546 INDIAN LA.ND CESSIONS IN THE UNITED STATES [eth.axn. 18 



these present letters and forever, all the lands, coasts, ports, bavens, and islands 

 which compose our province of Louisiana, m the same way and extent as we have 

 granted them to M. Crozat by our letters patent of 14th September 1712, to enjoy 

 the same in full property, seigniory, and jurisdiction, keeping to ourselves no other 

 rights or duties than the fealty and liege homage the said company shall be bound 

 to pay US and to the kings our successors at every new reign, with a golden crown 

 of the weight of thirty marks. 



Sec. VI. The said company shall be free, in the said granted lands, to negotiate 

 and make alliance in our name with all the nations of the land, except those which 

 are dependent on the other powers of Europe; she may agree with them on such 

 conditions as she may think fit, to settle among them, and trade freely with them, 

 and in case they insult her she may declare war against them, attack them or 

 defend herself by means of arms, and negotiate with them for peace or for a truce. 



By section 8 autbority i.s given to the company "to sell and give 

 away the lands granted to lier for whatever qnit or ground rent she 

 may think fit, and even to grant them in freehold, without jurisdiction 

 or seigniory." 



In section 53 it is declared : 



Whereas in the settlement of the lands granted to the said company by these 

 present letters we have chiefly in view the glory of God by jirocuriug the salvation 

 of the Indian savage and negro inhabitants whom wo wish to be instructed in the 

 true religion, the said company shall be bound to build churches at her expense in 

 the places of her settlements, as likewise to maintain there as many apjiroved 

 clergymen as may be necessary. 



Substantially the same privileges, powers, and requirements were 

 provided for in the grant made ninety years before (April, 1627), 

 through Cardinal Richelieu's influence, to the Company of One Hun- 

 dred Associates, while France was struggling, through the leadership 

 of Champlain, to obtain a permanent settlement on the St Lawrence.^ 



Although these are the strongest passages having any bearing on 

 the point indicated which have been found in the early grants, it must 

 be admitted that reference to the Indian title is only to be inferred. 

 The policy both in Louisiana and Canada seems to have been to take 

 ' possession, at first, of those points at which they desired to make settle- 

 ments by peaceable measures if possible, though without any pretense 

 of purchase, thus obtaining a foothold. Eitiier preceding or following 

 such settlement, a treaty was nnide with the tribe, obtaining their con- 

 sent to come under the dominion of the King of France and acknowl- 

 edging him as the only rightful ruler over themselves and their 

 territory. 



As an illustration of this statement, attention is called to the follow- 

 ing paragraph : ' 



What is more authentic in this matter is the entry into possession of all those 

 Couutries made by M'. Talon, Intendant of New France, who in 1671, sent Sieur de 

 S'. Lusson, his Subdelegate, into the country of the Stauas, who invited the Depu- 

 ties of all the tribes within a circumference of more than a hundred leagues to meet 



> J. G. Shea, Charlevoix's Hist. New France, vol. n, p. 39. 



'Denonville, Memoir on the French Limits in North America, New York Colonial Documents, vol. 

 IX, p. 383. 



