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

;350 A NEW ENTERPRISE. [1684.Even with thia madcap enterprise lopped off, LaSalle's scheme of Mississippitrade and colonization,perfectly sound in itself, was too vast for an individual,— above all, for one crippled and crushedwith debt. While he grasped one link of the greatchain, another, no less essential, escaped from hishand ;while he built up a colony on the Mississippi,it was reasonably certain that evil would befall hisdistant colony of the Illinois.The glittering project which he now unfoldedfound favor in the eyes of the King and his ministerfor both were in the flush of an unparalleled success,and looked in the future, as in the past, for nothingbut triumphs. They granted more than the petitionerasked, as indeed they well might, if theyexpected the accomplishment of all that he proposedwas at this very time before the court. Count Penalossa, a SpanishCreole, born in Peru, had been governor of New Mexico, where hefell into a dispute with the Inquisition, which involved him in theloss of property, and for a time of liberty. Failing to obtain redressin Spain, he renounced his allegiance in disgust, and soughtrefuge in France, where, in 1682, he first proposed to the King theestablishment of a colony of French buccaneers at the mouth ofRio Bravo, on the Gulf of Mexico. In January, 1684, 'after thewar had broken out, he proposed to attack the Spanish town ofPanuco, with twelve hundred buccaneers from St. Domingo ; thenmarch into the interior, seize the mines, conquer Durango, andoccupy New Mexico. It was proposed to combine his plan withthat of La Salle ; but the latter, who had an interview with him,expressed distrust, and showed characteristic reluctance to accepta colleague. It is extremely probable, however, that his knowledgeofPenalossa's original proposal had some influence in stimulatinghim to lay before the court proposals of his own, equallyattractive.Peace was concluded before the plans of the Spanishadventurer could be carried into effect.