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1664] The Company of the West founded. 79 the Ministry of Marine came under his reforms. He seized the oppor- tunity opened by a proposed Company of Equinoctial France centring in Cayenne, to form a scheme for the consolidation of the whole of the French colonies in Canada, the West Indies and Guiana under one great Company, to be controlled by himself. The prices at which the islands had been sold and were now bought back give the best view of their relative value. Martinique with the adjacent islands had been sold for 60,000 tivres and developed so well under proprietary government, through the introduction of sugar industries by Dutch Jews, that it now cost 240,000. The claims sold to the Maltese Knights for 120,000 livres now cost 500,000 ; and Guadaloupe and its adjacent islands, sold for 73,000 livres, cost 125,000 to buy back. In 1664 letters patent were issued constituting a new Company of the West, with a monopoly of trade for forty years in Canada, Acadia, Newfoundland, the Antilles, Cayenne and the land between the Orinoco and the Amazon, as also on all the coast of Africa, from Cape Verde to the Cape of Good Hope, and in particular on the coast of Guinea and Senegal, so that a supply of slaves might be forthcoming. The number of shareholders was unlimited, and official and social privileges of many kinds were offered by the government to large subscribers. The govern- ment offered a bounty on every ton of merchandise imported or exported, and freedom from duty on all goods re-exported from France and on the export of military stores or provisions for shipping. It also proposed to contribute a tenth of the total capital yearly for the next four years, and afterwards to continue this endowment as a loan. The Company was to have entire lordship over the whole of the lands named, saving only homage to the King; also full powers to fortify, to form alliances, and to engage in war. Subinfeudation was not made compulsory ; nor were any terms imposed except that the Company, remembering the King's sacred purpose to convert the savage nations, should send out clergy and build churches. All emigrants, all children born in the colonies, and all converted natives were to have the privileges of naturalised Frenchmen. The nomination of governors and officials lay with the Company; and an annual meeting of the Chamber of Direction was to be held in Paris. The government offered all these privileges in order to attract the necessary capital for colonisation on a grand scale. The close relation of the Company to the government renders the French scheme of chartered companies unlike that of other countries. It was in fact only a step to the ultimate buying out of the shareholders, which, as no conditions were dictated to the Company, was doubtless foreseen by Colbert. From the first the Company tacitly allowed the Crown to appoint the chief officials. The lieutenant-general and the governors of the islands, being invested with military powers, corresponded with the