6. J. Brucker, Jacques Marquette et la découverte de la vallée du Mississipi, Lyons, 1880, taken from Les études réligieuses, vol. iv.
7. H. H. Hurlbut, in Magazine of American History, September, 1882.
8. John G. Shea, in the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Collections, vii. 111; and in the Bursting of the La Salle Bubble, already referred to. In his edition of Le Clercq, ii. 89, he speaks of the theory as “utterly absurd.”
[FATHER LOUIS HENNEPIN]
AND HIS REAL OR DISPUTED DISCOVERIES.
BY THE EDITOR.
THE life of this Recollect missionary is derived in its particulars mainly from his own writings; and the details had never been set forth in an orderly way till Dr. J. G. Shea in 1880 prefixed to a new translation of Hennepin’s first book a satisfactory sketch. He seems to have been born in Hainault, though precisely when does not appear. Felix Van Hulst, in the title of his tract, gives the date approximately: Notice sur le Père Louis Hennepin, né à Ath (Belgique) vers 1640. Liege, 1845. He early joined the Franciscans, served the Order in various places, travelled as he could, was inspired with a desire to see the world, and felt the impulse strongest when, at Calais, he listened to the narratives of sea-captains who had returned from long voyages. This inclination prompted him to continued missionary expeditions, and to attendance upon armies in their campaigns. In 1675 Frontenac succeeded in his attempt to recall to Canada the Recollects, as a foil to the Jesuits; and among the first of that Order to go was Hennepin, who crossed the ocean in the same ship with La Salle, the ambitious explorer, and De Laval, the new Bishop of Quebec. According to his own account, Hennepin had his first quarrel with La Salle about some girls who were on their way to reinforce the family life of the new colony.[674]
La Salle enjoyed their dances, and Hennepin, as their spiritual guide, kept them under restraint. This, at least, is the Recollect story of the origin of La Salle’s enmity for the missionary.