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

346 A NEW ENTERPRISE. [1684.resources of the country watered by the river Colbert,or Mississippi; the necessity of guarding it againstforeigners, who will be eager to seize it now that LaSalle's discovery has made it known; and the easewith which it may be defended by one or two forts ata proper distance above its mouth, which would formthe key to an interior region eight hundred leagues inextent."Should foreigners anticipate us," he adds," they will complete the ruin of New France, whichthey already hem in by their establishments of Virginia,Pennsylvania, New England, and Hudson's Bay." 1The second memorial is more explicit.The place,it says, which the Sieur de la Salle proposes tofortify, is on the river Colbert, or Mississippi, sixtyleagues above its mouth, where the soil isvery fertile,the climate very mild, and whence we, the French,may control the continent, — since, the river beingnarrow, we could defend ourselves by means offireshipsagainst a hostile fleet, while the position isexcellent both forattacking an enemy or retreatingin case of need. The neighboring Indians detestthe Spaniards, but love the French, having been wonover by the kindness of the Sieur de la Salle. Wecould form of them an army of more than fifteenthousand savages, who, supported by the French andAbenakis, followers of the Sieur de la Salle, couldeasily subdue the province of New Biscay (the mostnorthern province of Mexico), where there are but1Memoir e du S r -de la Salle, pour rendre compte a Monseigneur deSeignelay de la dScouverte qu'il afaite par I'ordre de sa Majeste,