serving me.”
“I only fear to be placed so that I cannot serve your
majesty.”
“What do you wish, then?”
“I wish your majesty to allow me assistance in the labors of
the office of intendant.”
“The post would lose its value.”
“It would gain in security.”
“Choose your colleagues.”
“Messieurs Breteuil, Marin, Harvard.”
“To-morrow the ordonnance shall appear.
“Sire, I thank you.”
“Is that all you ask?
“No, sire, one thing more.”
“What is that?”
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“Allow me to compose a chamber of justice.”
“What would this chamber of justice do?”
“Try the farmers-general and contractors, who, during ten
years, have been robbing the state.”
“Well, but what would you do with them?”
“Hang two or three, and that would make the rest disgorge.”
“I cannot commence my reign with executions, Monsieur
Colbert.”
“On the contrary, sire, you had better, in order not to have
to end with them.”
The king made no reply. “Does your majesty consent?” said
Colbert.
“I will reflect upon it, monsieur.”
“It will be too late when reflection may be made.”
“Why?”
“Because you have to deal with people stronger than
ourselves, if they are warned.”
“Compose that chamber of justice, monsieur.”
“I will, sire.”
“Is that all?”
“No, sire; there is still another important affair. What
rights does your majesty attach to this office of
intendant?”
“Well — I do not know — the customary ones.”
“Sire, I desire that this office be invested with the right
of reading the correspondence with England.”
“Impossible, monsieur, for that correspondence is kept from
the council; monsieur le cardinal himself carried it on.”
“I thought your majesty had this morning declared that there
should no longer be a council?”
“Yes, I said so.”
“Let your majesty then have the goodness to read all the
letters yourself, particularly those from England; I hold
strongly to this article.”
“Monsieur, you shall have that correspondence, and render me
an account of it.”
“Now, sire, what shall I do with respect to the finances?”
“Everything M. Fouquet has not done.”
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Dumas, Alexandre – Ten Years Later
“That is all I ask of your majesty. Thanks, sire, I depart
in peace;” and at these words he took his leave. Louis
watched his departure. Colbert was not yet a hundred paces
from the Louvre when the king received a courier from
England. After having looked at and examined the envelope,
the king broke the seal precipitately, and found a letter
from Charles II. The following is what the English prince
wrote to his royal brother: —
“Your majesty must be rendered very uneasy by the illness of
M. le Cardinal Mazarin; but the excess of danger can only
prove of service to you. The cardinal is given over by his
physician. I thank you for the gracious reply you have made
to my communication touching the Princess Henrietta, my
sister, and, in a week, the princess and her court will set
out for Paris. It is gratifying to me to acknowledge the
fraternal friendship you have evinced towards me, and to
call you, more justly than ever, my brother. It is
gratifying to me, above everything, to prove to your majesty
how much I am interested in all that may please you. You are
having Belle-Isle-en-Mer secretly fortified. That is wrong.
We shall never be at war against each other. That measure
does not make me uneasy, it makes me sad. You are spending
useless millions, tell your ministers so; and rest assured
that I am well informed; render me the same service, my
brother, if occasion offers.”
The king rang his bell violently, and his valet de chambre
appeared. “Monsieur Colbert is just gone; he cannot be far
off. Let him be called back!” exclaimed he.
The valet was about to execute the order, when the king
stopped him.
“No,” said he, “no, I see the whole scheme of that man.
Belle-Isle belongs to M. Fouquet; Belle-Isle is being
fortified: that is a conspiracy on the part of M. Fouquet.
The discovery of that conspiracy is the ruin of the
superintendent, and that discovery is the result of the
correspondence with England: this is why Colbert wished to