Page:The story of Illinois (IA Storyofillinois00peas).djvu/34

The French Regime Rh

the Mississippi, in search of furs. Their presence antedated even that of the Jesuit.

Both Jesuit and fur trader found their place in the new imperialism developing in France with the accession to power in 1660 of Louis xiv. Colbert, Louis' great minister of finance, had imbibed the mercantilist idea of the value of colonies in making the mother country strong and self-sufficing, and his policy looked to strengthening the colony of Canada and extending its bounds and trade. The exponents of his policy in Canada were the Intendant, Jean Talon, and after 1672 the Governor Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac. Troops were sent to Canada in sufficient force to inspire the Iroquois with respect and produce a peace in 1667. In a great military ceremony at Sault Ste. Marie in 1671, St. Lusson took possession of the west in the name of Louis xiv. Where Jesuit and trader had come before by sufferance of the Indians the imperialist followed secure in armed might.

In extension of this policy, Louis Joliet, already explorer of Lake Erie, was sent in 1673, accompanied by the Jesuit Father Jacques Marquette to search out the Mississippi River. Reaching it by the Fox-Wisconsin portage they floated down as far as the Arkansas country. Having determined that the river must flow into the Gulf of Mexico, and fearing capture by the