Page:History of the French in India.djvu/81

A I >M lNlSTKATlON OF LENOIR. 50 pany were removed, and it was left in that year a chap. private Company with a capital of 112,000,000 francs. 1 In consequence of this arrangement there were des- 17 23, patched to Pondichery two ships lapen with merchan- dise. One of these brought out likewise the nomination of M Beauvallier de Courchant to the office of Governor in room of Lenoir. M. Beauvallier assumed office on the 6th October of that year, without, however, in any way interfering with the system of his predecessor. The cargoes of the two ships of 1723 did little more than satisfy the claims which two years' of neglect had produced in the French settlement, and they were able to carry back but a poor return in the shape of merchandise. Nevertheless, from that date to 1726 the Company continued to despatch each year three or four vessels to Pondichery, and by the aid of these the nearly extinct commerce began gradually to revive* Subsequently to 1726 it made still greater progress. The many years of peace, which, with but a slight intermission, signalised the administration of Cardinal Fleury, were of the greatest advantage to the Company and its settlement. Lenoir, who replaced M. Beau- vallier as Governor for the second time on September 4, 1726, had thought it an immense advance on previous transactions, when he was able to transmit to Europe in October, 1727, and January, 1728, merchandise valued at 2,234,385 francs, nearly 9,00,000 rupees ; but in September, 1729, and January, 1730, he sent home cargoes worth 5,404,290 francs, or nearly 2,170,000 rupees ; and although this was an exceptionally good year for the colony, it testifies to the great commercial progress made by the settlement, and to its entire recovery from the state of nullity and depression into which it had fallen in 1722 and 1723. The capital of the Company had been reduced, as we have seen, in 1725, by the withdrawal of 5,000 shares, representing 10,000,000 francs, which were, by a royal decree,