A half-century of conflict. France and England in North America. Part ...

36 SEARCH FOR THE PACIFIC. [1746-1750.ter.i It was doubtless through his efforts that theelder La V^rendrye was at last promoted to a captaincyin the colony troops.Beauharnois was succeeded inthe government by the sagacious and able Galissoniere,and he too befriended the explorers. "Itseems to me," he wrote to the minister, "that whatyou have been told touching the Sieur de la Vdrendrye,to the effect that he has been more busy with his owninterests than in making discoveries, is totally false,and, moreover, that any officers employed in suchwork will always be compelled to give some oftheirattention to trade, so long as the King allows themno other means of subsistence.very costly,open war. " ^These discoveries areand more fatiguing and dangerous thanTwo years later, the elder La Vdrendrj'ereceived the cross of the Order of St. Louis, — anhonor much prized in Canada, but which he did notlong enjoy ;for he died at Montreal in the followingDecember, when on the point of again setting out forthe West.His intrepid sons survived, and they were not idle.One of them, the Chevalier, had before discoveredthe river Saskatchewan, and ascended it as far as theforks. ^ His intention was to follow it to the mountains,build a fort there, and thence push westwardin another search for the Pacific; but a disastrous611.1 La Verendrye pere au Ministre, 1 Novembre, 1746, in Margry, vi.2 La Galissoniere au Ministre, 23 Octobre, 1747.8 Me'moire en abr€(j€ des ^tabUssements et Decom^ertes fails par leSieur de la Verendrye et ses Enfants.