“This Prince, who possessed every kind of ambition, was not devoid of that of multiplying manufactures. Colbert his minister completely backed his designs; he passed his life in establishing trades as well as increasing arts; and as he had occasion for a great number of workmen to accomplish his design, he sent for five hundred thousand husbandmen from the country to promote the industry of cities. From that time such lands as were in want of hands remained uncultivated. This minister did not consider, that to increase the form he should multiply the matter. This the King over-looked also. Lewis XIV. was entirely taken up with the thirst of dominion, and this passion favoured those of all his ministers, who were desirous of sharing this ambition with him.
“The kingdom was filled with handicraftsmen; great luxury, the necessary consequence, took place, and from that time France, whose happy climate should make it superior, in point of riches, to all the other states of Europe, was impoverished.
“Nevertheless, the minister, who has since followed the plan of M. Colbert, has continued multiplying the arts, at the expence of the produce of agriculture.
“This policy is supported by a reason, which is, that this industry lays all the states of Europe under contribution; but France does not see that she begins by taxing herself, in diminishing the produce of her first substance: a disadvantage that immediately affects the power of the state, as it stops the progress of population.”
M. de Belleisle was not of this opinion: he imagined that industry could supply every thing, even the deficiencies of production; for according to him the riches of a state depend upon its circulation; and he said that arts made money circulate better than agriculture: but he was mistaken. Eminent œconomists have since demonstrated to me that the productions of the earth create real riches, whereas those formed by industry are only fictitious. Be this as it may, I determined to protect arts, and in order to encourage manufactures, I furnished the necessary funds to bring some into esteem.
Though the King’s habitual disposition to visit me, made all France consider this inclination as his determined taste; the women constantly preserved a secret desire of supplanting me in the heart of this Prince. Lewis XV. always met with some in ambuscade. He could not go up or down stairs in his way to his own apartment, without meeting a beauty. The women of Paris, who are seldom in love with any thing but the opera or the play house, became enamoured with Versailles. They visited this place pretty regularly.
The custom which Lewis XIV. established of being applied to in person, when any favour was to be asked at court, and which was almost abolished since the death of this Prince, now revived. Many fair suiteresses addressed themselves to Lewis XV. Their eyes petitioned more than their memorials. Lewis yielded to their solicitations, and often gave them what they asked. He acquainted me with all these accidental intrigues, and this confidence enabled me to support them. I should have considered my influence as in its wane, if he had concealed them from me. I have said in another place, that unable to fix the constitution of this Prince, I was compelled to give him up to his inclination. His infidelity did not diminish the ascendency I had over him. I reigned at Versailles, in the midst of those very causes which ought to have subdued my empire. By a contradiction inherent in the human heart, his inconstancy made him constant to me. Remorse drove him fresh to my arms, which he only quitted to yield again to love and repentance.
What secured him to me, was, that of all the women, whom I knew he saw, there was not one, who was possessed of such qualities as were necessary to wrest him from me. Most of them had beauty; but they were wanting in those mental engagements, without which the charms of the face are of no effect. They all wanted to rule at court, to dispose of the first employments in the state, to acquire the Prince’s favour; and the only means they used to obtain those ends, was to prostitute themselves to him; which was an infallible method of not succeeding.
A new object drew the attention of the court. This was to secure the tranquility of Italy—a boisterous country, where the first clouds of war always gather. All the treaties which have been concluded between sovereigns since Charlemain, could never give it stability, because it is the most happy continent upon earth, and the most feeble country in Europe.
Marshal Saxe said before he died, that if France could give a permanent peace to Italy, her population would become more flourishing. This general had demonstrated, that for two centuries more Frenchmen had perished in Italy, than all the other wars had carried off in the rest of Europe.