_From the original by P. Mignard
in the Collection of the Institute at Paris._
Under the Superintendance of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge.
_London. Published by Charles Knight, Ludgate Street._
]
Colbert, in his daily intercourse with the minister, had many
opportunities for explaining and exposing to his youthful master the
malversations and abuses practised in all matters connected with the
revenue. Louis, therefore, was already prepossessed in his favour, and
at once appointed him Intendant of Finance. But Fouquet, the chief
minister of that department, interfered both with Colbert’s hopes of
promotion, and his power of introducing any beneficial reforms. Fouquet
was a patron of art and learning, of generous temper, and agreeable
manners; but he was a corrupt and lavish financier, and his unbounded
expenses were defrayed from the public purse. To attempt reform under
such a superior was hopeless; and to declare open hostility was
dangerous: avoiding both these perils, Colbert made it his business
privately to open the eyes of Louis to the frauds practised on the
government. In this he succeeded. Fouquet was displaced in 1661, and
Colbert succeeded to his functions, with the new title of Comptroller
General of Finance. His conduct in this affair did not escape censure,
and the epithet of traitor was liberally bestowed upon him by the
friends of Fouquet. It is clear that Colbert was right in bringing to
justice the frauds of his predecessor; and it is easier to expose
continued, than to give proof of foregone abuses. But, in such cases as
this, concealment and duplicity are separated by a very uncertain
boundary; and while we hesitate, in the absence of minute information,
to stigmatize with treachery this high-minded and unbending man, we must
confess that his character would have been spared some obloquy, if his
hostility to the rival whom he supplanted had been more open.
In 1669, Colbert, in addition to his other offices, assumed the
functions of Secretary of State and Minister of Marine; but from the
year 1670 his influence declined, in proportion as his rival Louvois
obtained a greater ascendency over the king’s mind. He died, September
6, 1683, unregretted by the king, who owed the means of his greatness to
him; and lampooned and hated by the people, for whose relief he had done
more, both by the correction of abuses, and by opening new sources of
national wealth, than any French minister either before or since.
To estimate his services properly, it must not be forgotten that, since
the time of Sully, no minister had seriously endeavoured to lighten the
public burdens, to reform the system of taxation, or to introduce order
and economy into the public expenditure; and the good which Sully had
done was neglected or undone in the long administrations of Richelieu
and Mazarin. When Colbert came into office, all was in confusion: taxes
were levied without system; money spent without thought how to meet the
expenditure; new taxes imposed and farmed to collectors, as new wants
for money occurred; until disorder reached such a height, that as the
nominal taxes were increased, the money paid into the treasury
diminished. The whole was a system of shifts, temporising, and
corruption, in which every public servant felt the insecurity of his
position, and made the most of his opportunities while they lasted. The
first business of the new Comptroller General was to introduce strict
order into every department of the revenue, and to render every
subordinate officer duly responsible. Under the pernicious system which
exempted the nobility from payment of direct taxes, a great number of
persons had fraudulently assumed titles, and claimed rank, while another
class had obtained immunity from taxation, by the prostitution of
court-favour, or the abuse of official privileges. These cases Colbert
caused to be investigated, and those who failed in making out a legal
claim to immunity, were compelled to pay their share of the public
burdens, to the relief of the labouring classes, on whom nearly the
whole weight of taxation fell. A more extensive relief was afforded by
modifying and diminishing the existing imposts; which was done with so
much judgment, that the revenue was improved, in consequence of the
stimulus thus given to industry. Colbert abolished most of the
provincial tolls, which offered a continual temptation to fraud, and a
constant hinderance to internal trade: he mitigated the _taille_, which
pressed most heavily upon the poor cultivators of the soil: he improved
the means of transport, by altering old roads, cutting new ones, and
digging canals, especially the celebrated Canal of Languedoc, connecting
the Mediterranean and Atlantic. By these facilities of communication the
interests of agriculture and trade were alike promoted: but to the
improvement of the latter, to render France a manufacturing nation, and
to increase her commercial resources in every respect, the minister’s
attention was particularly directed. The silk trade of Lyons; the cloth
trade of Abbeville, Elbœuf, and Louviers; the celebrated Parisian
manufactories of plate-glass and tapestry, with other sources of wealth,
owed their commencement or their extension to his care. To tempt capital
and talent into these new employments, Colbert advanced sums of money
without interest; he granted exemptions, honorary distinctions, and even
letters of nobility. By another regulation, which shows a mind advanced
beyond the prejudices of his day, liberty was granted to the nobility to
enter into commerce, and for a time to lay down their rank; with the
power of resuming it, when the purpose of their temporary industry had
been answered. Thus far the valuable services, and the enlightened views
of the minister, will be acknowledged by all; but when it is added that
the infant manufactures of France were propped by prohibitory laws,
minute regulations, and protecting duties, the agreement ceases; and the
two great parties which respectively support and oppose free trade, will
judge him in accordance to their opinions on this important subject. So
also with respect to another great question, the free or limited
exportation of corn. M. Necker, in his ‘Eloge de Colbert,’ has argued
strongly in favour of the course which the minister pursued, of opening
and shutting the ports by royal edict, as the exigencies of the season
seemed to require; and his authority is entitled to respect, from those
who hesitate to admit the soundness of his arguments on this subject.
But whatever judgment be passed on Colbert’s policy touching these
questions, it should not be forgotten, in estimating his character, that
at the time, political economy had no existence as a science, and that
he had to think out for himself the principles which conduct nations to
wealth and happiness. What wonder then if old prejudices did sometimes
stand in his way, or if he deviated from the straight line to his
object, where there was no track to guide him?
A similar difference of opinion may exist upon another of Colbert’s
measures,—the establishment of trading companies to the East and West
Indies, and to Africa, with exclusive privileges. Here again his policy
has had an able advocate in M. Necker. Under Colbert’s administration,
the colonial possessions of France were extended; fisheries were
encouraged; a new trade was opened with the North of Europe, and a fresh
impulse given to that with the Levant; while the depredations of the
Mediterranean pirates were repressed by arms, the only arguments to
which they have ever listened. The effect of his sedulous attention to
the springs of national wealth, is shortly shown in the comparison given
in the ‘Biographie Universelle,’ of the state of the revenue at the
epochs of Colbert’s accession to office, and of his death. At the
former, there was a debt of 52 millions of livres, and a revenue of 89
millions; at the latter, a debt of 32 millions, while the revenue was
increased to 115 millions: at the former, the disposable revenue was
only 32 millions; at the latter, it amounted to 83; yet the oppressive
_taille_ had been reduced in the interval from 53 millions to 35. And it
is to be remembered, that the operations of the financier were not
assisted by an economical and peaceful monarch: on the contrary, vast
sums were lavished in courtly pomp, and a series of wars was carried on
with vigour and eminent success.
As Minister of Marine, he displayed his usual ability. He raised the
French Fleet from insignificance to hold the second rank in Europe; and
gave scope for the talents of Duquesne, Forbin, Jean Bart, and other
eminent naval men, to display themselves.
Strict in his attention to economy, Colbert never showed a niggardly
disregard to the arts and sciences, which furnish our best and most
intellectual pleasures, and offer the purest incentives for men to
labour in amassing national or individual wealth. France, under his
administration, saw a profuse expenditure in works of public splendour
or utility; and Paris owes to him a large portion of the magnificence
which it now boasts. The Quays, the Boulevards, the Palace of the
Tuileries, the Hotel des Invalides, &c., were improved or constructed
under his care; and the splendid colonnade of the Louvre was designed
and executed by Perrault, a native artist, in preference to the Italian,
Bernini. Colbert was anxious to persuade the king to complete the Louvre
in preference to wasting money on the sandy plains of Versailles. “Your
Majesty knows,” he said, “that in the absence of dazzling actions
nothing so strongly indicates greatness of mind in princes as splendour
in building. While you have spent immense sums in Versailles, you have
neglected the Louvre, which is the grandest palace in the world, and the
one most worthy of your Majesty.” Nor was he careless of more homely
improvements; for the paving, lighting, and watching of the capital were
remodelled, and taken under the charge of government.
To literary and scientific merit, Colbert was a liberal and active
patron. At his instance Louis XIV. granted pensions to the most
distinguished _savans_ of Europe, as well foreigners as Frenchmen; and
though the amount of the gratifications thus conferred was not large, it
was sufficient to make the praises of ‘Le Grand Monarque,’ as of a
second Augustus, ring through Europe. Under his auspices were founded
the Académie des Inscriptions, and the Académie des Sciences; the
Academies of Painting and Sculpture, and the School of Rome, whither the
most promising pupils of the Parisian Academies were sent to complete
their studies. The King’s Library, and the Jardin des Plantes, were
extended; the Observatory of Paris was founded; and the celebrated
astronomers, Cassini and Huygens, were invited thither.
Such is the outline of Colbert’s ministerial life. He accomplished much;
but the will of an opinionated master, and the jealousy of his
ministerial colleagues, especially the celebrated Louvois, compelled him
to leave much undone, which he would gladly have done, and to undo,
before his death, some of the good which he had done. His plans were
deranged by long and expensive wars; and he was obliged to reimpose
taxes which he had taken off, and to yield to abuses which he had at
first successfully resisted. The good which he had done was then
forgotten. He would have escaped much unpopularity by resigning office
as soon as his views were thwarted, and his principles laid aside; but
if he acted from a desire to serve his country by doing for her the best
which was permitted, and mitigating evils which he could not prevent, he
had his reward in the solitude of his closet for the ingratitude of the
public. Yet it is a severe trial for one who has laboured zealously for
his countrymen, to exchange their admiration for their hatred; and that
not because he has himself changed, but because the change of
circumstances has crippled his powers. That courtiers and nobles should
have disliked and persecuted Colbert is no wonder; but it was hard that
he, who had lent his whole mind to the relief of the productive classes,
should have incurred the hate of the people to such a degree, that from
a fear of outrage to his remains, his funeral was celebrated by night,
and under military escort. The readiness with which his services were
forgotten may be ascribed, in part, to his disposition and manners,
which were cold and unconciliating. The king said of him, that in spite
of his long residence at court, he had always preserved the air and
manner of a _bourgeois_; and his piercing eye, his stern and frowning
brow, were calculated to assist the natural austerity of his temper, and
to exact obedience, not to inspire good-will.
The ‘Vies des Hommes Illustres de France,’ by D’Auvigny, is said to
contain a good life of Colbert. The materials of this account are
principally derived from the Eloge of M. Necker, (which obtained the
prize of the Académie Française in 1775,) and partly from the Biographie
Universelle.
[Illustration:
[Interior of the Libraire du Roi, formerly Libraire du Panthéon.]
]
[Illustration]