The Power And The Glory by Gilbert Parker

Soon after La Salle left Quebec there arrived his cousin, Francois Plet, whom he had asked to come. He had high character and much vigor, middle aged, strong, and reliable, a brain not easily turned, and a patriot. He had lent La Salle money when in France, no one had yet done so, and his confident faith brought other sums to La Salle. La Salle had, in truth, no head for commercial enterprises, and in a letter written to one of his creditors he begs his correspondent to send out an agent of his own: "He need not be very savant, but he must be faithful, patient of labor, and fond neither of gambling nor women, nor good cheer, for he will find none of these things with me." He further adds, "I have neither the habit nor the inclination to keep books, nor have I anybody with me who knows how." Elsewhere he says: The twenty-two men who deserted and robbed me are not to be believed on their word, deserters and thieves as they are. It needs as unjust a judge as the Intendant to prompt such rascals to enter complaint against a person to whom he had given a warrant to arrest them. Those who remain with me are the first I had, and they have been with me for six years. I do not know what you mean by having popular manners. There is nothing special in my food or clothing, which are all the same for me and my men. You do not know the men one must employ out here, when you exhort me to make merry with them. They are incapable of that, for they are never pleased unless we give free rein to their drunkenness and debauchery and other vices. If that is what you call unpopular manners, neither honor nor inclination would let me stoop to gain their favor in a way so disreputable; and besides, the consequence would he dangerous, and they would have the same contempt for me that they have for all who treat them in this fashion. As for what you say about my looks and manner, I confess that you are not far from right. But naturem espellas and if I am wanting in impassiveness and show of feeling towards those with whom I associate, it is only through a timidity which is natural to me, and which has made me leave various employments where without it I could have succeeded. Abbé Renaudot knows with what repugnance I had the honor to appear before Monseigneur de Conti, and sometimes it takes me a week to make up my mind to go to an audience. It is a defect of which I shall never rid myself as long as I live, often as it spites me against myself, and often as I quarrel with myself about it.

This was La Salle's picture of himself, and it explained some of his failures, for his mind was shadowed by great timidity. He could inspire respect always, but only those who came near him loved him, yet he could influence men high and low, from the accomplished Louis himself, and Colbert and Seignelay to the poorest Indian in the West. The note in his life counting most was character, and that he had in unmatched degree. Self-concentration gave him powerful steadiness, and he kept his head up where most men would fail. He was first in any hard work with his men; he marched at their head; he took the worst of the blows; and he stands a magnificent figure in the early history of the land he did so much to create. Like all great men, he could get nearer to the primitive mind than most others; he could sway Indians where none but Frontenac could do so.