Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/662

656 LOUIS XIV. (FRANCE) lighted in handling arms and in beating drums. His intellectual education was neglected, but much attention was paid to his physical de- velopment, and his natural vanity, egotism, and haughtiness were encouraged rather than checked by his mother and his tutors. The avarice of Cardinal Mazarin induced him to stint the allowance and equipage of the young monarch, who slept upon worn and ragged sheets, and had a most unbecoming and in- sufficient wardrobe. The personal neglect with which he was treated, and the general con- tempt for the royal authority during the trou- bles of the Fronde, made a strong impression on his mind at this period, when for several years he was a passive instrument in the hands of an intriguing minister and a factious no- bility, often forced to fly before triumphant rebels, and to wander a fugitive over his king- dom. It was not till 1652 that he was able to reside undisturbed in Paris, and the recollec- tion of these scenes of anarchy gave him an excessive love of order and of strong govern- ment, and an aversion to the turbulent metrop- olis which finally led him to transfer the seat of government to Versailles. In 1651, at the age of 13, Louis declared himself of age, and assumed the royal authority. He manifested even at this early period much discernment, but he was extremely ignorant of affairs of state, which had been purposely kept from his inspection. In 1653, under the orders of Tu- renne, he accompanied the army in a campaign against the rebellious prince of Conde, who was besieging Arras; and the raising of the siege of that city put an end to the contests of the Fronde. In 1659 peace was concluded with Spain by the treaty of the Pyrenees ; and in fulfilment of an article of the treaty Louis in 1660 married Maria Theresa, daughter of Philip IV. She was handsome and good-na- tured, but weak in intellect, and the king had little affection for her, though he treated her with invariable respect and consideration. Ma- zarin died in 1661, after having ruled France for 18 years. Louis decided henceforth to be his own prime minister; and when he was waited upon after the death of the cardinal by the functionaries of state, and asked to whom they must in future address themselves on questions of public business, the king replied, much to their astonishment, " To myself." His first business was to institute, with the assistance of Colbert, a rigid scrutiny into the condition of the finances. Fouquet, a man of brilliant ability, who had long been minister of finance, had accumulated an enormous for- tune by peculation. By order of the king he was arrested, Sept. 5, 1661, brought to trial, convicted, and condemned to perpetual im- prisonment. He was succeeded by Colbert, under whose administration order was restored in the finances, the revenue greatly increased, manufactures established, and every species of internal improvement promoted. In foreign affairs, the first act of Louis announced to the world that henceforth the king of France was determined to make himself respected by his neighbors. In 1661 a quarrel broke out at London between D'Estrades, the French am- bassador at the English court, and Vatteville, the Spanish ambassador. The latter claimed precedence of the former on the ground that Spain stood higher than France in the scale of nations. An encounter took place between their respective retinues during a public pro- cession, which resulted in the discomfiture of the French ambassador, whose carriage was broken to pieces, his horses killed, and his son and several of his attendants wounded, while the Spanish ambassador forcibly took prece- dence in the procession. Louis, when he re- ceived the news, immediately ordered the Span- ish ambassador at his own court to quit France, recalled the French ambassador from Madrid, and sent a message to the king of Spain de- claring that if he did not at once admit the right of France to precedence and make a formal apology for the outrage at London, he might prepare for immediate war. The Span- ish monarch yielded to this threat, and sent a special ambassador, who on March 24, 1662, waited upon Louis at Fontainebleau, and, in the presence of all the foreign ministers then resident at the court, declared, in the name of his royal master, that henceforward the Span- ish ambassadors should never compete with those of France. The duke de Crequi, French ambassador at Rome, got into a quarrel with the pope's brother and with the papal guards, in which some of the ambassador's servants were wounded and one killed. The pope made such reparation as would have satisfied any of the French king's predecessors; some of the guards were hanged, and the governor of Rome was dismissed from office for not having pre- vented the riot. Louis, however, demanded ampler atonement, and began to march troops toward the Italian frontier. The pope became frightened, and at length consented to disband his guard, to exile his brother, to send a cardi- nal to Paris to make a formal apology, and to build a monument in Rome recording the offence and its reparation. The energy and determination displayed by Louis in these affairs made a deep impression on the whole of Europe, and, with the increasing order and prosperity of France, made him greatly ad- mired and beloved at home. His power in his own kingdom was now entirely absolute ; his famous saying, ISetat c'est moi, "I am the state," was literally true. His administra- tion was efficiently supported by accomplished statesmen and great generals. The internal affairs, directed by Colbert, and the depart- ment of war, by Louvois, were both in the highest state x>f order and efficiency; and a powerful navy, commanded by the duke of Beaufort, the grandson of Henry IV., main- tained the power of France upon the ocean. The other nations of Europe were at the time distracted and enfeebled by internal evils or