the
provinces were in a state of wretchedness. The sale of offices, the
system of farming the taxes, and the _gabelle_ or tax on salt were left
untouched; the enormous and harmful concessions given to the nobles
during the minority of Louis XIII had not been revoked or diminished. On
his accession to office Mazarin found that the revenues of the next
three years had been spent. Moreover, on Richelieu's death few men of
marked capacity were to be found in France. Like Frederick the Great in
the next century, Richelieu was jealous of any initiative on the part of
his colleagues. He gradually concentrated in his own hands all the
threads of the administration and controlled the generals in the field.
His system produced useful agents, but neither statesmen nor able
commanders. The concentration of all authority in his own hands checked
reforms in the government departments, and one writer has stated that
"the Fronde would never have taken place if Richelieu had thought more
of securing efficiency in those departments to which he could not give
sufficient personal attention, and less on concentrating all authority
in his own hands."

After Richelieu's death a policy of firmness, if not severity, was
required. The easy rule of Anne of Austria, with its pardons and
concessions, resulted in an increase of independence on the part of the
nobles, and led ultimately to the Fronde. The policy of leniency brought
numerous difficulties and dangers which Mazarin in the end succeeded in
overcoming. That he was able to do so was probably due partly to his own
perseverance, partly to the policy of Richelieu, who had weakened the
nobles and the Parliament and deprived them of all substantial power.
Had Richelieu lived the Fronde could never have occurred; that it did
occur "was due to Mazarin's inability to rule with the same iron hand as
his more illustrious predecessor."

Rarely had a minister, occupied in carrying on a prolonged war, been so
involved in internal difficulties as was Mazarin. He had to superintend
the movements of French generals in Flanders, Germany, Italy, and Spain,
and at the same time to keep in constant communication with his agents
at Munster, who carried on complicated peace negotiations under his
instructions.

During the earlier part of his ministry successes abroad strengthened
the government at home and enabled it to take up a firm attitude toward
its opponents. In 1643 the victory of Rocroi had aided in