INTRODUCTION 
T the commencement of the seventeenth century, and, 
Ti indeed, throughout the lifetime of Louis le Juste , 
France appears to have been the only Power among the 
great nations of Europe which did not possess an or¬ 
ganised commerce with the East Indies ; and Richelieu 
died before his far-seeing views on the maritime and 
colonial expansion of France could be carried into effect. 
The great Cardinal’s projects were, however, soon com¬ 
menced under his successor, and almost the first act of the 
boy King, Louis XIV., when but five years of age, was the 
signing, in 1643, under Mazarin’s direction (by Fouquet’s 
advice), of letters patent, granting a concession of Mada¬ 
gascar to the Societe de l’Orient. It is not impossible 
that the marvellous tales related by the adventurers who 
first guided the expeditionary vessels of the Company to 
the waters of the Indian Ocean, made a lasting impression 
on the mind of the youthful sovereign ; and such early 
interest in the great African island would certainly have 
been intensified by the publication of Estienne de Fla- 
court’s History / which appeared, almost simultaneously 
with the death of Mazarin, in 1661. 
By this time the wealth and importance of the Dutch 
East India Company had reached enormous proportions, 
and, at Colbert’s instigation, Louis soon became alive 
to the great advantages which such a monopoly of Indian 
trade conferred on his neighbours ; but hitherto the civil 
1 Dedicated to Fouquet, 
b 
