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 charge of Fort St. Louis on his going to France the last time. Tonty supposing that La Salle had returned with his intended colony to the mouth of the Mississippi, had descended, to visit him. But not being able to find him, Tonty had left this letter in the hands of the natives who had carefully preserved it for thirteen years.

The little daughter of France, thus cast upon the burning sands of the Mexican Gulf, struggled through a miserable infancy. The men, many of whom were of a reckless character, instead of pursuing the slow, but sure way of acquiring a subsistence, wealth and independence, by opening farms and tilling the fertile soil and raising stock, spent their time in roving over the country in search of game and gold mines. Whenever game failed, or supplies from France, the colony was in a suffering condition.

In 1712, France being plunged again in war was unable to lend assistance to her “infant child” across the waters. For the benefit of the colony, she sells the monopoly of Louisiana to Crozat, a merchant prince, who hoped by discovering and working mines, and by opening a traffic with Mexico, to make a wonderful speculation. But in this he was doomed to disappointment. In 1717, having lost his fortune—though he had labored more for his own aggrandizement than the good of the colony—he surrenders his privileges.

But other speculators were not intimidated by the failure of Crozat. Louisiana passed the same year into the hands of the western company. This corporation had absolute sovereignty over Louisiana, except homage and fealty to the King of France. The association was headed by John Law, a notorious gambler and swindler, and was organized just on the eve of his financial glory with a charter for twenty-seven years.