La Salle and the discovery of the great West - North Central ...

96 LA SALLE AND FRONTENAC. [1673.respite from the fearful scourge of Iroquois hostility." Assuredly," he writes, "I may boast of havingimpressed them at once with respect, fear,and goodwill."l He adds that the fort at Cataraqui, withthe aid of a vessel now building, will command LakeOntario, keep the peace with the Iroquois, and cutoff the trade with the English ; and he proceeds tosay that by another fort at the mouth of the Niagara,and another vessel on Lake Erie, we, the French,can command all the Upper Lakes. This plan wasan essential link in the schemes of La Salle ; and weshall soon und him employed in executing it.A curious incident occurred soon after the buildingof the fort on Lake Ontario. Frontenac, on hisway back, quarrelled with Perrot, the governor ofMontreal, whom, in view of his speculations in thefur-trade, he seems to have regarded as a rival inbusiness ;but who, by his folly and arrogance, wouldhave justified any reasonable measure of severity.Frontenac, however, was not reasonable. He arrestedPerrot, threw him into prison, and set up a man ofhis own as governor in his place ;and as the judge ofMontreal was not in his interest, he removed him,and substituted another on whom he could rely.Thus for a time he had Montreal well in hand.The priests of the Seminary, seigniors of the island,regarded these arbitrary proceedings with extremeuneasiness. They claimed the right of nominatingtheir own governor; and Perrot, though he held ax Lettre de Frontenac au Ministre, 13 Nov., 1673.