IMAGE EVALUATrON 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 1.0 
 
 I.I 
 
 
 ilM 
 
 1^ 
 
 IIIIIM 
 
 iiiiii 
 
 1.8 
 
 
 1.25 1.4 
 
 1.6 
 
 
 ^ 6" — 
 
 
 ► 
 
 p> 
 
 <? 
 
 /} 
 
 w 
 
 % 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 '/ 
 
 Photographic 
 
 Sciences 
 Corporation 
 
 23 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. )45B0 
 
 (716) 872-4503 
 
CIHM/ICMH 
 
 Microfiche 
 
 Series. 
 
 CIHM/ICIVIH 
 Collection de 
 microfiches. 
 
 Canadian Institute for Historical IVIicroreproductions 
 
 Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 
 
 1980 
 
Technical and Bihiiographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographlques 
 
 The Institute has attempted to obtain the best 
 original copy available for filming. Features of this 
 copy which may be bibliographically unique, 
 which may alter any of the images in the 
 reproduction, or which may significantly change 
 the usual method of filming, are checked below. 
 
 D 
 D 
 D 
 D 
 
 D 
 
 n 
 
 Coloured covers/ 
 Couverture de couleur 
 
 Covers damaged/ 
 Couverture endommagde 
 
 Covers restored and/or laminated/ 
 Couverture restaur6e et/ou pelliculde 
 
 Cover title missing/ 
 
 ie titre de couverture manque 
 
 Coloured maps/ 
 
 Cartes gdographiques en couleur 
 
 Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ 
 Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) 
 
 Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ 
 Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur 
 
 Bound with other material/ 
 Relid avec d'autres documents 
 
 □ 
 
 D 
 
 D 
 
 Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion 
 along interior margin/ 
 
 La reliure serree peut causer de I'ombre ou de la 
 distortion Ie long de la marge intdrieure 
 
 Blank leaves added during restoration may 
 appear within the text. Whenever possible, these 
 have been omitted from filming/ 
 II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajoutdes 
 lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans Ie texte, 
 mais, lorsque cela 6tait possible, ces pages n'ont 
 pas 6t6 film^es. 
 
 Additional comments:/ 
 Commentaires suppl6mentaires: 
 
 L'Institut a microfilm^ Ie meilleur exemplaire 
 qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Les details 
 de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du 
 point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier 
 une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une 
 modification dans la mdthode normale de filmage 
 sont indiqu6s ci-dessous. 
 
 □ Coloured pages/ 
 Pages de couleur 
 
 □ Pages damaged/ 
 Pages endommagdes 
 
 □ Pages restored and/or laminated/ 
 Pages restaurdes et/ou pellicul6es 
 
 I — I Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ 
 
 Pages ddcolor^es, tachetdes ou piqu6es 
 
 Pages detached/ 
 Pages ddtachdes 
 
 I I Showthrough/ 
 
 Transparence 
 
 □ Quality of print varies/ 
 Quality indgale de I'impression 
 
 □ Includes supplementary material/ 
 Comprend du matdriel supplernentaire 
 
 I — I Only edition available/ 
 
 Q 
 
 Seule Edition disponible 
 
 Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata 
 slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to 
 ensure the best possible image/ 
 Les pages totalement ou partiellement 
 obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, 
 etc., ont 6t6 film6es & nouveau de fapon d 
 obtenir la meilleure image possible. 
 
 0This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ 
 Ce document est film6 au taux de reduction indiqu6 ci-dessous. 
 
 
 10X 
 
 
 
 
 14X 
 
 
 
 
 18X 
 
 
 
 
 22X 
 
 
 
 
 26X 
 
 
 
 
 30X 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 12X 
 
 
 
 
 16X 
 
 
 
 
 20X 
 
 
 
 
 24X 
 
 
 
 
 28X 
 
 
 
 
 32X 
 
 
The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks 
 to the generosity of: 
 
 National Library of Canada 
 
 L'exemplaire filmd fut reproduit grSce d la 
 g6n6rosit6 de: 
 
 Bibliothdque nationale du Canada 
 
 The images appearing here are the best quality 
 possible considering the condition and legibility 
 of the original copy and in keeping with the 
 filming contract specifications. 
 
 Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed 
 beginning with the front cover and ending on 
 the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- 
 sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All 
 other original copies are filmed beginning on the 
 first page with a printed or illustrated impres- 
 sion, and ending on the last page with a printed 
 or illustrated impression. 
 
 The last recorded frame on each microfiche 
 shall contain the symbol —♦-(meaning "CON- 
 TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), 
 whichever applies. 
 
 Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at 
 different reduction ratios. Those too large to be 
 entirely included in one exposure are filmed 
 beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to 
 right and top to bottom, as many frames as 
 required. The following diagrams illustrate the 
 method: 
 
 Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le 
 plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et 
 de la nettetd de l'exemplaire filmd, et en 
 conformity avec les conditions du contrat de 
 filmage. 
 
 Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en 
 papier est imprimde sont filmds en commenpant 
 par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la 
 dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte 
 d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second 
 plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires 
 originaux sont filmds en commenpant par la 
 premidre page qui comporte une empreinte 
 d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par 
 la dernidre page qui comporte une telle 
 empreinte. 
 
 Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la 
 dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le 
 cas: le symbole — ^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le 
 symbole V signifie "FIN". 
 
 Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent §tre 
 film6s d des taux de reduction diffdrents. 
 Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre 
 reproduit en un seul cliche, il est film6 d partir 
 de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, 
 et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre 
 d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants 
 illustrent la mdthode. 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 32X 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
:E®IB5ISIElf CATiyMISm S/IS I^A B^Mm 
 
/ 
 
MAGAZINE OF AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 Vol. VIII. 
 
 MAY 1882 
 
 No 4 
 
 ROBERT CAVALIER DE LA SALLE OF ROUEN 
 
 AFTER describing the splendors of old Rouen, M. Elesee Rcclus, 
 our national geographer, says: "We know that the great Cor- 
 neille was of Rouen, and among the sons of the Norman city 
 we may also name Fontenelle, Boisguillebert, Boieldieu, Gericault and 
 Cavalier de la Salle, who discovered the mouths of the Mississippi. 
 No statue honors the memory of the great voyager, who died in 
 obscurity upon the plains of Texas." 
 
 There is nothing in Rouen to recall the memory of Cavalier de la 
 Salle. Within twelve years his name was hardly known to the savants 
 of the city, and there was scarcely a vestige of his history. One of the 
 two or three most distinguished men of the 17th century was entirely 
 forgotten in the home of his nativity. In 1847 ^I- Pierre Margry was told 
 that he was not a native of Rouen, but happily that unwearied investi- 
 gator discovered the certificate of his baptfsm. That taught a great 
 lesson, and we can understand the enthusiastic words which the young 
 savant wrote to the Mayor of Rouen : " The life of Robert Cavalier is 
 a grand epic. Nothing is wanting to it, neither the force of character 
 which wills to accomplish them nor the greatness of the results, nor 
 even that fatal quality of ancient tragedy which, leading its hero 
 through successive misfortunes, ends by dashing him, after he has spent 
 all his energy, against himself." 
 
 This man, who gave to France the finest colony in the world, was 
 born at Rouen, in Flerbland parish, and probably in the street of the 
 Grosse-Horologe, towards the 20th of November, 1643. It was not far 
 from the little house in Pie street where Pierre Corneille wrote his 
 chief works, and it may be that the verses of the great tragedian were 
 not without influence upon Cavalier de la Salle. Loftiness of concep- 
 tion, like strength of body, is a gift of nature, but the elevation of 
 soul, energy and love of glory, which we find in every page of his 
 correspondence, have their source in the study, and above all in the 
 continuous reading of great authors. 
 
3o6 
 
 ROBERT CAVALIER DE LA SALLE OF ROUEN 
 
 At twenty-three, La Salle entered upon his career. From that day 
 until his death, which took place three years after that of Corneille, his 
 life is a poem. The coldest writer and the most methodical must, as M. 
 Gayrre remarks, necessarily give to his history the form of romance. 
 One might say that he created the material for the poems of his great 
 compatriot. For two centuries his enemies alone have had liberty of 
 speech ; to-day La Salle is allowed to speak for himself. Let us follow 
 his career, but rapidly, as the necessities of our space require. 
 
 Jean, Cavalier's elder brother, a priest and doctor of the faculty of 
 Paris, was in Canada. That circumstance, probably, had a large influence 
 upon his decision. Robert reached Montreal in 1666. The south part of 
 the isle was frequently ravaged by the Iroquois, and the husbandman was 
 compelled to carry on the labors of ihe field with weapons in his hands. 
 An advanced post was necessary, near the falls of Saint Louis, in the path 
 of the savages, to give the alarm and to sustain the first attack. The 
 commander of the post must be gifted with the highest courage and 
 prudence. M. de Queylus, superior of the seminary of Villemarie, 
 gave La Salle this very perilous post. The young man from Rouen 
 founded a village, which he called by the name of St. Sulpice, but which 
 soon after took that of La Chine, which it bears to this day. Grad- 
 ually he made grants, put the land under cultivation, built dwellings 
 and enhanced the value of his fine domain, which was, by the act of 
 January 11, 1669, erected into ^ fie f noble , oi which he was suzeraine. 
 There was nothing to hinder a tranquil life, and with the skill which 
 was never wanting in him, he could enrich himself by traffic with the 
 Jroquois. But it was the useless, obscure existence of a country gentle- 
 man, the golden mediocrity of the poet. It had nothing in common 
 with his dreams. What was necessary to his adventurous spirit was to 
 enlarge the boundaries of the world, to open to our commerce a new 
 way to the mysterious countries of the extreme Orient. 
 
 He understood the Iroquois and seven or eight dialects, had studied 
 the narratives of explorers, made short voyages into the neighboring 
 country and had conceived the plan of new discoveries. Giovanni and 
 Sebastian Cabot, Christopher Colombus, Jacques Cartier, the Recollets, 
 Jean Nicolet, the Jesuits, and others besides, had dreamed ot China. 
 They had sought it by the Isthmus of Panama, by Davis Straits and 
 Hudson's Bay, by the St. Lawrence and the great lakes, and had sought 
 in vain. 
 
 La Salle had been informed, during the winter of 1668-69, by the 
 Iroquois Esonnontouans, that a great river had its source in the country 
 
ROBERT CAVALIER DE LA SALLE OF ROUEN 
 
 307 
 
 of tlie Five Nations, and flowed towards the sea, and that in following 
 its course in eight months he would arrive at its mouth. He believed 
 it was the passage to China so much desired. He went to see Remy 
 de Courcelles, the governor general, and Ealon, the Intendant, com- 
 municated to them his enthusiasm, and obtained authority to make the 
 discovery at his own cost. 
 
 To procure boats, arms, provisions, rowers and a surgeon, he sold all 
 his goods, and as they say burned his ships. He thus put all that he 
 possessed into a very uncertain enterprise, but whose success would 
 bring great honor to his country, and ojien an immense horizon to the 
 commerce of France. He was then twenty-six years old, and already 
 he had attained to the hight of one of the heroes of Plutarch. 
 
 In the meantime the Sulpicians proposed an expedition int(^ the 
 west. They had received authority, but it was on condition that they 
 should join Cavalier de la Salle. That would have made the affair 
 neither one thing nor another. Dollier de Casson and Brehant de 
 Galinec sought the conversion of souls, Cavalier sought a passage to 
 China, and now all accepted this combination. 
 
 They started from Saint Sulpice on the 6th of July, 1669. The expe- 
 dition was composed of twenty-two French and seven boats of Iroquois 
 Esonnontouans. They ascended together on Lake Ontario to tiie vil- 
 lage Asonnontouan and to Eenaouata on Lake Erie. There they 
 separated. The Sulpicians went to the north, and La wSalle to the south, 
 About six or seven leagues below Lake Erie he came to the river Ohio, 
 and descended to the falls of St Louis. Compelled to take to the land, 
 he followed a rising ground. Some savages told him that the river lost 
 itself far away in that vast flat land, and was reunited in a single bed. 
 As the labor was great, the twenty-three or twenty- four men who 
 accompanied him deserted in a single night. He thus foimd himself 
 alone, 400 leagues from the French habitations, to which he returned, 
 living by the chase, or upon what the savages gave him, sleeping beneath 
 the beautiful stars or in the wigwam of some Indian. 
 
 In the spring of 1670 he was at Ottawa. In 1672 he resumed a 
 second time his way to the Mississippi, but instead of descending the 
 Ohio, he went by the great lakes, discovered the Illinois, descended it 
 to the 39th degree, entered into another great river, which flowed from 
 the northwest to the southeast, and followed it tvO the 36th degree 
 of latitude, where he stopped for want of sufficient force, but was sure 
 that this river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 Note here two most important points. It is upon the 39th parallel 
 
30« 
 
 ROIiKKT CAVALIKR HE I.A SALLE OF ROUEN 
 
 tliat the Illinois cmj)t.ics into the Mississippi, and at that place the Mis- 
 sissippi Hows from the northwest to the sontheast. It was then tiie 
 Mississippi which he had found. Moreover, he could not, having 
 embarked upon the Illinois, and descended to the 36th degree save by 
 the Mississip{)i. 
 
 It is objected that the author of the Relation is not friendly to the 
 Jesuits. Is that a reason to be considered ? Cannot one be a man of 
 honor without loving- the Jesuits ? M. Margry believes that the Abbe 
 Renaudot is the author of this memoir. The Jesuits reply tliat it 
 cannot be the Abbe Renaudot, and that, if it were he, the honor would 
 be impaired. Between M. Pierre Margry, who has glanced over these 
 articles, and the author, to whom I allude, my choice is made. I 
 believe that it is the Abbe Renaudot, and .'. persist in regarding this 
 savant as worthy of respect. Why do they say nothing of Louis Joliet, 
 who in his map indicated the Ohio and the Illinois as the routes taken 
 by La balle to reach Mexico ? 
 
 In 1673 the Iroquois, the Ottawas and the English threatened our 
 commerce. The Count de Frontenac resolved to ascend Lake 
 Ontario, as M. de Courcelles had done in 1672. He charged the Jesuit 
 missionaries and Cavalier de la Salle to visit the Five Nations of the 
 Iroquois, and to induce them to send representatives to Quinte on Lake 
 Ontario. At the moment of starting, the scat of the conference was 
 changed from Quinte to Cataracoui at the mouth of the St. Lawrence. 
 Gifted above all with diplomatic skill, the Cavalier de la Salle per- 
 suaded seventeen nations to be represented at Cataracoui. The repre- 
 sentatives, in token of their confidence, came with their wives and 
 children. Already the savages knew Cavalier de la Salle well enough 
 to be sure that he was incapable of deceiving them. The dignity, the 
 grand manners, the skilled diplomacy of Count de Frontenac insured 
 entire success. lie obtained from the Iroquois all that he desired. For 
 awhile these fierce savages would have labored at the fort which was 
 to hold them in check. 
 
 In the autumn of 1674, Cavalier de la Salle came to France and pre- 
 sented at court his petitions and plans. The King gave him letters of 
 nobility, the grant of Fort Frontenac, and an immense territory on 
 Lake Ontario. It was the record of the great services he had already 
 rendered the colony. 
 
 At the moment, when Cavalier de la Salle demanded Fort Fron- 
 tenac, the government hesitated even about the preservation of the 
 Fort. The Governor proved that, with a single ship, which was in pro- 
 
ROBERT CAVALIKR DK I,A SAM.K OF ROUEN 
 
 309 
 
 cess of construction, and a Fort upon the Niap^ara, vvc would be masteis 
 upon the great lakes, and that the commerce of the North would come to 
 the French settlements instead of going to the English. The Jesuits, 
 whose plans he had counteracted, insinuated a thousand reasons on the 
 other side. La Salle gained his cause. Fort Frontenac was the pcjint 
 of attack in the chain of F(jrts which La Salle would construct in the 
 vallies of the Illinois and the Mississippi, the bulwark of our power In 
 the West. 
 
 The grant of Fort Frontenac gave La Salle a right of lordship over 
 the isles and neighboring forests, and over a strip of territory four 
 leagues in length and a halt league broad. He was the commander of 
 the garrison, the founder of the mission, the patron of the church, and 
 the sovereiirn of one of the finest domains in Canada. 
 
 Seeing him thus the favorite of fortune, his family came largely to 
 his help. It would seem from the family papers which M. Mario dc la 
 Quesnerie has kindly communicated to me, that they advanced to him 
 not less than from 500,000 to 600,000 livres, or from 2,000,000 to 2,400,- 
 000 francs. 
 
 If La Salle had desired simply to increase his wealth, he would have 
 been on the high road to it, for he could have put his hand u[)()n the best 
 part of the traffic of Canada, and thus with little trouble m^ide for him- 
 self 25,000 livres of income. But commercial profits were for him a 
 means, not an end. 
 
 No sooner was he possessed of his lordship than he rebuilt in ston*^ the 
 wooden fort of Count de Frontenac, having cleared the allotment, made 
 villages both for the French and the savages, constructed bf^ats, pro- 
 vided rowers, opened a school, common one for the French and Iroquois' 
 children, and in the midst of all these duties, he studied the course of 
 the Mississippi. 
 
 Fort Frontenac was surrounded by enemies, Hurons and Irocjuois? 
 No, Frenchmen ! Louis Hennepin and Zenobe Membre were advised 
 of tlie snares spread around Cavalier de la Salle. Would they choose 
 to raise even a corner of tiie veil the enemy is so powerful? At auy 
 rate the ray of light, which penetrates between their fingers, permitr. as 
 to distinguish the group who were lurking in the darkness, and we 
 could put a name upon each of the siiadows who prowled around the 
 fort. 
 
 La Salle baffled all their maneuvres with marvellous dexterity. There 
 was one, however, of whom he had no suspicion, and who nearly put 
 an end to his plans and his life. Nicholas Perrot, the traveller. 
 
310 
 
 ROBERT CAVALIER DE LA .SALLE OE ROUEN 
 
 attempted to poison IiitiL La Salle has declared in a letter that the 
 Jesuits were innocent of the crime of their protege. They were his 
 enemies, and therefore he the more believed he should defend them 
 when accused of such a crime. 
 
 At the end of 1677, La Salle, having gone to France, reduced to noth- 
 ing the calumnies spread against him, and obtained authority to dis- 
 cover at his (.)\vn cost the mouth of the Mississippi. He returned to 
 Ouebcc the 15th of September, 1678, with thirty craftsmen and the brave 
 Henry de Conty. 
 
 As soon as he arrived he sent men forward to trade and to prepare 
 the ground. Others ascended Cayuga Creek, beyond Niagara Falls, 
 to build a fort, and the first vessel which should navigate the great 
 lakes. All this was not accomplished without great difficulties. The 
 Iroquois were at work in an underhand way ; a man named Deslauriers, 
 recommended to La Salle by the Jesuits, urged the men to desert, 
 others proclaimed that the enterprise was a folly, and almost succeeded 
 in seizing whatever La Salle possessed at Quebec and Montreal. He 
 made reply to all by departing for Niagara, whence he had but just 
 returned on foot, in the snow, almost without food, and with a dog for 
 his only companion. 
 
 Arriving at Fort Conty, he completed the armament of the vessel, 
 and, contrary to all expectation, he entered and crossed Lake Erie, the 
 Straits of Detroit and Lake Huron, and, on the 27th of August, arrived 
 at Michillimachinac. 
 
 The influences opposed to him at Quebec, Montreal, Frontenac 
 and Conty, were felt also at Michillimachinac. The men sent to 
 trade deserted while carrying the goods of La Salle. He sent the ves- 
 sel back to Conty loaded with merchandise, and the vessel was plun- 
 dered and destroyed by those in charge. 
 
 La Salle embarked on Lake Michigan or Illinois. There were four- 
 teen men and four boats. After a voynge of great hardship he arrived 
 November ist at the small river Miami, where he built a new fort in 
 order to connect that of Conty with those which he had planned upon 
 the Illinois. The 3d of December, the whole party being reunited, 
 sixty-three men, they embarked upon the Miami, passed the Kankakee 
 or Divine, (the nom de guerre of Madame de Frontenac), arrived at the 
 Illinois, and stopped for a while at the small lake Peoria, where were 
 camped 4,000 Illinois, with whom they made an alliance. Upon this 
 lake he raised a new fori, Crevecceur (a name of deep signification), 
 and began the construction of a vessel in which to descend to the Gulf 
 ot Mexico. 
 
 
RORKRT CAVALIER DE LA SALLE OF ROUEN 
 
 3" 
 
 On the night of his arrival he was denounced to the Illinois Indians 
 as a friend of the Iroquois ; that is to say, as a danj^erous enemy, whom 
 it was needful to slay. The men were seized with a panic, and some 
 deserted, after having put into his saucepan a heavy d(^se of poison. 
 They escaped by means of some antidote, says Conty, which had been 
 given him by his friends in France. 
 
 According to Zenobe Membre, the deserters had been corrupted at 
 Michillimachinac. Conty, Hennepin, and the same 1^. Membre accuse 
 the French to the Illinois with having denounced La Salle. The docu- 
 ments recently published by M. Margry are still more explicit. La 
 Salle foresaw an end to his enterprise, but the idea of retreating even 
 partially was not to be thought of. He sent Michel Accau du Gay, 
 called Picard, and Ilenne[)in, the monk, to explore the sources of 
 the Mississippi. Ten days afterward, March 4th, 1680, he went with 
 four Frenchmen, and Nika, his faithful chaouanon, in a most rigorous 
 winter, over deep snows in which they sunk to their knees, to seek at 
 Frontenac rigging, furniture, and provisions which he needed in order 
 to continue the expedition. 
 
 On returning at Fort Conty, he learned of the loss of the vessel which 
 he had sent to Michillimachinac, and of a vessel from France, on which 
 he had 2,200 livres. But this was not all. Of twenty-two men whom he 
 had engaged in France, eighteen were detained by his enemy, the liiten- 
 dent, Duchesneau, and upon news of his death four were sent out anew; 
 still more, his men had deserted with his goods and his boats. In 
 the meantime the force of Conty had dispersed, forts Crevecoeur and 
 Niagara were laid waste, and the magazine at Michillimachinac had 
 been plundered. It seemed, to use his own expression, that all 
 Canada had conspired against his undertaking. 
 
 Who in his place would not have owned himself vanquished ? Who 
 would not have renounced so dangerous an enterprise, in order to 
 enjoy calmly at Frontenac the pleasures of a noble position ? La Salle 
 did not even think of pleasure. He hastened to Montreal, arranged 
 matters with his creditors, who made him new advances, arrested a 
 a party of his deserters, and started on his way with twenty-five men, 
 workmen and soldiers, by the Humber, Lake Simcoe, the Severn, Lake 
 Huron, and rested five days at Michillimachinac in order to obtain pro- 
 visions. He left again with twelve men, revisited the ruins of the Fort 
 Miama, and passed on to the Illinois. The seventeen villages which he 
 had seen upon this great river, his Fort Crevecoeur, his vessel, all were 
 in ruins. The whole shore, even to the Mississippi, presented a fright- 
 
I i 
 
 312 
 
 ROBERT CAVALIER DE LA SALLE OF ROUEN 
 
 tul spectacle. The Iroquois had burned the villages, disinterred the 
 dead, killed and eaten the living. The dogs, wolves and ravens even 
 now fed upon the remains. 
 
 Upon a tree on the banks of the Mississippi, he made a representa- 
 tion of himself, carrying a pipe of peace, and he left a letter for Conty. 
 After incredible hf'igue, he ranched Fort Miami, and made it his winter 
 quarters. He studied the situation anew. 
 
 The skillful intrigues had placed across his path the terrible 
 Iroquois. All that he had done would be without practical result; at 
 least he would hardly shut out this savage horror from the west. He 
 remembered, however, that a commercial and military centre was 
 necessary between the basins of the St. Lawrence and the Missisippi. 
 Fort St. Louis, which he built upon Starved Rock, and the rich prairies 
 of Illinois, seemed to him to be equally fitted for the necessities of war 
 or the needs of commerce. His plan conceived, he began immediately 
 to execute it, that is to say, he plunged into diplomacy without limit. 
 He visited all the neighboring tribes, induced them to make peace and 
 to settle around Fort St. Louis, under the protection ot the Kuig of 
 France, in order that they might live, calm and happy in the abundance 
 which Europe would supply, without fear of the Iroquois. 
 
 What speeches, what subtleties, what compliments! It is necessary 
 to see these papers published by M. Margry. His efforts were crowned 
 with success. He could see, before leaving Canada, around Fort St. 
 Louis, the villages of twelve nations who recognized him as father of the 
 King of France. As Lord of the country, by virtue of his letters patent, 
 he granted concessions of land to the French. It is well understood that 
 this great work brought him the detractions of all his enemies, beginning 
 with the aged La Barre, the unworthy successor ot Count Frontenac. 
 With the culmination of coldness, came the movement to complete the 
 discovery. La Salle returned once more to Frontenac, obtained credit 
 for fresh advances, made his deposition, took with him Conty, the 
 Recollect, Zenobe Membre, Jaques Metairie, notary of Fort Frontenac, 
 twenty French, eighteen Abenakis or Mahingins, who carried with them 
 ten women and three children, and started on his route. The 6th of 
 February he arrived at the Mississippi, on the 12th he embarked upon 
 the stream ; March 14th, at the Arkansas, he planted the cross and arms 
 of France; April 7th, he arrived at the mouth of the stream, and 
 on the 9th, in the name of the King, he formally took possession of 
 Louisiana. At the same time he traversed fifteen hundred leagues of 
 desert, not having any provisions, except the product of the chase. 
 
ROBERT CAVALIER DE LA SALLE OF ROUEN 
 
 313 
 
 having the compass for his guide. This discovery is the most important 
 of the age, but we shall see how General de la Barre viewed it. 
 
 The intention of La Salle was to build a fort at the mouth ot the 
 Mississippi, but the lack of provisions forced him to adjourn his project 
 to the following year. Me retook, therefore, his route for Canada. At 
 his coming all the tribes on the border of the river had given him a 
 good reception; at his return, many desired to slay him. To what is it 
 necessary to refer this fickleness of Indian character? Upon arriving 
 at Fort Prudhomme, which he had constructed with the Chickasaws, he 
 suddenly fell sick ; and when, after being confined to his bed forty days, 
 he returned to Illinois, it was not to be glorified, as he deserved, but to 
 be persecuted. La Barre, who was only a puppet in the hands of his 
 managers, denied boldly, not only the result of the discovery, but the dis- 
 covery itself. Yet he did not rest with this. He authorized not only the 
 pillage of the canoes of La Salle, but even his murder, while P. Allouez 
 blessed the bullets of his deserters, assuring them that they might break 
 (pierce) the head of the honest and valiant Conty. Against all law, 
 La Barre arrested the men whom La Salle sent to seek, in Canada, the 
 merchandise and munitions of which he had need. He refused to send 
 to Fort Frontenac the soldiers that were asked for. In fine, he confiscated 
 the Forts of Frontenac and St. Louis, compromised the results of the 
 discover}^ ruined Cavalier de La Salle and those associated with him in 
 the enterprise. 
 
 La Salle returned to France, went to find Seignelay, convinced him 
 of the foolishness of La Barre, who was immediately recalled, pro- 
 posed to return by sea to the mouth of the Mississippi, and to cap- 
 ture the mines of Sainta Barbara. The reports and memoirs furnished 
 by Cavalier La Salle, both on his own discoveries and his projects, 
 carried conviction into the mind of Minister Seingelay. In accordance 
 with his request, July 24th, 1684, he set sail for the Gulf of Mexico. 
 This fleet was composed of four ships, and was commanded by 
 Le Gallois de Bcaujeu, Captain of the Line. Beaujeu left with the 
 conviction, we may say, with the hope of failure, as one may see in 
 his correspondence with Cabart de Villermont. " The devotion of 
 Madame de Beaujeu to the Jesuits " was suspected by La Salle. The 
 Minister warned Beaujeu, that, by this "difhcully he would fail of 
 success in the enterprise of La Salle." La Salle was suspicious of 
 Beaujeu. This Captain, who believed himself to be the ablest Captain 
 of the French marine, passed, without recognizing, the mouths of the 
 Mississippi. This man who always spoke of his own impeccability, 
 
314 
 
 ROBERT CAVALIER DE LA SALLE OF ROUEN 
 
 forgetting his sojourn for nine months at the Tower of Rochelle, and his 
 cassation, refused to comply with the demand of La Salle, who told him 
 that he had passed their destinaton. But I do not desire to accuse him 
 of the loss of the fly-boat Aimiable, for which the Chevalier Aigron was 
 imprisoned upon his return to France, but I am not able to repress the 
 remark, that he did all that was necessary to defeat the enterprise, in 
 order to justify his prejudices against La Salle. It suffices to say, that 
 he debarked La Salle in the Bay of Matagorda, instead of landing him at 
 the mouth of the Mississippi, that he gave him cannon without balls, 
 because to obtain the balls which were intended for the expedition, it 
 would be necessary to derange the storage. 
 
 His jealousy survived La Salle. When Le Moyne and Iberville were 
 sent to find the mouths of the Mississippi, which they discovered by 
 the indications of La Salle, Beaujeu did not cease to predict failure, and 
 after success, to depreciate the value of its utility. 
 
 La Salle, abandoned by his companions, constructed forts, made 
 attempt on attempt to reach the Mississippi by land. One should 
 read in the Journal of Joutel of Rouen, the accounts of his prodigious 
 efforts. He was about to succeed, when he was assassinated at the 
 corner of a forest, March 19, 1687. He was forty-three years and four 
 months old, and it was twenty years since he entered into our colonial 
 domain. 
 
 Let us recapitulate the acts of the discoverer. He explored 
 North America, north and south; he established a chain of forts from 
 the entrance of Lake Ontairio to the mouths of the Mississppi ; he 
 inaugurated navigation on the Great Lakes, by the discovery of the 
 Ohio, the Wabash, the Illinois and the Mississippi ; he opened the com- 
 merce with the Gulf of Mexico ; by his colonies of Frontenac and of 
 Illinois, he fortified us against the English ; by his point against the 
 Spanish mines, he showed us the possibility, the necessity of conquering 
 Texas. It is with much reason that the Americans have placed his 
 great name upon the map of Texas and of Illinois; it is with reason 
 that they have placed his portrait in the Capitol at Washington ; it is 
 assuredly a wrong that his native city has done nothing to honor his 
 memory. 
 
 GABRIEL GRAVIER, 
 
 Honorary President, and General Secretary 
 
 of the Normand Geographical Society.