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

;i02 ;LA SALLE AND FRONTED C. [1675.trol, and from which he now saw himself ejected.La Chesnaye, Le Moyne, and others ofmore or lessinfluence took part in the league, which, in fact,embraced all the traders in the colony except the fewjoined with Frontenac and La Salle. Duchesneau,intendant of the colony, aided the malcontents. Astime went on, their bitterness grew more bitter;when at last it was seen that,andnot satisfied with themonopoly of Fort Frontenac, La Salle aimed at theV control of the valleys of the Ohio and the Mississippi,and the usufruct of half a continent, the ire of hisopponents redoubled,nest of hornets, buzzing inmoment to sting.and Canada became for him awrath and watching theBut there was another element ofopposition, less noisy, but not less formidable; andthis arose from the Jesuits. Frontenac hated themand they, under befitting forms of duty and courtesy,paid him back in the same coin.Having no love forthe governor, they would naturally have little forhis partisan and protege; but their opposition hadanother and a deeper root,for the plans of the daringyoung schemer jarred with their own.We have seen the Canadian Jesuits in the earlyapostolic days of their mission, when the flame oftheir zeal,fed by an ardent hope, burned bright andhigh. This hope was doomed to disappointment.Their avowed purpose of building another Paraguayon the borders of the Great Lakes 1 was never accom-1This purpose is several times indicated in the Relations. Foran instance, see " The Jesuits in North America," 245.