The development of French colonial ambition was also due largely to the sagacity and labor of Colbert. The French had not been very successful in the East, but Colbert turned his attention to the more promising field of the western world. Before Jamestown was built or the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock the French had planted feeble colonies in New Foundland (1535) and Nova Scotia (1602). This territory, called "Arcadia," was ceded to England by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713.* They also made settlements in New Brunswick (1672) and Cape Breton Island (1714), but the most important French colony was that of Canada (1608) which lay along the St. Lawrence with its post of Quebec. From this French missionaries and explorers pushed further west, and were the first white men to behold the Falls of Niagara and explore the Great Lakes. Trading posts were established by them in the region around the Great Lakes, and later these became centers and rallying points of civilization. Such were Detroit and Chicago. In 1673 Fathers Marquette and Joliet discovered the Mississippi River and sailed down it to Arkansas. Nine years later Robert de La Salle completed the work which they had begun by passing down the river to its entrance into the Gulf, and taking possession of the country on its banks and at its mouth in the name of his king, in whose honor he named it Louisiana.

*On account of the disloyalty of the people to England, which amounted to openly assisting the French in the wars which occurred between the two nations, the people of Arcadia were inhumanly punished by England in 1755. Seven thousand of them were forcibly put aboard ships and transported to the English colonies, where they were scattered around. Their villages were burned and their fields destroyed.

It became one of the ambitions of Louis XIV to glorify his reign by creating for France a colonial dominion on the banks of the great "Father of Waters" which would rival or eclipse the flourishing colonies of England on the Atlantic coast. Accordingly several expeditions were sent out from time to time to colonize the new territory of Louisiana; the Mississippi Company was formed under the management of the visionary financial theorist, John Law. Money was lavished upon the enterprise, and emigrants were sent thither. New Orleans was founded and settlements made up the river as far as the present city of Natchez. Upon this sickly colony and previous explorations the French laid claim to the whole Mississippi Valley and the vast domain stretching away to the northwest.* But the English claimed that their possession of the Atlantic seacoast carried with it a valid title to the country in the interior for an indefinite extent westward. In conformity with this idea the charters of several of the English colonies read to include territory stretching across the continent from sea to sea. This was the basis of the conflict between the English and French colonies in America. When the two nations were at peace, the controversy led only to border disputes, but when England and France were at war, their respective colonies in America also engaged in a murderous conflict, intensified and made more shocking by the Indian element enlisted in it. A plan was formed by the French to construct a line of forts stretching from Lake Erie down the Ohio River, and thence down the Mississippi to Louisiana, thus hemming in the British settlement on the east of the Alle-ghaneys. This project soon brought on a conflict with the Ohio Company, an association formed in London and Virginia, which had obtained from the crown a large tract of land along the Ohio River, where it had erected trading posts. George Washington, then a young officer in the militia service, was sent out to warn the French away. Receiving an unsatisfactory answer, General Braddock with a body of troops was later sent out to drive them away. The story of the conflict which followed, lasting ten years (1753-1763), resulting in the campaign against Quebec and the death of Wolf on the Heights of Abraham, is familiar history. By the treaty of peace which followed the French relinquished all claims in North America except the Territory of Louisiana.*

♦The Louisiana Territory purchased in 1803 by the United States from France extended northward to practically the boundary line of British America. This boundary was somewhat indefinite. Thence it extended westward to the territory of Oregon and took in the whole of the United States west of the Mississippi river except Texas, Washington, Oregon, California and what the United States got from Mexico by treaty and purchases.

Colbert applied himself diligently to building up manufactures at home and commerce abroad. He encouraged trade with the French colonies in Canada and the West Indies,t as well as with the Mediterranean coast and Africa. Under his influence heavy duties were imposed on imports in order to stimulate

♦By the treaty of Utrecht In 1713 the French had ceded to England, New Foundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the Hudson Bay Territory.

France acquired Guiana in 1626, colonized Guadeloupe in 1634 and Martinique in 1635. Acquired a portion of Hayti in 1697, which it held until 1797.

Contentions between English and French Colonies home productions, and bounties and subsidies were given to encourage exports. Commercial treaties were formed and trading companies organized to develop new fields of production and commerce, such as the Territory of Louisiana. The imports at the time were chiefly raw silk, wool, flax, cattle and colonial products, coffee, sugar, tobacco and spices. The exports were mostly wine, fine silk goods, and woolen cloth. But notwithstanding the efforts of Colbert and the great ability which he displayed in fostering the commercial interests of France during the reign of Louis XIV, the prosperity of the kingdom did not rest upon a stable and permanent foundation. The wars which were waged by the king for the purpose of enlarging his realm and glorifying his reign made France under Louis XIV the foremost power in Europe, but drained the country of money and men. The oppressive taxation necessary in order to carry on these wars, maintain an extravagant court and withal construct the grand palace and gardens at Versailles, which outshone all the kingly palaces of Europe, together with the religious dissensions and persecutions which stirred up the country, made commercial and industrial progress and prosperity difficult and uncertain. Had it not been for the natural productiveness of the fields and vineyards of France, and the rich territory of Alsace, Burgundy and Flanders wrung from Germany as trophies of the Thirty-years war, it is difficult to conceive how the people could have carried their burden.

One of the most serious blows to the prosperity of the people, as well as the greatest blot of shame upon the reign of Louis XIV, was his persecution of the Huguenots. He believed that the unity of the church was inseparable from a perfect monarchy, and hence began a series of oppressive proceedings against all dissenters from the established religion. Colbert, who esteemed the Huguenots as active, industrious and thrifty citizens, prevented for a time these violent measures, but his influence was not sufficient to stay the hand of illtempered religious zeal. The Huguenots were excluded from office and denied many civil and political rights. The number of their churches was limited, and these were confined to a few of the principal towns; children were torn from their parents and brought up as Catholics, and finally companies of cavalry were sent among these quiet people to coerce and intimidate them. At last (1685) came the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, taking away all rights from them. Their religious worship was forbidden, their churches were destroyed, their preachers banished and their schools closed. When the emigration from the realm became so serious as to be really alarming, it was strictly forbidden, and the shores and boundaries of France were closely guarded. But despite threats and guards, more than half a million industrious, law-abiding and wealth-producing citizens left France, carrying with them their industry and their faith. Many of them went to England, and others to Holland, carrying their silk manufacturing and stocking weaving with them. Still others settled in Switzerland and Germany, while a few found their way to America and settled in North Carolina.*

•The Edict of Nantes was a decree of toleration issued by Henry IV in 1598 guaranteeing freedom of worship and equality of rights to Protestants.