office was appropriated by him to that
purpose. For these favours, conferred upon him by his patron with no
stinted hand, his thanks were expressed in a most remarkable manner; he
published a letter defending the cardinal from the charge of ingratitude
which was often brought against him, by enumerating the benefits that he
and his family had received from him (April 1655). Colbert obtained,
besides, the higher object of his ambition; the confidence of Mazarin,
so far as it was granted to any one, became his, and he was entrusted
with matters of the gravest importance. In 1659 he was giving directions
as to the suppression of the revolt of the gentry which threatened in
Normandy, Anjou and Poitou, with characteristic decision arresting those
whom he suspected, and arranging every detail of their trial, the
immediate and arbitrary destruction of their castles and woods, and the
execution of their chief, Bonnesson. In the same year we have evidence
that he was already planning his great attempt at financial reform. His
earliest tentative was the drawing up of a _memoire_ to Mazarin, showing
that of the taxes paid by the people not one-half reached the king. The
paper also contained an attack upon the superintendent Nicholas Fouquet
(q.v.), and being opened by the postmaster of Paris, who happened to be
a spy of Fouquet's, it gave rise to a bitter quarrel, which, however,
Mazarin repressed during his lifetime.

In 1661 the death of Mazarin allowed Colbert to take the first place in
the administration, and he made sure of the king's favour by revealing
to him some of Mazarin's hidden wealth. It was some time before he
assumed official dignities; but in January 1664 he obtained the post of
superintendent of buildings; in 1665 he was made controller-general; in
1669 he became minister of the marine; and he was also appointed
minister of commerce, the colonies and the king's palace. In short, he
soon acquired power in every department except that of war.

A great financial and fiscal reform at once claimed all his energies.
Not only the nobility, but many others who had no legal claim to
exemption, paid no taxes; the weight of the burden fell on the wretched
country-folk. Colbert sternly and fearlessly set about his task.
Supported by the young king, Louis XIV., he aimed the first blow at the
greatest of the extortioners--the bold and powerful superintendent,
Fouquet; whose fall, in addition, secured his own advancement.

T