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

1683] LA SALLE AND LA BARRE. 323writes, in the following spring, to say that La Sallewas with a score of vagabonds at Green Bay, wherehe set himself up as a king, pillaged his countrymen,and put them to ransom, exposed the tribes of theWest to the incursions of the Iroquois, and all underpretence of a patent from his Majesty, theprovisionsof which he grossly abused; but, as his privilegeswould expire on the twelfth of May ensuing, hewould then be forced tocome to Quebec, where hiscreditors, to whom he owed more than thirty thousandcrowns, were anxiously awaiting him. 1Finally, when La Barre received the two lettersfrom La Salle, of which the substance is given above,he sent copies of them to the Minister Seignelay,with the following comment :" By the copies of theSieur de la Salle's letters, you will perceive that hishead is turned, and that he has been bold enough togive you intelligence of a false discovery, and that,instead of returning to the colony to learn what theKing wishes him todo, he does not come near me,but keeps in the backwoods, five hundred leaguesoff, with the idea of attracting the inhabitants tohim, and building up an imaginary kingdom for himself,by debauching all the bankrupts and idlers ofthis country. If you will look at the two letters Ihad from him, you can judge the character of thispersonage better than I can. Affairs with the1 Lettre de La Barre au Ministre, 30 Avril, 1688. La Salle hadspent the winter, not at Green Bay, as this slanderous letter declares, but in the Illinois country.