Chap. II. fhe Hiftory of the French Eaft-India Commerce , &c. f 
have a Fund capable of difcharging regularly fo high an 
Intereft for fuch a Number of Years, as well as to clear 
up fome Things that may feeni obfcure in this Hiftory of 
the Eftablifhment of the Company now fubfifting, it will 
be requifite to give as clear and concife a Relation as is 
poffible, of the Rife and Progrefs of the other Compa- 
nies that have been united to this by the Edidt before- 
mentioned, and of the Weft-India Company in particular, 
in which abundance of curious and inftrudive Paffages 
will occur that never hitherto have appeared in the En- 
glijh Language, 
i a. The China Company in France was originally fet 
on Foot in the Year 1660, but was very foon after ab- 
forbed by that of the Eaft-India Company, which, as we 
have fliewn, had the Sandtion of royal Authority given 
It in 1664 y but when that Company began firft to decline 
in its Affairs, thofe who had the Management of its Con- 
cerns, were content, in fome meafure, to revive this old 
Company, by granting their Licence, which was likewife 
confirmed by the Crown to one Mr. Jour dan , a very rich 
Merchant, who fitted out a very large Ship, called Am- 
fhitr.it e , for that Voyage, which failed in March 1698, 
and returned fafely to France on the Third of Auguft , 
1700, very richly laden. The Succefs of this Voyage 
encouraged the Merchant before-mentioned, and thofe 
who were -concerned with him, to fit out the fame Ship 
again, and which they accordingly did in the following 
Spring, and fhe returned in the Month of September , 
1703, with as great Profit as from her former Voyage, 
though fhe very narrowly miffed being fhipwrecked fall- 
ing down the River of Canton at her Return. The Suc- 
cefs of thefe Voyages, one would have thought, might 
have eftablifhed this new Company j but the general War 
in which France was then engaged againft molt of the 
Powers of Europe, rendered it impracticable : And thus the 
Company lay dormant, though ftill poffeffed of its Rights, 
which extended to the Coafts of China, Tonquin , Cochin- 
China , and the Iftes adjacent, till fuch Time as, for 
Reafons of State, it was united to the Weftern Com- 
pany. 
The Company of Senegal , though under another Name, 
was one of the earlieft in France , being carried on by a 
Society of Merchants at Dieppe , though without the Sanc- 
tion of any publick Authority. They fixed a little Set- 
tlement in an Hand at the Mouth of the great River Ni- 
gea, called alfo the River of Senegal , and carried on a confi- 
derable Trade thither. This Commerce came afterwards 
into the Hands of the Merchants of Rouen , who, in the 
Month of November , 1664, yielded it up to the Weft- 
India Company. But when that Company was diffolv- 
ed about ten Years afterwards, the old Company of Se- 
negal was revived, and three rich Merchants undertook 
that Commerce, which they carried on with great Profit 
to themfelves till the Year 1681, when Mr. Colbert , whofe 
Charader we have already given conceiving this T raffick, 
might be greatly enlarged, prevailed upon thefe Merchants 
to accept of a valuable Confideration for their Privileges, 
and to admit of its going into the Hands of a larger 
Number of Perfons, with new Privileges which they en- 
joyed for many Years. But it being difcovered, that the ex- 
clu five Rights they had were, by much, too extenfive for 
their Capital, it was thought, for the publick Benefit, to di- 
vide this Company ; and hence arofe the Guinea Company, 
to whom the greateft Part of their Privileges were aflign- 
ed, and the reft remained to the old Company of Senegal , 
which ftill continued in a thriving Condition. 
Yet, in Procefs of Time, and from a Variety of Acci- 
dents, it fell out, that the Proprietors of this Company 
came to be reduced into fuch low Circumftances, that the 
Company muft have failed, if it had not been for the 
Wealth and Spirit of a fingle Merchant, whofe Name was 
Mr. D' Aupougny, who, at length, for the Sum of three 
hundred thou land Livres, bought out his Affociates, and 
in the Year 1694, by the Confent of the Crown, had the 
whole of their Privileges conveyed to himfelf, and he 
eredted a new Company, which, however, was fo unfor- 
tunate, that after ftruggling a long Time to no Purpole, 
at laft, yielded up their Privileges to fome rich Merchants 
of Roeun , who carried on this Trade with tolerable Suc- 
cefs, till the Year 1718, when it was United* as we have 
feen, to the Company of the Indies . 
As for the Company of Guinea beforerhentioned; it had 
feveral Rifes and Falls till the Accefiion of Philip V. td 
the Crown of Spain, who in the Year 1701, granted 
them the Liberty of tranfporting Negroes to the Spanifh 
Weft-Indies ; and then it took from thence the Title of 
the AJfiento Company, under which it continued to flou- 
rifh, when almoft all the Branches of French Commerce 
languilhed and decayed, by reafon of the War ; and as 
it was lingular in this* fo it was no lefs lingular in its 
Conclufion \ for it loft all its Priviledges, and even its Be- 
ing, by the Treaty of Utrecht , which revived the other 
Branches of French Trade, but conveyed this to the Eng- 
lijh , and gave Rife to our South-Sea Company. 
We muft now pafs to the Weft -Indies, where the 
Courfe of a great River, Navigable from within feven or 
eight Leagues of its Source for eight hundred Leagues^ 
where it falls into the Gulph of Mexico , was difcover’d 
by Robert Cavilier de la Salle , a Native of Rouen, who 
brought the News of it into France, in 1680. This Ri- 
ver, called by the Natives of the Country Mefcbafippi , 
and by the French , Mijftfippi, and the Country about it 
being held of infinite Confequence, as affording the great- 
eft Conveniencies for eftabliftiing a Settlement in one of 
the fineft Climates, and moft fruitful Countries in Ame- 
rica, the Motion for attempting fuch a Colony was rea- 
dily embraced in France, and all imaginable Encourage- 
ment given to Mr. de la Salle, who undertook the Perfor- 
mance. He, by Letters Patent dated in 1684, eftablifh’d 
a Company for that Purpofe, and embarked on board a 
Squadron of four Ships, filled with People, and with 
every thing neceffary for his Defign ; but was fo un- 
lucky as to mifs by Sea the Mouth of that River which he 
had difcovered by failing down it, and fixed upon another,- 
where his Colony began to decline in fuch a manner, that; 
he had not above one hundred Perfons left ; yet in the 
midft of thefe Misfortunes he kept up his Courage, and 
endeavoured to repair his paft Miftake, by ufing all poffi- 
ble Means to difcoverthe Place he fought, which it is ve- 
ry probable he would have done if his Company had not 
mutinied ; in which unlucky Accident one of the Villains 
Ihot him with a Mulket Ball, on the 20th of Mar chi 
1687. 
Seven or leight Years after his Death, one Mr. Hiher- 
ville, a Gentleman of Canada, difcovered the Mouth of 
this famous River, erected a Fort, and began to eftablifli 
a Colony there, but died before it was thoroughly fettled, 
and fo the Defign mifcarried a fecond time, and the Af- 
fair flept till the Year 1712, when Mr. Anthony Crozat , a 
Gentleman of large Fortune, undertook the fixing a French 
Colony on the River Mijftfippi, a third time. He ob- 
tained the King’s Letters Patent, dated 14 September , 
in the fame Year, and fucceeded fo far as to difcover the 
River and Country effedtually, and to raife a Fort and 
fome Settlements there. This Gentleman, according to 
the Cuftom of the French , changed the Names of all the 
Places he vifited, or, to fpeak with greater propriety, were 
vifited by thofe he fent thither. The great River was no 
longer to be called Mijftfippi, but the River of St. Lewis, 
and the Country round about it was Louvijftana, and an 
Ifland at the Mouth of it, which till then had been ftiled 
the Ifland of Maffacre, was thenceforward to be known 
by the Title of the Dauphin's Ifland. 
The Confequences of thefe Difcoveries were great in 
themfelves, and the Expedtations raffed from them much 
greater, of which Mr. Crozat made a very wife Ufe, by 
taking this Opportunity to furrender his Patent, which he 
did in 1 7 1 7, that the Publick might have the Benefit of 
thefe important Settlements. The Regent was confider- 
ing at that Time of the Projedt offered him by the fa- 
mous Mr. Law, a Scotch Gentleman, whofe Name is 
well known to the prefent Generation, and is not like to 
be forgot by Pofterity. The End aimed at by his Pro- 
ject, was to reduce all the publick Debts in France into 
fome Form ; and for this Purpofe it was neceffary to eredf, 
under plaufible Appearances, a new Company in the like 
manner, that by the Ad vies of Sir John Blount, the Lord 
Treafurer Oxford had done the fame Thing in England , 
by 
