Page:Cambridge Modern History Volume 7.djvu/117

-less] Canadian trade. 85 commanded the junction of the three Lakes, Superior, Michigan, and Huron. Discovery was then pushed down the Illinois to the Mississippi; and the knowledge of a great waterway to the Gulf of Mexico determined the lines of future Canadian policy. To command the western trade, and the eastern head of Lake Ontario, Frontenac built in 1673 Fort Cataraqui, afterwards Fort Frontenac (now Kingston). From 1664 to 1683 the colony was nursed with the utmost care by Colbert. He directed the governor and the intendant alike to encourage the export of charcoal, tar, potash, to sow hemp and flax, to foster a trade with the French West Indies, and to encourage Canadian shipping, sedentary fisheries, mining, the breeding of cattle and the clearing of forest land. His instinctive bent was industrial rather than agricultural; but he saw that Canada needed development in every direction. In 1679 the total number of arpents cleared was put at 21,900, the population at 9400. Of horses there were only 145, most of these having been sent by Colbert himself. The horned cattle numbered 6983, sheep only 719, goats 33, asses 12. The need for live-stock was so great that Colbert forbade the slaughtering of any domestic animals capable of breeding. The colony still possessed but one trade, that in furs. In 1667 Talon estimated the value of the exported furs at 550,000 limes. The colony continued in constant need of support from the Crown, and sums varying from 20,000 to 200,000 livres were sent annually to the intendant, according as the demands for European expenses were large or small. In the West Indies Colbert ruled the Company of the West during the ten years of its existence with an equally firm hand, seeking from the first to secure a wide liberty of commerce for French subjects within its dominions. It was seen that the profits of the West Indies went for the most part to the filibusters and buccaneers. As members of the strange commonwealth which was established by these outlaws, the French showed themselves peculiarly skilful in the art of self-government and in the framing of codes. The buccaneers took up constitution- making on a small scale, it is true, and merely in order that each pirate-group might secure a share in the booty for which life had been risked ; but their work was not without influence on the more peacefully minded settlers. The cry for open trade, open to all Frenchmen, if not to all nations, was raised with persistency by each succeeding governor ; and there are many indications that the French West Indians asked and took a freer lead in the defence of their own interests than the Canadian farmers. It is seen in the greater importance of the Council in Martinique, which in 1668 was made the seat of civil and military government, Guadaloupe becoming dependent on Martinique. The Council being framed on the pattern of the Parlement, it was intended that it should consist of professed lawyers; but, as these were not CH. III.