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

1674.] LA SALLE AND F^NELON. 99La Salle sat near the door; but as the preacherproceeded he suddenly rose to his feet in such amanner as to attract the notice of the congregation.As they turned their heads, he signed to the principalpersons among them, and by his angry looks andgesticulation called their attention to the words ofFe'nelon. Then meeting the eye of the cure', who satbeside the altar, he made the same signs to him, towhich the cure* replied by a deprecating shrug of theshoulders.sermon.Fdnelon changed color, but continued hisThis indecent proceeding of La Salle,and the zealwith which throughout the quarrel he took the partof the governor, did not go unrewarded. Henceforth,Frontenac was more than ever his friend ; andthis plainly appeared in the disposition made, throughhis influence, of the new fort on Lake Ontario.Attempts had been made to induce the king to haveit demolished; but it was resolved at last that, beingbuilt, it should be allowed to stand ; and, after longdelay, a final arrangement was made for its maintenance,in the manner following: In the autumn of1674, La Salle went to France, with letters of strongrecommendation from Frontenac. 2 He was well1Informationfaide par nous, Charles le Tardieu, Sieur de Tilly, etde Fenelon. Tilly andNicolas Dupont, etc., etc., contre le S r -AbbSDupont were sent by Frontenac to inquire into the affair. Amongthe deponents is La Salle himself.2 In his despatch to the minister Colbert, of the fourteenth ofNovember, 1674, Frontenac speaks of La Salle as follows r " I cannot help, Monseigneur, recommending to you the Sieur de la Salle^