Jean Baptiste Colbert was born at Rheims, August 29, 1619. His relations, both on the father’s and on the mother’s side, were connected with the civil service of the state. This facilitated his entrance into public life, and may have been the means of directing his mind to the study of statistics, and of the causes of national wealth and greatness: for to these abstruse pursuits it appears that he devoted his attention from an early age. He entered into the service of the Secretary of State, Tellier, in 1648. Tellier introduced him to the prime minister, Mazarin, who exercised the authority of a regent during the minority of Louis XIV.; and having gained the esteem of Mazarin, to whose interests he remained firmly attached during the stormy period of the Fronde, he was rewarded, on the minister’s final triumph over his enemies, by an entire confidence, and an abundant share of lucrative, honourable, and important employment. Mazarin died in 1661, and on his death-bed recommended Colbert to his master in these strong terms:—“I owe every thing to you, Sire; but in presenting Colbert to you, I regard my debt as in some sort acquitted.”

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, Elboeuf, 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.