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of Choctas,
Fort Toulouse, a small military post, was
built and garrisoned.
After a short period of hostilities, which sprung, in part, from the influence of Eng-
lish traders among the Chickasas, the too powerful
Bienville chanted the calumet with the great chief of
the
Natchez; and
Fort Rosalie, built chiefly by the natives, protected the
French commercial establishment in their village.
Such was the origin of the city of
Natchez.
In the
Mississippi valley, it takes rank, in point of age, of every settlement south of
Illinois.
The monopoly of
Crozat was terminated by its surrender.
The mines, and commerce, and boundless extent, of
Louisiana were now invoked to relieve the burden and renew the credit of the metropolis.
The human mind is full of trust; men in masses always have faith in the approach of better times; humanity abounds in hope.
The
valley of the Mississippi inflamed the imagination of
France: anticipating the future, the
French nation beheld the certain opulence of coming ages as within their immediate grasp; and John Law, who possessed the entire confidence of the regent, obtained the whole control of the commerce of
Louisiana and
Canada.
The debt which Louis XIV.
bequeathed to his successor, after arbitrary reductions, exceeded two thousand millions of livres; and, to meet the annual interest of eighty millions, the surplus revenues of the state did not yield more than nine millions.
Hence the national securities were of uncertain value; and the national burdens exceeded the national resources.
In this period of depression, John Law proposed to the regent a credit system, which should liberate the state from its enormous burden, not by loans, on which interest must be paid,—not by taxes, that would be burdensome
