Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/141

Rh bewail with tears the ruin which he declared the duke of Buckingham was bringing upon the country. At the close of the session he retired into private life ; and the six years that remained to him were spent in revising and improving the works upon which, at least as much as upon his public career, his fame now rests. He died on the 3d September 1633.

1em  COLBERG, or, a fortified seaport town of Prussia, in the former province of Pomerania, and the govern ment of Kosliu, on the right bank of the Persante, which falls into the Baltic about a mile below the town. It has a handsome market-place, adorned since 1864 with a statue of Frederick William IV. ; and there are several pretty extensive suburbs, of which the most important is the Munde, in great measure the growth of the present century. The principal buildings are the cathedral of St Mary s, one of the most remarkable churches in Pomerania, dating from 1316, the council-house erected after the plans of Zwirner, the citadel, and the aqueduct by which the town is supplied with water. Colbergalso possesses several hos pitals, a workhouse, a house of correction, an orphan asylum, a gymnasium, a preparatory school of navigation, and an exchange. Its bathing establishments are largely frequented and attract a considerable number of summer visitors. Woollen cloth and spirits are manufactured ; there is an extensive salt-mine in the neighbouring Zillenberg ; the salmon and lamprey fisheries are important ; and a fair amount of commercial activity is maintained. Population in 1872, 13,106.

1em  COLBERT, (1619-1683), one of the greatest among the great statesmen of France, was born on the 29th of August 1619, at Eheims, where his father and grandfather were merchants. He claimed to be the descendant of a noble Scottish family, but those who have investigated the matter have almost without exception decided against the pretension. His youth is said to have been spent in a Jesuit college, in the office of a Parisian banker, and in that of a Parisian notary, Chapelain, the father of the poet. But the first fact on which we can rely with confidence is that, when not yet twenty, he obtained a post in the war-office, by means of the influence that he possessed through the marriage of one of his uncles to the sister of Michel Le Tellier, the secretary of state for war. During some years he was employed in the inspection of troops and other work of the kind, but at length his ability, his extraordinary energy, and his untiring laboriousness induced Le Tellier to make him his private secretary. These qualities, combined, it must be confessed, with a not over-delicate readiness to seize every opportunity of advancement, soon brought Colbert both wealth and influence. In 1647 we find him receiving the confiscate! goods of his uncle Pussort, in 1648 obtaining 40,000 crowns with his wife Marie Charron, in 1649 appointed councillor of state. It was the period of the wars of the Frondo; and in 1651 the triumph of the Cond6 family drove Cardinal Mazarin from Paris. Colbert, now aged thirty-two, was engaged to keep him acquainted with what should happen in the capital during his absence. At first Colbert s position was far from satisfactory ; for the close wary Italian treated him merely as an ordinary agent. On one occasion, for example, he offered him 1000 crowns. The gift was refused somewhat indignantly; and by giving proof of the immense value of his services, Colbert gained all that he desired. His demands were not small; for, with an ambition mingled, as his letters show, with strong family affection, he aimed at placing all his relatives in positions of affluence and dignity; and many a rich benefice and important public office was appropriated by him to that purpose. For these favours, conferred upon him by his patron with no stinted hand, his thanks were expressed in a most remark able manner ; he published a letter defending the cardinal from the charge of ingratitude which was often -brought against him, by enumerating the benefits that he and his family had received from him (April 1655). Colbert obtained, besides, the higher object of his ambition; the confidence of Mazarin, so far as it was granted to any one, became his, arid he was intrusted with matters of the gravest importance. In 1659 he was giving directions as to the suppression of the revolt of the gentry which threatened in Normandy, Anjou, and Poitou, with characteristic decision arresting those whom he suspected and arrang ing every detail of their trial, the immediate and arbitrary destruction of their castles and woods, and the execution of their chief, Bohnesson. In tLe same year we have evidence that he was already planning his great attempt at financial reform. His earliest tentative was the drawing up of a vumoire to Mazarin, showing that of the taxes paid by the people not one-half reached the king. The paper also contained an attack upon the superintendent, Fouquet, who, first recommended to Le Tellier by Colbert himself, had since developed into the most shameless of extortioners ; and being opened by ll.o postmaster of Paris, who hap pened to be a spy of Fouquet s, it gave rise to a bitter quarrel, which, however, Mazarin repressed during his lifetime. In 1661 the death of Mazarin allowed Colbert to take the first place in the administration. It was some time before he assumed official dignities ; but in January 1664 he obtained the post of superintendent of buildings; in 1665 he was mr.de controller-general; in 1669 he became minister of the marine ; and he was also appointed minister of commerce, the colonies, and the king s palace. In short, he soon acquired power in every department except that of war. A great financial and fiscal reform at once claimed all his energies. This he saw was the first step toward raising France to the lofty position he intended her to occupy. The country was in economic chaos. Those who had the fiscal administration in their hands, from the superintendent to the meanest of the tax-farmers, robbed and misappro priated almost as they pleased. The Government loans were arranged, not so as to be most advantageous to the state, but so as most to aggrandize the individuals who were interested in them. Not only the nobility, but many others who had no legal claim to exemption, paid no taxes ; the weight of the burden fell on the wretched country-folk. Colbert sternly and fearlessly set about his task. Supported by the young king, Louis XIV., he aimed the first blow at the greatest of the extortioners the bold and powerful superin tendent, Fouquet. He was accused of high treason, not without sufficient grounds, for it was known that he had prepared to meet an arrest formerly contemplated by an appeal to force. The most minutely careful precautions 