COLBERT, John Baptiste, Marquis of Segnelay, one of the greatest statesmen whom France ever produced, was born at Paris in 1619, and descended from a respectable family which lived at Rheims in Champagne. His grandfather is said to have been a wine merchant, and his father at first followed the same occupation, but afterwards became clerk to a notary. In 1648, his relation John Baptiste Colbert, lord of St Pouange, preferred him to the service of Le Tellier, secretary of state, whose sister he had married; and here he discovered such diligence and exactness in executing all the commissions which were intrusted to his care, that he quickly became distinguished. One day his master sent him to Cardinal Mazarin, who was then at Sedan, with a letter written by the queen mother, and ordered him to bring it back after that minister had seen it. Colbert carried the letter, and refused to return without it, though the cardinal treated him roughly, used several arts to deceive him, and obliged him to wait for it several days. Some time afterwards, when the cardinal returned to court, and found himself in want of a secretary or amanuensis, he desired Le Tellier to furnish him with a fit person for that employment; and Colbert having been presented to him, the cardinal, who had some remembrance of the young man, desired to know where he had seen him. Colbert was afraid of putting his eminence in mind of Sedan, lest the recollection of his importunacy, in demanding the queen’s letter, should renew the cardinal’s anger; but the cardinal, who divined character better than any man of his time, was so far from disliking him for his fidelity to his former master, that he received him on condition that he should serve him with equal zeal and devotion.

Colbert applied himself wholly to the advancement of his master’s interests, and gave so many marks of his diligence and skill, that the cardinal afterwards made him his intendant. And he accommodated himself so dexterously to the inclinations of the minister, by retrenching his superfluous expenses and otherwise, that he was intrusted with the management of the gainful trade of selling benefices and governments. It was by Colbert’s counsel that the cardinal obliged the governors of frontier places to maintain their garrisons out of the contributions they had exacted; a suggestion with which his eminence was extremely pleased. He was sent to Rome to negotiate the reconciliation of Cardinal de Retz, for which the pope had showed some concern; and to persuade his holiness to consent to the disincameration of Casto, according to the treaty concluded with his predecessor Urban VIII. Upon the whole, Mazarin had so high an opinion of Colbert’s abilities, and withal so strong a sense of his faithful services, that at his death, which happened in 1661, he earnestly recommended his protege to Louis XIV. as the most proper person to regulate the finances, which at that time stood in great need of reformation. Louis accepted the recommendation, and made Colbert intendant of the finances. The latter applied himself to their regulation, and succeeded in his object, although it procured him many enemies, and exposed him to some affronts. France is also indebted to this minister for establishing her trade with the East and West Indies; a project from which she derived innumerable advantages.

In 1664 Colbert became superintendent of buildings, and from that time applied himself to the enlarging and adorning of the royal edifices, which became masterpieces of architecture in their peculiar style; witness the palace of the Thuilleries, the Louvre, St Germain, Fontainbleau, and Chambord. In the same year he founded the Academy of Inscriptions, and in 1666 the still more celebrated Academy of Sciences. France also owes to Colbert all the advantages she has derived from the union of the two seas; a work begun in 1666, and finished in 1680.

In 1669 Colbert was made secretary of state, and intrusted with the management of naval affairs; and his services in this department were answerable to the confidence his majesty reposed in him. He suppressed several offices, which were chargeable, but useless; and perceiving the king’s zeal for the extirpation of heresy, he shut up the chamber instituted by the edicts of Paris and Rouen. He proposed several new regulations concerning criminal courts, and was extremely severe to the parliament of Thoulouse for obstructing the measures he took to carry these improvements into execution. His main design in reforming the tedious methods of proceeding at law, was to give the people more leisure to apply themselves to trade; for the advancement of which he procured an edict, erecting a general insurance office at Paris for merchants and others» In 1672 he was appointed minister of state; but how busied soever he might be in the regulation of public affairs, he never neglected his own or his family’s interest and grandeur, nor missed any opportunity of advancing either. He had been married many years, and had sons and daughters grown up, all of whom, as occasion served, he took care to marry to great persons; for though he had no reason to doubt of his master’s favour, yet he wisely secured his fortune by powerful alliances.

This great minister died of the stone, on the 6th September 1683, in his sixty-fourth year, leaving behind him six sons and three daughters. In his last moments he was attended by Bourdaloue; and when his wife attempted to talk to him of public affairs, he repulsed her, saying, “Vous ne me laisserez done pas même le temps de mourir.” He was of a middle stature, his mien was low and dejected, his air gioomy, and his aspect stern. He slept little, and was very sober. He was of slow conception, but spoke judiciously of every thing after he had once comprehended it. He filled the most important offices with high reputation and credit; and his influence diffused itself throughout every department of the government. Upon the whole, he was a wise, active, public-spirited minister, [7:7:57]attentive to the interests of his master, the happiness of the people, the progress of arts and manufactures, and, in short, to every thing that could advance the credit and interest of his country. Though an enlightened patron of science and literature, Colbert was not himself an author. The work entitled Le Testament Politique de Colbert, published in 1694, is a compilation by another hand, in imitation of the Testament Politique du Cardinal de lłićhlieu.