Page:Joutel's journal of La Salle's last voyage, 1684-7 (IA joutelsjournalof00jout).pdf/23

 co-operation with the whites, was a work almost impossible within the limits of a generation or more—and, until it was done, colonization would be slow, and its difficulties and dangers deterrent to such emigration. Another inherent point of weakness in the plan was the difficulty of keeping in touch with and depending upon a home government thousands of miles away, as well as the uncertain nature of such dependence in the political, commercial, and ecclesiastical conflicts which would be apt to arise, and necessarily would have to be adjusted, more or less, through the medium of Colonial officials—whose motives would not always be free from the imputation of self-interest.

The jealousy of the Jesuits, now conscious of their waning power in the affairs of the new Colonial régime, had always been felt by La Salle—and probably with good reason—to be inimical to his plans; and the future held out no hope of its being less persistent or bitter.

The personality of the explorer, also, weighed fully as much against, as for, the success of his undertaking. By nature cold, reserved, and reticent, he was not a genial man; and possessed little or none of that magnetism which wins men's hearts. Absorbed, as he was, with the details of his great plans, and the responsibilities which they imposed upon him, he was ever self-contained and self-repressed. Even the few most faithful and trusted companions of his labors could hardly be considered as on terms of intimacy with him. And the necessity of maintaining the strictest discipline among the class of men by whose following and aid he had to carry on his work—voyageurs, courriers des bois, traders, conoeists, and Indians—who comprehended him not, but were simply compelled by the force of his will, certainly did not tend to establish that community of interest which should have existed between them. It was, in fact, this lacking quality in an otherwise magnificent character, which was ever thwarting his plans and which rendered his brief career of eight years in exploration work an almost uninterrupted