Folios 216-233: Memorandum about India [? drawn up by Law]. It reviews the political...

Folios 216-233: Memorandum about India [? drawn up by Law]. It reviews the political situation and the position of the different princes and the principal establishments and commerce along the coasts: from Mocha (Moka) in the Red Sea, the Persian gulf, the Malabar and Coromandel coasts, with special reference to the need to strengthen Pondicherry, Madras, the bay of Bengal, Sumatra, Java, the Moluccas, the Philippines, China and Japan. It describes how the European companies began and how France is at a great disadvantage compared to England. Only by developing and strengthening the Isle de France can France have her rightful place in trading in India, Batavia, the Cape of Good Hope and even Brazil. It proposes ways of expanding French trade, by the French crown taking over all establishments beyond the Cape of Good Hope from the Compagnie des Indes and setting up a general staff in Pondicherry. There follow military and naval recommendations and proposals for organising commerce. The Isle de France is to become the centre and general depot, with regulations for trade between Europe and the Isle de France and between the Isle de France and the East Indies. Such a plan would damage and might eventually kill English commerce. It outlines the financial benefits to France of freedom of commerce as opposed to the restrictions imposed by the Compagnie des Indes. Above all, the strengthening of Pondicherry is vital.