The Political Testament of M. Jean Baptiste Colbert…Wherein is Contained All that Hath Passed Under the Reign of Louis XIV Until 1684. With Remarks On the Government of the Kingdom

Testament politique de messiure Jean-Baptiste Colbert, ministre & secrétaire d’Etat. Ou l’on voit tout ce qui s’est passé sous le regne de Louis Le Grand, jusqu’en l’année 1684. Avec des remarques sur le gouvernement du royaume.

Jean-Baptiste Colbert

Annotated and Submitted by Isobel Williamson

Introduction

Jean-Baptiste Colbert, known as the Marquis de Torcy, served as Chief Minister and Secretary of State to Louis XIV from 1661 to 1683 (De Colyar, 56). After learning about Colbert’s policies through secondary sources, I decided that I wanted to conduct a close examination of his writing. I chose to focus on his Political Testament because, during this era, some French statesmen and nobles would author these documents in order to express their goals for and proposed solutions to problems within the Kingdom of France. The Political Testament of Cardinal Richelieu, written in 1624, is arguably the most well-known of these publications, and has been the subject of a great deal of historical analysis. Colbert’s own Political Testament is much lesser known, so I thought that it merited a closer examination and investigation. After some consideration, I chose to focus on the 15th chapter of Colbert’s writing. This section details Colbert’s ideas that formed the basis of mercantilism. This impacted, both somewhat positively and very negatively, the French economic system, domestic manufacturing, and foreign policy (Rule, 967).

I transcribed the French version of this text as close to the original as I could regarding spelling, punctuation, grammar, and format. When I was translating this chapter, I decided to focus on maintaining Colbert’s punctuation and sentence structure to retain the distinctive characteristics of his writing while adapting the vocabulary to modern English speakers. I occasionally referenced an older translation of Colbert’s work by William Glanvill to elucidate some passages I was having difficulties with, though my translation is my own work and feels much more modern than the translation I referenced. I did have some challenges fully understanding some of the ideas that Colbert was detailing, and while I recognize that this translation is imperfect, I attempted to the best of my ability to deduce the meaning of each passage. Because this was a fairly long chapter, I decided to omit a few sections that were less relevant to my economic focus.

To contextualize this document, during the reign of Louis XIV, France became the dominant power in Europe and greatly expanded its economic and political influence worldwide. During this reign, Louis XIV worked to centralize power and generate wealth for France (Mansfield, 121). During his political term, Colbert greatly influenced French domestic and foreign policy, and is known for promoting a series of political ordinances under Louis XIV to reform France’s finances (De Colyar, 60). Colbert also played a role in promoting French founded the French merchant navy, served as a member of the Académie française, and worked to promote French goods in foreign markets. He also played a major role he played in the expansion of French colonialism (De Colyar, 59).

Colbert’s Political Testament

Original French: Chapitre XV: Des Marchands et du Commerce.

Il n’y a rien de plus nécessaire dans un état que le commerce. C’est lui qui le rend florissant, & pour voir cela d’un coup d’oeil, il n’y a qu’à remarquer la différence qu’il y à entre une Ville située sur une bonne rivière, & une qui est en pleine terre, l’une est riche & opulente, l’autre est pauvre & misérable. Celles qui sont sur le bord de la mer ont encore un avantage que les autres n’ont pas: la raison est que toutes choses y abondent bien plus que dans celles qui sont sur le bord d’une rivière où ailleurs, & pour peu qu’un homme veuille s’aider, il est presque impossible qu’il n’y subsiste commodément.

Or si le Commerce, comme il n’en faut point douter, apporte de si grands avantages, ce doit être un aiguillon à Votre Majesté pour le faire fleurir. Beaucoup de gens m’ont blâmé & me blâment encoure tous les jours, de ce que je l’ai portée à établir des Manufactures, & l’envie qu’ils auroient d’attirer les autres dans leur sentiment, fait qu’ils méprisent tout haut, comme s’il ne s’y faisait rien qui approche de ce qui nous venoit des étrangers. Mais il est aisé de leur faire voir combine ils s’abusent, & si je dois convenir que dans les commencemens il a été difficile de perfectionner les choses comme on l’auroit souhaité, il faut qu’ils tombent d’accord à leur tour, que dans la suite on a excellé pardessus les autres. Je n’en veux pour preuve que les glaces qui se font à Paris, il ne nous en est jamais venu de Venize de la grandeur de celles qu’l’on voit au Fauxbourg S. Anthoine. L’Ambassadeur de cette République en est si surprise qu’il n’y a jamais voulu ajouter soi, qu’il ne l’ait vû; & quoi qu’il l’ait mandée en son païs, il s’y trouve encore des incrédules qui soutiennent que cela est absolument impossible. Il est vrai que nôtre verre n’a pas encoure le vif & le brillant de celui qui vient de là, mais outre qu’il est aisé de le raffiner, la différence qui s’y remarque ne mérite pas que nous y transportions deux ou trois millions qu’il falloit tous les ans, tant pour les miroirs que pour les glaces des carrosses.

Je voudrois aussi qu’on me dit ce qu’on trouve à redire aux Tapisseries de Beauvais & à celles des Gobelins & si Vôtre Majesté doit laisser passer en Flandres ; je ne sais combien d’argent pour avoir celles qui se font en ce Païs-là. Si cet abus n’avoit pas regné jusques ici, il y a long-tems qu’elle seroit la Maitresse de ces belles Provinces, puis qu’il est constant que c’est avec l’argent de France qu’elles ont soutenu la Guerre. Elles ont tiré plusieurs millions de cette Manufacture qu’elles ont en trois endroits différends, & si Votre Majesté leur ôte encoure le secours qu’elles tirent des cheveux & des dentelles, elles tomberont bien-tôt dans une extrême pauvreté. C’est donc à elle à y mettre un impôt si fort qu’il n’y air pas presse à en faire venir. On se passera bien des Tapisseries, des Dentelles, & des Cheveux de Flandres, & son Royaume est assez grand & rempli de gens assez ingénieux pour fournir à toutes ces choses. Mais il faut que Votre Majesté toute la première s’abstienne d’en avoir, car il est le modèle sur lequel ses peuples se règlent ; de sorte que pourvu qu’ils l’imitent, ils n’examinent pas s’ils sont bien ou mal.

Il en est de même de nos draps & de nos autres manufactures. Il faut établir avec grand soin tout ce qui empêche que notre argent ne sorte du Royaume. Si l’on si plaint d’abord qu’on réussit mal, l’on ne doit pas pour cela se rebuter. Un apprentis ne devient pas maitre tout d’un coup mais en forgeant il devient forgeron. L’on fait que tous les commencemens sont difficules, & qu’il n’y a que le temps qui perfectionne toutes choses. L’eau même est moins pure dans sa source que dans son cours, d’ou il faut se donner patience, puisque c’est l’unique moyen de venir à bout de tout.

Je sais bien que pour combattre mon opinion l’on objecte que si nous nous mettons sur le pied de nous passer des étrangers, ils feront de même a notre égard, qu’ainsi il est plus expédient de laisser les choses sur le pied qu’elles étoient & qu’elles ont toujours été. Mais pour parler de la sorte il faut être peu instruit que nous n’avons besoin de personne & que nos voisins ont besoin de nous. Ce Royaume a tout généralement en soi-même, si l’on en excepte très peu de chose ; mais il n’en est pas de même des Etats qui lui confinent, ils n’ont ni vin ni bled ni sel ni Chanvre ni eau de vie, & il faut de toute nécessite qu’ils ayent recours a nous pour en avoir. Ce seroit donc profiter fort mal du bien que Dieu nous a fait, si nous le donnions pour des choses dont nous pouvons nous passer facilement. S’il faut que les étrangers ayent de notre argent, ce ne doit être que pour ce qui ne vient pas dans le Royaume, comme sont les épiceries qu’il faut aller chercher bien loin, ou les prendre des Hollandois. Pour tout le reste il faut se passer d’eux, & que le luxe ne nous tente pas assez pour faire une faute si préjudiciable à l’Etat.

La rigeur qu’on tient dans la plupart des grandes Viles de votre Royaume, pour recevoir un marchand est un abus que Votre Majesté a intérêt de corriger ; car il empêche que beaucoup de gens ne se jettent dans le commerce, où ils réüssiroient mieux bien souvent que ceux qui y sont. Quelle nécessité y a-t’il qu’un homme fasse apprentissage, cela ne sauroit être bon tout au plus que pour les ouvriers, afin qu’ils n’entreprennent pas un métier afin qu’ils ne savent point ; mais pour les autres pourquoi leur faire perdre leur tems, & pourquoi aussi empêcher que des gens qui en ont quelquefois plus appris dans les païs étrangers qu’il n’en faut pour s’établir ne le fassent pas, parce qu’il leur manque un brevet d’apprentissage ? est-il juste s’ils ont l’industrie de gaigner leur vie qu’on les en empêche sous le nom de Votre Majesté ? elle qui est le pere commun de ses sujets, & qui est obligée de les prendre en sa protection.

…

Une seule chose peut vous empêcher de faire un règlement si juste, & si utile. Votre Majesté peut avoir des raisons d’otre une partie des libraires. Les libelles qui courent depuis peu font juger que leur profession est plus dangereuse qu’avantageuse à l’Etat ; quand il y en aura moins on saura mieux d’ou vient le désordre. Ainsi il est peut-être nécessaire de les réduire si bas qu’ils soient obliges d’eux mêmes de chercher une autre condition. En effet il n’en est pas besoin d’un si grand nombre, & la science & les belles lettres trouveront bien à fleurir dans cela. Mais si c’est là l’intention de Votre Majesté, il faut du moins qu’elle fasse ce que se fait en Espagne. Il faut que les livres ne se vendent qu’a un certain prix, & qu’il ne soit pas permis à celui qui les fait imprimer d’y en mettre un qui en dégoûte ceux qui en auroint besoin.

English Translation

There is nothing more necessary to a state than Trade. It is trade that allows it to thrive, and to prove this, it is only necessary to remark upon the difference between a Town situated on a good river and one that is landlocked; the one is rich and opulent, the other is poor and miserable. Those that are by the sea have yet an advantage that the others do not have: the reason is that everything is abundant more so than for those which are on the banks of a river or elsewhere; and if any man wants to work, it is almost impossible to not live comfortably.

Now if Trade, undoubtedly, brings such huge advantages, this should propel Your Majesty to allow it to thrive. Many people have blamed me and still blame me, for what I did to establish manufacturing, and they desire to persuade others of this sentiment, as if nothing could approach what foreigners gave us.^[1] But it is easy to see how they abuse each other; and if I should admit it, in the beginning, it was difficult to perfect the items as one would have wished. It was necessary for them to agree on their own time that, since then, we have excelled above the others. I just want to say that, regarding the mirrors made in Paris, nothing has ever arrived from Venice of the grandeur that one can see in the Fauxbourg St. Antoine. The Ambassador of this Republic was so surprised himself by what he had seen; and though he has alerted his country of this, they are so incredulous and believe that this is absolutely impossible. It’s true that while our mirrors still don’t have the liveliness and brilliance of those from Venice, it is easy to refine them; the difference that distinguishes itself does not merit that we send them the two or three million that are necessary each year, for mirrors as well as for carriage glasses.

I would also like someone to tell me what is worth objecting about our tapestries made in Beauvois and those from Gobelins & if Your Majesty should let them go to Flanders; I know not how much money we spend to import these goods from that country. If this abuse hadn’t reigned until the present, France would have been the authority of these rich Provinces a long time ago, and it is clear it is with France’s money that they maintained their war. They have taken several million from this manufacturing they have in three different places, & if Your Majesty would lower the revenue that they make from hair & lace, they would soon fall into extreme poverty. It is thus the duty of France to place a tax on them that is so high that nobody will import them.^[2] We will avoid Tapestries, Lace, and Hair from Flanders, & our Kingdom is big enough & full of people ingenious enough to supply all of these things. But it is necessary for Your Majesty first to abstain from having these things, because it is the model from which his people base themselves; so that when they imitate you, they do not examine if they are good or bad.

It is the same with our drapes & our other manufactures. It is necessary to establish with great care all that prevents our money from leaving the Kingdom.^[3] If we complain at first that we do not succeed, we do not need to refute this. An apprentice does not become a master all of a sudden but in forging he become a smith. The fact is that all beginnings are difficult, & only time will perfect everything. Water itself is less pure in its source than in its stream, which demonstrates that it is necessary to be patient with each other, because it is the sole method to arrive at the end.

I know well those who object to my opinion say that if we prevent trade with foreigners, they will do the same to us, and so it is easier to leave things as they were and have always been. But to talk about this situation requires communication that we don’t need anyone & that that our neighbors need us. This Kingdom has generally everything it needs within itself, if we except very few things; but we aren’t the same as our neighboring states; they have no wine, wheat, salt, hemp, or brandy, & it is completely necessary that we aid them to provide these things; and it is necessary that we make good use of what God has provided to us. If it is necessary that foreigners receive our money, this will be due to what cannot be made within the Kingdom, such as the spices that one must find far away or be imported from the Dutch. For the rest it is necessary to make within our Kingdom, & luxury must not tempt us to make an error so detrimental to the State.^[4]

The rigor in the majority of large cities in our Kingdom that prevents them from receiving tradesmen is an abuse that Your Majesty has interest in correcting;^[5] because it prevents many people from entering trade, where they succeed far more often than those who are not. Why is it a necessity it is for a man to become an apprentice? this will benefit laborers the most, so that they are not entering a profession that they lack knowledge of; but for the others why make them lose their time, & why prevent people who have learned trade in other countries from doing what is necessary to establish themselves, because they do not have a title declaring their apprenticeship? Is it just that they have the skills to earn a living but we prevent them under the name of Your Majesty? You are the father in common of all your subjects, and are obligated to protect them.

…

One sole thing could prevent you from making a rule very just, & very useful. Your Majesty should have reasons to decrease the number of booksellers. Libels mean that this profession is more dangerous than advantageous to the State; when there are fewer we will know better where this disorder arises.^[6] As such, it is perhaps necessary to reduce their numbers so low that they are obliged to themselves to find a new profession. In effect it is not needed to have such a large number, & science & the arts will flourish in this condition. But if that is the intention of Your Majesty, it is at least necessary to do what happened in Spain. It is necessary to sell books at least at a certain price, & for it to not be permitted to those who print them to sell them at a rate that shocks those who need them.

Bibliography

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Colbert, Jean-Baptiste. Testament Politique de MR Jean-Baptiste Colbert ...: Où l’On Voit Tout Ce Qui s’Est Passé Sous Le Règne de Louis Le Grand, Jusqu’en l’Année 1684. Edited by De Sandras, G.C. Creative Media Partners, LLC, 2018.

Darnton, Robert. “An Early Information Society: News and the Media in Eighteenth-Century Paris.” The American Historical Review, vol. 105, no. 1, 2000, pp. 1–35. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2652433.

De Colyar, H. A. “Jean-Baptiste Colbert and the Codifying Ordinances of Louis XIV.” Journal of the Society of Comparative Legislation, vol. 13, no. 1, 1912, pp. 56–86. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/752554.

“The Reign of Louis XIV: Absolute Monarchy.” Ideas of Monarchical Reform: Fénelon, Jacobitism, and the Political Works of the Chevalier Ramsay, by ANDREW MANSFIELD, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2015, pp. 105–128. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1mf70gv.9.

McCollim, Gary B. “The Fiscal System under Louis XIV.” Louis XIV's Assault on Privilege: Nicolas Desmaretz and the Tax on Wealth, vol. 15, Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge, Suffolk; Rochester, NY, 2012, pp. 14–49. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt81kp2.7.

Minard Philippe, "The Market Economy and the French State: Myths and Legends around Colbertism", L'Économie politique, 2008/1 (No 37), p. 77-94. DOI: 10.3917/leco.037.0077. URL: https://www.cairn-int.info/journal-l-economie-politique-2008-1-page-77.htm

Miquelon, Dale. “Jean-Baptiste Colbert's ‘Compact Colony Policy’ Revisited: The Tenacity of an Idea.” Proceedings of the Meeting of the French Colonial Historical Society, vol. 17, 1993, pp. 12–23. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/42952250.

Napier, Christopher J. "The information master: Jean-Baptiste Colbert's secret state intelligence system." (2010): 344-346.

Richelieu, Armand Jean du Plessis, duc de, 1585-1642. The Political Testament of Cardinal Richelieu : the Significant Chapters and Supporting Selections. Madison :University of Wisconsin Press, 1961.

Rule, John C. “A Career in the Making: The Education of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Marquis De Torcy.” French Historical Studies, vol. 19, no. 4, 1996, pp. 967–996. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/286660.

Schaeper, Thomas J. The French Council of Commerce, 1700-1715: a study of mercantilism after Colbert. The Ohio State University Press, 1983.

“The Political Testament of M. Jean Baptist Colbert…Wherein is Contain’d All that Hath Pass’d Under the Reign of Louix the XIV. Unto the Year 1684. With Remarks Upon the Government of the Kingdom of France.” Translated Out of French by William Glanvill. Nd. Google Books.

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