. European history : an outline of its development. ce werein great in their ad-ministration was therule, and Mazarin him-self had not scrupledto comply with it. Thepeople paid heavytaxes, but the collectorsenriched themselves atthe expense of theState, and only a smallproportion reached thetreasury. It was estimated that of eighty-four millionpaid in 1661 only twenty-three were received by the govern-ment. Mazarins superintendent of finances, Fouquet, who hadacquired an enormous fortune by these methods, fell a firstvictim to the new reforms. No one had supposed at firstt
. European history : an outline of its development. ce werein great in their ad-ministration was therule, and Mazarin him-self had not scrupledto comply with it. Thepeople paid heavytaxes, but the collectorsenriched themselves atthe expense of theState, and only a smallproportion reached thetreasury. It was estimated that of eighty-four millionpaid in 1661 only twenty-three were received by the govern-ment. Mazarins superintendent of finances, Fouquet, who hadacquired an enormous fortune by these methods, fell a firstvictim to the new reforms. No one had supposed at firstthat Louis was in earnest when he had announced, on thedeath of Mazarin, that he would be his own prime minister,and Fouquet had hoped to succeed the cardinal in thegovernment of the State through the king. It was the dra-matic arrest and punishment of Fouquet that first convincedthe court that Louis meant what he said. Colbert, who hadrevealed to the king the financial methods of the time, wassoon put in control of the revenues, and was by degrees. Louis XIV. § 357] Colberts Economic Measures 369 given other responsible ofifices, until he had nearly the wholeadministration of the kingdom in his hands. The confidence of the king which he had at first, he fully Colbertsdeserved. Probably no minister in history ever served his efo^^-country with more singleness of purpose. He attacked theold abuses vigorously. The collectors were forced to restoreto the treasury their ill-gotten gains. New methods broughtingreater returns to the State, while the burdens of the peoplewere reduced, and a surplus was accumulated which was,perhaps, a temptation to the king. 357. Colberts Economic Measures.—The efforts of Col- The protec-bert for the good of France were not confined to a reform of |° ^^the taxation. He wished, like Henry IV., to increase thenational wealth and bring in an age of great prosperity. Inhis measures for this purpose he was guided by two was that manufactures m
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