au Roi. Lettres patentes de concession, du Fort de Frontenac et terres adjacentes au profit du S^r. de la Salle; données à Compiègne le 13 Mai, 1675. Arrêt qui accepte les offres faites par Robert Cavelier S^r. de la Salle; à Compiègne le 13 Mai, 1675. Lettres de noblesse pour le S^r. Cavelier de la Salle; données à Compiègne le 13 Mai, 1675. Papiers de Famille. Mémoire au Roi.

[ [73] This purpose is several times indicated in the Relations. For an instance, see "The Jesuits in North America," 245.

[ [74] Compare Charlevoix, Histoire de Paraguay, with Robertson, Letters on Paraguay.