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26 there remained only the monopoly of tobacco and the grant of perpetuity. In other respects it was placed upon the footing of the original Company founded by Colbert in 1664.

Meanwhile the agents of the Company at Pondichery were exerting themselves to maintain, with insufficient means, the position acquired for the settlement by Martin. In 1718 M. de la Provostière had succeeded Hébert. On his death in 1721 M. Lenoir, a man of ability and energy, assumed the reins of office. Then it was that affairs took a turn for the better. The Company formed by Law had taken the earliest opportunity to despatch to India three merchantmen, richly laden, and those arrived just as Lenoir assumed office. Their coming was most opportune. The credit of the settlement was at its lowest ebb. Debts contracted at Surat, and at the other small factories previously mentioned, were crying loud against the Company. In the profits to be made from the cargoes of the new arrivals Lenoir, a prudent man, recognised the means of restoring the Company's credit. He used them for that purpose. The remedy, though great for the moment, was but transitory in its effects. The financial crash, and its consequence to the fortunes of the Company in Paris, reacted in India. For the three years that followed no ships arrived from Europe. In 1723 the settlement was reduced to the direst straits. The local agents had neither money, nor merchandise, nor resources. Lenoir, too, on the strength of the promise