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Pacific Press Publishing Co. · New York · December 1, 1898

FromAmerican Sentinel, Vol. 13, No. 47

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Studies in French History.—49.

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

“To-Day, we will learn a little about a great man named Colbert, in connection with the reign of Louis XIV., whose minister and adviser he became after the vain Fouquet was banished.”
“Excuse me, professor,” said Milly Brown, blushing, “but I don’t remember that you have told us how King Louis looked. I’d like to know, if you please.”
“Well, Milly, I think it is a good plan to form a mental picture of those people whose history we are studying; so I will mention that this king who, by the way, reigned longer than any of the kings of France, was a short man in stature, and because of this fact he always wore a large wig having very stiff curls, which would stand up on his royal head and so make him seem taller; for the same reason he wore boots with heels that were four inches high.”
“Why,” smiled Milly, “he must have felt as if he were walking on stilts.”
“I suppose he was as vain as he was ignorant. History says that he could neither read, nor write, and yet on account of the victories which he gained over the surrounding countries, he was called Louis the Great.”
“Whatever the king did was the fashion at once; so it soon became the style to wear high heels and pompous-looking wigs. It also became stylish,—not because it was right, but because the king did so,—to be very polite. But the bad part of it was that this smooth way of talking covered up a great deal of deceit and hypocrisy.”
“When the great and good man Colbert became minister, or chief adviser of the king, he found that the country was in a most deplorable condition. The working people were paying enormous taxes, while the rich did not pay any at all. This so impoverished the poor people that they were actually forced to eat grass and roots to keep alive.”
“I don’t see why they didn’t raise food in their gardens,” said Maggie Palmeter. “Seems to me it would have been just the thing.”
“Without doubt it would have, but they were all so weak and starved that they had no strength, and the oxen which they might have used to help them, had all gone for taxes. Well, Colbert changed all this, and that so quickly that it seemed almost magical. He levied a tax upon the rich instead of the poor, so that no one was distressed. Indeed, he did a great deal to better the condition of the country. At last, France having made peace with Spain, and won many victories by the skill and valor of the great warriors, Condi and Turenne, England, Holland, and Sweden bound themselves by a Triple Alliance to stand by each other, in case France threatened either themselves or any other weaker nation.”
“Did they keep their promise very long, I wonder?” asked Harry Ray.
“No; at least the king of England did not, for King Louis actually bribed him to break league with Holland and Sweden, if he would pay him a pension yearly; this the shameless king of England did, though I don’t see how he could have enjoyed his pension very much. Then Louis proceeded at once to invade Holland.”
“O, I wonder if that is the time when the people cut the dykes down, and let the North Sea flood the country?” asked Edna Philips.
“It is the very time when they did it; and so Louis was obliged to go back home to keep out of the water. But not being satisfied with this experience, the exasperated king determined to fight with Germany.”
“I did not know that Germany was having any trouble with France,” said practical Jack.
“It was not, and in this war Germany made no resistance. The French troops simply devastated the country and brutally killed the unarmed people. At last after a great deal more trouble and bloodshed, the details of which it is not needful to learn, the Peace of Nimeguen was signed by the conflicting powers, and quiet reigned for a little while.”
“France must have been quite a powerful country now, wasn’t it?” asked Charlie White.
“Yes, in the days of Louis XIV. it was the most important country in all Europe; and now that peace had come, the improvements brought about by the wise Colbert, in changing the tax system were at once apparent. Industries sprung up everywhere and France began to prosper. A great canal across Southern France was made to facilitate navigation. Superb carpets and magnificent dress goods were woven, and the finest of plate glass made.”
“It does me good to hear about peace and prosperity once more,” said Julia March.
“It does me good to tell about it, Julia, and the poor war-stricken and tax-tormented people must have enjoyed it immensely. But prosperity did not reign after the death of the wise Colbert. In fact, before his death, Louis did some very foolish and extravagant things, one of which was to build a magnificent palace at Versailles, which cost almost $200,000,000.”
“Why, he already had a splendid one at St. Germain, didn’t he?” asked Rob Billings.
“Yes, but he didn’t like to live in it at all, because from it he could see the towers of the cathedral where he knew he must one day lie down and sleep the sleep of death.”
“But still,” said romantic Milly Brown, “it must have been grand to have lived in such a fine palace. Please tell us more about it.”
“The paintings and sculpture in and about this fairy land were alone worth fortunes. The grounds surrounding it were sixty miles around them, and water was brought from a river which, at an original distance of ninety miles away, was turned from its natural bed. But when we think that all this came from the pockets of the poor, it does not seem half so beautiful.”
“Why didn’t Colbert talk to the king about such extravagance?” asked practical Jack.
“He did, Jack; but the king would not heed him, though he wrote and told Louis that these things caused him ‘incredible pain’; the king treated him very badly, indeed, though at last just before the good man died, Louis wrote him a very kind letter.”
“That must have done Colbert good,” remarked Charlie.
“It might have, but he did not open it, thinking the king had only sent it to reproach him still more. But the saddest thing of all is that the very people whom this great man had so served, now turned against him, and cursed him, declaring he had robbed them. So he was buried secretly, for fear of them. But Colbert had not long been dead before the peasants were forced to dig up their lands with their hands, because they could not plough, not having any oxen.”
“I suppose the king didn’t mind this state of things,” remarked Julia March.
“O no; he still strutted about with his high heels and his curly wig, which a servant handed him on the end of a long cane every morning. Next week we will continue our studies till the death of King Louis, for his long, long reign came to an end at length.”
MRS. L. D. AVERY-STUTTLE.