131 
Flacourt appears to have been entirely neglected 
by the Company during his stay on the island. In 
the seven years he resided there, he received no 
supply, either of forces or provisions from France. 
His great error lay in endeavouring to accomplish by 
force, that which would probably have been better 
effected by conciliatory means. But it appears to 
have been the general practice of that period, to 
consider every new country, which was not actually 
appropriated by an European power, as out of “ the 
limits of social relationsand therefore to destroy 
or subdue them, in order to acquire possession of 
their country, was a matter that followed of course*. 
After the departure of Flacourt, the French in¬ 
terest in the island sensibly declined; they had 
before lost the affection of the natives, but during 
his stay, the latter were kept in complete submission 
to his commands. 
In 1655, Fort Dauphin was burnt down. The 
manner in which this was effected was never ascer¬ 
tained ; but there is much reason to believe it was 
done by the natives. However this may have been, 
the French had not spirit to build it again, before the 
arrival of supplies from France : this did not take 
place till about the year 1660, an account of which 
belongs to the following chapter. 
* “ The natives of a country are infidels —a subject of some 
European power is the first Christian who sets foot in that coun¬ 
try :—ergo, that country belongs to that Christian’s king.”— 
Spanish and Portuguese logic of the fifteenth and sixteenth cen¬ 
turies. 
K 2 
