Colbert's West India policy

Front matter

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Introduction

*' A aS / cast my glance throughout the length and breadth JLm. of France to find out what is the condition of its commerce, I am dumfounded to see into what a low state it has sunk. I am seized with a feeling of disgrace and of sorrow, when I see the greater part of our merchants idle, our sailors without employment, our harbours without vessels, and our ships wrecked and stranded upon the beach. . . . Like Diogenes I might carry a lantern at noontide in our cities and our ports in search of a French merchant."^

Thus wrote Jean Eon, a Carmelite, at Nantes, in 1646. It is only one of many striking passages in his interesting book, Le Commerce honorable, which describes in mournful numbers the state of France of his day. The pessimism which is breathed into his book was only too well justified by the deplorable condition into which the industrial and commercial life of France had sunk at the eve of Colbert's ministry. The industries, established under the stimulating economic policy of Sully and fostered by Richelieu, were in a state of decadence. The woollen industry had almost ceased to exist in Languedoc, which had been its most thriving center. The Dutch and English, the latter of whom had formerly brought their wool to France to be manufactured, had established manufactories of their own and had largely supplanted the French as furnishers of woollens to the markets of Europe. The silk mills of Tours and Lyons were declining. The foundries, the forges, the factories of steel, and the tanneries had been almost abandoned.^ "So that instead of gaining large sums as they did in former times, the French

'^ Le Commerce honorable, Nantes, 1646, p. 20.

2 G. Martin, La grande Industrie en France sous le rkgne de Louis XIV, Paris, 1899, Chap. I.

gain nothing, for much specie is leaving the kingdom and none enters."^

The navy and merchant marine, too, were in a most deplorable condition. "The power of the king by land is superior to that of all others in Europe, by sea it is inferior. . . . France has not at the present hour SOO vessels in good condition in her ports."* The number of vessels even for coasting trade was certainly small.^ The inquest ordered to be made in 1664 by the conseil des finances at the suggestion of Colbert, to find out "the number and quality of vessels which were in the ports of the realm," showed that in all the ports of France there was a total of only 2368 vessels, representing an aggregate tonnage of 129,605 tons.^ There were only 829 vessels of more than 100 tons. Some of these even were too old or disabled for service.^ So that Colbert probably knew whereof he spoke, when he remarked that France had not at that time 200 vessels in good condition in her ports.

The Dutch were at the height of their maritime suprem-

3 P. Clement, Lettres, instructions et memoires, II, 1, cclxvii, Discours sur les manufactures du Roy, a memoir by Colbert in 1664.

4 Clement, II, 1, cclxxi, Colbert, Memoire sur le Commerce.

5 "That is a fact which is very easy to prove by visiting our coasts and our harbours, where one sees so many foreign ships that the small number of French ships is lost from sight. Thus for ten or twelve of our ships one may count fifty or sixty belonging to foreigners." Le Commerce honorable, p. 30.

6 There were: 1063 of 10 to 30 tons; 345 of 30 to 40 tons; 320 of 40 to 60 tons ; 178 of 60 to 80 tons ; 133 of 80 to 100 tons ; 102 of 100 to 120 tons; 72 of 120 to 150 tons; 70 of 150 to 200 tons; 39 of 200 to 250 tons ; 27 of 250 to 300 tons ; 19 of 300 to 400 tons. Bib. Nat. MSS., 500 Colbert, 199, contains the results of this most interesting inquest. Detailed information is given in the reports made from the different ports. It is a mine of information which has not been thoroughly exploited.

7 Thus it is recorded in the inquest made at Nantes that La Pellagye, a vessel of 140 tons, built at Croisic in 1648, "was fit for nothing except to be torn to pieces."

acy. Colbert estimated that out of a total of 20,000 vessels in the merchant marine of Europe, 16,000 belonged to them. They had become the great carriers of Europe. Their cities had become the great entrepots of international trade. Their ships were upon every sea and in every harbour to take advantage of every opportunity to profit by trade and transport. The ports of France were no exception to the rule. They, too, were frequented by great numbers of Dutch traders. For the item of transport alone in the coastwise and foreign trade, the French paid, according to Colbert's estimate, an annual tribute of 4,000,000 livres. Commerce also was almost entirely in their hands.

"It is certain," remarked Colbert, "that with the exception of a certain number of vessels which go from Marseilles to trade in the Levant, no commerce exists in the kingdom. This is true even to the point that in the islands of America, occupied by the French, there are 150 Dutch ships annually which carry on trade with them, importing food-stufFs produced in Germany and goods manufactured in Holland, and exporting sugar, tobacco and dye-woods. They carry these latter commodities to Holland, which, after manufacturing and paying an import and export duty upon, they bring to France to sell."^

Jean Eon estimated, in 1646, that the "balance of trade" was against France in her dealings with all the principal nations of Europe. He justified this statement by the following statistics:

Holland:^

Imports from .... 21,445,520 livres.

8 Clement, II, 1, ccbcxi.

^ Le Commerce honorable, pp. 28 ff. The details of the imports from and exports to Holland were as follows:

Great Britain and Ireland:

Imports from

Exports to Portugal :

Imports from

Exports to Italy:

Imports from

Exports to

Holland, Imports from:

Pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, ginger, etc. Sugar .......

Medicine, drugs, etc. ....

Precious stones, cottons, woollens, ebony, plumes,

etc.

Indigo, Brazil wood, camphor, gums

Cannon, powder, firearms

Butter, cheese, tallow, etc.

Exports to:

Wine, cognac, brandy

Wheat, other grains .....

Salt

Cloth, linen from Normandy and Brittany and Guienne .......

Olive oil, olives, from Marseilles and Provence Laces, paper, glass, thread ....

Honey, preserved fruits, etc. ....

The author states that these statistics were compiled from memoirs in the principal ports of France and represent the average for five years and states that "they have been carefully compiled by reliable persons who understood the theory and practice of trade."

An explanation of the inferiority of the French in trade was suggested by the same writer :

"The French have long since entertained a very disparaging opinion of commerce,, which they consider suited only to debased souls. . . . Every one aspires to gain honour and leisure and believes that neither the one nor the other is to be enjoyed in the pursuit of commerce. This is the opinion which the majority of Frenchmen hold and especially those of the tiers etat, who have means and desire to elevate their children to the most honourable stations. They cultivate in them no love for trade or give them no instruction in matters of commerce^ but send them to colleges where they pass many years in the study of the sciences. To be sure instruction is very good and necessary in the moulding of a virtuous life and in rendering one of service to God^ the king and the state. Nevertheless, the energy of our young men is wasted in these colleges and they are fitted only for a life of elegance, of idleness, and of no service to the state. For as soon as they leave college, some give themselves over to the pursuits of love, which Diogenes calls the affair of those who have nothing to do. . . . Others spend their time playing at jeu-de-paumes to sweat at their pleasure and thereby gain an appetite to eat up in a short time all their patrimony. Others take to cards and dice, and thus pass their days and nights in foolishly dissipating the fortunes which their fathers have acquired by hard work. Still others pass their time in drink-shops. . . . Our young are thus reared to lead an idle and spendthrift life. . . . The indifference of the French to commerce comes not only from the small esteem and the little inclination which they have for it, but also from the fact that they are strongly diverted by ambition. . . . They have ambition to acquire the offices of justice which the state in its need has created in great numbers, so that the majority of those who are rich and have means to carry on commerce abandon it, in order to acquire such positions for their children. . . . It is for this reason that for the maintenance of trade there remain only those of low estate, who, by reason of their moderate means, are unable to buy offices from the state^ and who for the same reason are incapable of carrying on an extensive trade and are forced to confine themselves to retail trade^ or at best^ to the coasting trade, both of which are of small value to the nation in comparison with foreign commerce which brings us gold and silver and manyother things necessary and useful for our life. Whenever, from that small number of Frenchmen who are engaged in foreign commerce, some one amasses a fortune, which is the very moment when he is the most capable of pursuing foreign trade, he abandons it in order to place his children in some office of state."^"

From this picture the author turns his eyes toward the life of other nations :

"From the age of fifteen and twenty, they [the Dutch] are to be seen upon the quais loading and unloading cargoes, or in the stock-exchanges engaged in business, or in the marketplaces choosing and buying the best products. . . . Thus from their youth they form habits of trade, become endowed with skill which insures their success. . . . They learn foreign languages and, like the ancients, acquire by conversation a knowledge of those things which are the most beautiful and the most necessary for the enjoyment of life and its spiritual welfare."

There is to be found in these two passages an explanation of the decadence of commerce in France, which gives a profound insight into the very difficult problem that confronted Colbert in his determination to build up national industries and national trade. The life of the nation was centered in the court, in the attainment of rank and places as high as possible in the great social and political hierarchy of the ancien regime. A man's worth seemed measured by the amount of success which he had met with in this pursuit. Commerce was considered an occupation below the dignity of the well-bred. A merchant who met with success forsook his calHng to become another satelHte in the mad whirl of office-seekers, courtiers and dilettantes. Ministers, warriors, artists, litterateurs, officials, noblemen, the clergy, were all received with favour at the court and throughout the kingdom, but the merchant was regarded with disfavour or indifference.

The importance of this fact did not escape Colbert. In his memoir on commerce, read in the first session of the conseil de commerce presided over by the king on August 3, 1664, he exposed the poor state of commerce in the realm and then proposed the remedies. It was not by mere chance that the following recommendations came first to the great minister's mind :

"Receive with special marks of favour and protection all merchants who come to the court.

"Aid them in everything which concerns their commerce. Permit them to present their cause in person before the council of His Majesty, when they are involved in cases of importance.

"Let there be always some merchants in the suite of His Majesty. "^^

These recommendations are ample proof that commerce was not an honourable calling in France, and that the conditions described by Jean Eon persisted. The fact offers at least a partial explanation of the deplorable state of commerce in the realm. But wherever one may search for the causes and whatever explanation one may offer, it is certain that Mazarin willed to Colbert a France in a state of industrial and commercial decadence.

At Mazarin's death Colbert was at first made intendant of finance (March 16, 1661). He rapidly rose in the king's favour. In January, 1664, he was made surintendant des hdtiments et manufactures, in 1665, controller-

11 Clement, II, 1, cclxxi.

general, and finally, in 1669, minister of the marine, thus uniting in his hands all the important branches of administration except that of war. But from the first he exerted a large influence upon the direction of affairs. For the first three years of his service to the king his time was largely absorbed by the prosecution of the "affair Fouquet" and by the reorganization of the finances of the kingdom. It was not until 1664 that he had worked out a large plan for the upbuilding of industry and the establishment of commerce. In that year he showed characteristic energy. He organized the conseil de commerce ; he framed the high protective tariff of 1664 ; he developed a comprehensive plan to restore industry and create manufactures, to build up a strong navy and merchant marine; and he organized the East and West India Companies. Most of the details of this plan have been made so familiar by the studies of Joubleau, Clement, Neymarck and others, as to make it unnecessary to restate them here. It will be permitted to recall, however, that the development of over-sea commerce occupied the most important place in the great minister's plan for the regeneration of France :

"The happiness of a people consists not only in a considerable diminution of taxes, such as has been made within the last few years, but even more in the maintenance of commerce which alone can bring into the kingdom an abundance that will serve not as a means of luxury to the few, but as a blessing to the many. Commerce stimulates manufactures, by opening markets for their products and gives employment to a large number of people of almost every age and sex. It is thus an agent which harmonizes an abundance of temporal things with the spiritual welfare of a people, for idleness begets wrongdoing, while hard work fortifies one against it. After a careful examination of all the means to bring happiness to our subjects and after much reflection over a subject of such importance, we have been more and more convinced that over-sea commerce is the means. It is certain^ both from sound reason and from the experience of our neighbours, that the profit gained much outweighs the toil and pain expended therein."^^

These words may or may not have been written by Colbert, but they may be taken as representing his ideas, for he remarked later, in speaking of the East India Company, that it was the most difficult enterprise which the king had undertaken since he began to rule, and the success of which would prove the most glorious and the most advantageous for the welfare of the realm/^ Again in the preamble of the tariff of 1664 it is remarked that although measures had been taken to build up commerce within the realm, yet most attention had been paid to the upbuilding of navigation and foreign commerce which was "the only means of making the kingdom prosperous. "^^ It is quite certain from the constant attention which Colbert paid to the establishment of such a commerce that these ideas were his own and that upon them this policy was founded.

The success of the Dutch with their wealth and power upon the sea exerted a large influence upon his mind. He attributed their success to trade, asserting that the Dutch East India Company had assets amounting to no less than 800,000,000 livres ; that Holland had become the entrepot in Europe for the rich trade with the Indies ; and furthermore that the Dutch had made themselves masters of the trade with the ports of the Baltic, with the French West Indies, and of the carrying trade of Europe.

Colbert decided to organize two large companies which would at least dispute with them the trade with the two Indies. There is something stupendous in the way in which he projected the East and West India Companies. To the one he assigned, as the field for its activity, the vast

12 The preamble of the letters-patent of the East India Company.

13 Clement, III, 2, Ixv.

expanse from the Cape of Good Hope eastward even to the straits of Magellan, including all the East Indies, China, Japan, and all the oriental seas; to the other, he granted immense territories in the three continents of North America, South America and Africa, and many prosperous islands in the West Indies. Is it not in a sense a new demarcation line by which the world is split in twain and a half given to each company for its exploitation?

Of the two companies, Colbert considered the East India Company of greater importance. Its organization became a matter of great moment. Charpentier, a member of the Academy, was called into service to paint in glowing colours the paradise at Madagascar which offered its hospitable shores to serve the company as a base for trade with the rich Orient.^^ The king, the queen, the queen-mother, the princes of royal blood, noblemen, officials of high rank, subscribed for varying sums. A veritable campaign was pursued by Colbert to persuade or force judges, revenue-farmers, intendants and merchants throughout the kingdom to subscribe to the funds of the company. Everything was done to make the enterprise appear attractive as an investment. National pride was appealed to by pointing out the success and superiority of the Dutch in the oriental trade. Special rights were offered to subscribers of 10,000 and 20,000 livres. In short, the organization of the company was made an affair of state.

The organization of the West India Company was not regarded as a matter of such importance. It had no Charpentier to describe its brilliant prospects, no queen or queen-mothers, no princes and very few noblemen to appear as its sponsors and supporters. This point is of some importance, because it shows clearly that Colbert expended much more effort in the organization of the

15 Charpentier, Le Discours d'un fiddle sujet, Paris, 1664.

former company and expected much larger results from it. In this he was destined to be disappointed, for the West India Company yielded much larger results and in the light of these results deserved much more attention and much more financial support than it at first received at the hands of the minister.

The problems of the two companies were quite different. That of the East India Company consisted in the creation of trade with the far-distant Orient. The attempts which had been made already in 1604, 1611, 1615 and 1642 had proved practically fruitless, so that at the commencement of Louis XIV's personal reign all the products of the Orient came by the way of Holland or of England. There were thus no precedents to guide the new company except those of failure and of ill-omen. The seriousness of this is proved by the fact that the company spent the first four years of its existence battling with the problem of establishing an entrepot at Madagascar as a base of its operations to build up trade with the Orient. All of its preliminary expeditions, representing a large expenditure of money, got no farther than Madagascar, and it was not until 1669 that one of its vessels returned directly from the Indies to France.^^

The problem of the West India Company was also to prove exceedingly difficult. The long list of companies, organized since the sixteenth century for the exploitation of different parts of the territory of the new company, was a long list of failures and augured ill for the success of the enterprise. But the task before it was not so constructive in character as that of the other company. The route to Canada was well known, for many hardy sailors of the ports of France were engaged in the fisheries of Newfoundland, and Canada was a French colony. The

16 P. Kaeppelin, La Compagnie des Indes Orientales et Frangois Martin, Paris, 1908, Chap. I.

French Antilles contained in many cases prosperous colonies and a good trade already existed. A French settlement had been recently made at Cayenne. On the west coast of Africa, French trading-posts were already established. So that the new company fell heir to many valuable assets and had as its problem, rather, the union of those separate colonies in its hands and development of their resources. This difference may account, in a measure, for the greater stress which Colbert laid upon the organization of the East India Company, but the principal reason remains that he regarded that company as of much greater importance.

In addition to these two companies, Colbert, during the course of his ministry, organized for various purposes five other commercial companies, namely, the Company of the North, the Company of the Levant, the Company of the Pyrenees, the first and second companies of Senegal.

The Company of the North was organized in 1669 with the purpose of building up a trade with the ports of Northern Europe, especially with those of the Baltic, and thus of making France independent of the Dutch trader. It was granted a monopoly of trade with Holland, the coasts of Germany, Sweden, Norway, Muscovy, and other countries of the North. De Lagny, who was later to become director of commerce, and Colbert de Terron, intendant at Brouage, were especially charged with the direction of the enterprise. Premiums were offered for the exportation and importation of cargoes to and from the North. The king agreed to take on liberal terms, masts, lumber, tar, and other articles necessary for his navy.

It was in this same year that Colbert formed the plan of organizing a new company to re-establish commerce with the Levant. An idea of the importance which he attached to this enterprise maybe gained from a letter which he wrote to one of its prospective directors :

"I beseech you to consider the affair as one of the greatest importance to the interests of the nation and one in which^ consequently, I feel the greatest concern. I feel sure that you will apply yourself with the utmost diligence in order that the enterprise may succeed in accordance with my wishes. "^^

Letters-patent were issued to the Company of the Levant in July, 1670. Its capital was fixed at 3,000,000 livres and the king agreed to furnish one-fourth of it.^^

The Company of the Pyrenees was organized in 1671, in preparation for the war with the Dutch, in order that the royal marine might not lack masts and lumber, supplied ordinarily by trade with the North, which might be interrupted during the war.

Finally, in 1673, a company was organized for the exploitation of Senegal and another for the same purpose in 1679 and 1681. Their history is recorded below.

All of these companies received the attention of Colbert and were organized to do a very definite work in the fulfillment of his larger plans. Their history is interesting, not so much for what they actually accomplished, as for the insight which they give into what he wished to accomplish and attempted to do. It reveals the vast importance which Colbert attached to foreign and colonial commerce.

17 Clement, II, 2, p. 507. Letter to Sir Dallier, January 9, 1670.

18 Bonassieux, Les Grandes Compagnies de Commerce, p. 179.

CHAPTER I The Establishment or the French in the

West Indies and the Commencement

T N the year 1625 there set sail from Dieppe a small brig- ■*• antine, armed with four cannon and equipped with a crew of thirty or forty men, "all of whom were good soldiers, well seasoned and well discipHned." It was commanded by Pierre d'Esnambuc and his companion of fortune, Urbain de Roissey. The latter was known among the English as the "pirate of Dieppe" and records exist of some of his piratical exploits.^ It may be that the two captains sailed as pirates, bent upon finding some prey on the high seas and that their sojourn shortly afterwards at St. Christopher was only an incident in their voyage. Thus the beginning of colonization by the French in the West Indies, which resulted from this sojourn, would seem, as de La Ronciere affirms it to be, the result of an adventure. It may be, on the other hand, that the two captains sailed with definite intentions, for it was affirmed in the permission granted them the following year to estabhsh a colony that these two captains had been in search for some fifteen years "of some fertile lands in good clime which could be colonized by the French." As pirates or as founders of colonies, they set sail to the westward. Near Jamaica they encountered a large Spanish galleon from which, after three hours of fighting, they escaped. They sought refuge with their badly damaged vessel at St.

1 See Du Tertre, Histoire generate des Antilles frangaises, I, 3ff.; de La Ronciere, Histoire de la marine frangaise, IV, 649 ff.; Breard, Documents relatifs a la marine normande, pp. 179, 212, 213; Pierre Margry, Pierre d'Esnambuc.

Christopher, where they arrived probably in the summer of 1625.

Much to their surprise, certainly much to their joy, they found a small band of Frenchmen already established there and living in peace with the savages. It was a band composed of those who from time to time had sought refuge in the island. Thus in their number was Chantail, a refugee from an unsuccessful expedition to Cayenne. D'Esnambuc was hailed with joy as "an angel from heaven" and during his sojourn in the island he came to be "loved as a father, honoured as a chief and obeyed as a master."^ The island proved particularly attractive to him. Its situation impressed him as excellent, its soil as fertile and well adapted to the cultivation of tobacco. The members of the little colony were favourably disposed toward the plan of remaining in the island to form a permanent settlement. D'Esnambuc promised them that he would return to France, seek additional funds and come back to live with them. He straightway loaded his vessel with excellent tobacco and some articles obtained in trade from the Indians and set sail for France. He arrived at Dieppe probably in the summer of 1626.

After selling his cargo at good profit, d'Esnambuc turned his face toward Paris to plead his cause. He appeared clad in such excellent attire and gave such a good account of his voyage that all with whom he talked were convinced of the excellence of the island and of the profit to be gained by its settlement. Thanks to the influence of some friends, he obtained an interview with Richelieu. The great cardinal was so favourably impressed that he decided to aid d'Esnambuc to carry out his plans.

The act of association for the organization of the Company of St. Christopher was drawn up and signed on October 31, 1626. It bore the signature of Richelieu, for the sum of 10,000 livres, of which 8000 livres were to be paid by the gift of a vessel ; of Ruse d'Effiat, intendant general of the marine, for 2000 livres ; of de Flecelles and Bardin-Royer, presidents des comptes, each for 2000 livres ; and of four others for a total of 7000 livres. The initial subscriptions amounted to only 22,000 livres, but the associates pledged their credit to the amount of 45,000 livres. It was proposed to expend the capital of the company for the purchase and equipment of three vessels. The purpose was declared to be the settlement of "the islands of St. Christopher, Barbuda, and the others at the entrance of Peru," situated between the 11th and 18th degrees north latitude and not already occupied by Europeans. The establishment of trade and the conversion of the natives to the Holy Catholic faith were the declared motives. A monopoly of trade for forty years was granted to the company.^

On the same day, October 31, 1626, a formal permit was issued to the two captains to return to St. Christopher. They straightway left Paris, d'Esnambuc going into Normandy and de Roissey into Brittany, in order to enlist settlers. The former succeeded in enlisting 322 men, whom he embarked in La Catholique, a vessel of 250 tons belonging to the company, and the latter, 210 men, whom he embarked in La Cardinale and La Victoire. D'Esnambuc set sail from Havre near the end of January and rejoined de Roissey in Brittany, whence "this little

3 The text of the act of association is to be found in Du Tertre, op. cit., I, 8-11, and in Moreau de Saint-Mery, Loix et Constitutions, I, 18-19. The clause of the document defining the concessions of the company reads as follows: "Pour faire habiter et peupler les isles de St. Christophe et la Barbade et autres situ6es a I'entree du P6rou." The Antilles were very frequently referred to in the seventeenth century as the "isles du Perou." See Breard, op. cit., 145. As to the term "la Barbade," it is used somewhat loosely to refer either to Barbuda or to Barbadoes.