Glass 
 Book 
 
 )P, 
 
 , 
 
j> - ' i r 
 
 THE 
 
 EULOGY 
 
 OF 
 
 MAXIMILIAN DE BETHUNE 
 
 DUKE OF SULLY, 
 
 SUPERINTENDANT OF FINANCE, $c. 
 
 AND 
 
 Urime JBiutetet to Hjettrg ti&e dFouttft, 
 
 ^ TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH 
 
 f ' M., THOMAS. 
 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED, 
 
 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS, 
 
 BY THE TRANSLATOR. 
 The Eulogy gained the prize of the French Academy in 1763. 
 
 CHELTENHAM : 
 PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, BY J. J. HADLEY, 
 
 AND SOLD AT THE RESPECTIVE LIBRARIES AND READING ROOMS, 
 AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. 
 
 1826. 
 

 By Transfer 
 
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 EULOGY 
 
 OF 
 
 MAXIMILIAN DE BETHUNE 
 
 Duke of Sully. 
 
 Were the records of history, or the 
 imagery of fiction to be searched for a 
 character which would present to the 
 mind the contemplation of all that is 
 great and good, it would linger on that 
 page of the annals of France, which is 
 consecrated to the remembrance of the 
 virtuous friend and minister of Henry 
 the Fourth. But I will not anticipate 
 his Eulogy, if indeed the matter of fact of 
 his life which tends to the illustration of 
 his eloquent panygerist, be not its anti- 
 cipation. 
 
 B 
 
Next to the glory of having created 
 an illustrious name, by deeds which 
 render it dear and venerable to mankind, 
 is that of having transmitted to posterity 
 with added laurels, the wreath of well 
 earned fame, that has adorned a remote 
 ancestry. Such distinction most pecu- 
 liarly belongs to that individual of the 
 House of Bethune, who, to the warlike 
 memory of its gallant crusaders, its royal 
 alliances with the Sovereigns of France, 
 the Emperors of Constantinople, the 
 Kings of Jerusalem, Castile, Scotland, 
 and England, the House of Austria, the 
 Dukes of Lorraine, the Counts of Flan- 
 ders ; its intermarriages with the houses 
 of Courtenay, Chatillon, Montmorency, 
 Melun and Horn, added to the accu- 
 mulated virtues and glories of his race, 
 a title more dear and distinguished the 
 BENEFACTOR OF HIS COUNTRY. 
 
 An example more extraordinary than 
 that of military achievement, or political 
 successes, or judicious government, is 
 
afforded in the association of the name 
 of Sully with that of his royal master; of 
 friendship on a throne. Tried and tender 
 it dawned in adversity from mutual ad- 
 miration, it was matured in persevering 
 loyalty under various fortune; in the 
 height of favour and prosperity unde- 
 based by flattery or exaction; virtuous 
 and heroic in the subject, in the amiable 
 great, but imperfect monarch; confiding 
 and energetic, it was perhaps the only 
 true blessing enjoyed by Henry in a 
 reign more fruitful in happiness to his 
 people than to himself, the root of which 
 infelicity may be found in those errors 
 and weaknesses of the man which yet in 
 justice ought not to tarnish the glories of 
 the sovereign. 
 
 The friendship of Henry IV. and Sully 
 is one of the most beautiful delineations 
 presented by history. Born in 1560, the 
 eldest son of the Baron de Rosni, and 
 Charlotte Dauvet; nursed amid the tu- 
 mults of civil dissensions and the atroci- 
 
8 
 
 ties of faction, Sully was only eleven 
 years of age when he was presented to 
 the King of Navarre, then only eighteen. 
 The noble child bent his knee to his new 
 master, and in a better spirit than young 
 Hannibal, vowed not eternal enmity but 
 eternal attachment. The force of this 
 promise was at the moment little heeded, 
 but in after days, at the most critical con- 
 junctures, Sully sealed it with his blood, 
 his counsels and his possessions. In 
 1585, when the Calvinists endeavoured 
 to turn France into a republic, Sully 
 maintained the necessity of union under 
 one head, to give energy to any legisla- 
 tion ; though he had embraced the re- 
 formed religion his impartial and pene- 
 trating mind rejected the alloy which 
 selfish passions and crafty ambition had 
 too fatally blinded with a good cause. 
 Undeviating in his personal integrity to 
 the opinions he had adopted on convic- 
 tion, he steered clear of the fanaticism 
 of religious faction, which had caused 
 his wretched country to bleed in every 
 
9 
 
 pore ; he preferred the public good to the 
 predominance of any party, and religious 
 truth in general, to the arrogant preten- 
 sions of individual leaders. In 1592 he 
 leaned to the Counsels, which determined 
 Henry to profess the Catholic faith ; con- 
 vinced that salvation was attainable in it, 
 and probably anticipating the extinc- 
 tion of both religion and morality in a 
 continuation of the disgraceful scenes 
 which were enacted on either side in the 
 name of Heaven. The principles of uni- 
 versal toleration, with which he imbued 
 the Government of Henry, were more 
 consonant to the true interests of the re- 
 formed religion than the fierce and un- 
 holy contentions which at that period 
 possibly retarded its diffusion in France. 
 Had the system of toleration which Sully 
 introduced been adhered to, the silent 
 force of truth might have gained the 
 conquest which the force of arms failed 
 to establish ; and be it observed, it was 
 the reign of false glory and licentious 
 pleasure, changed to gloomy bigotry and 
 
10 
 
 illiberal superstition, which under Louis 
 XIV. revoked the famous edict of Nantz, 
 deprived France of the most conscientious 
 portion of its subjects, and left the com- 
 munity no tone and moderating power to 
 check the torrent of infidelity and false 
 philosophy which, in succeding times, 
 overthrew all that was left of religion in 
 France, made vice and anarchy triumph- 
 ant, celebrate their orgies on the dowfall 
 of the Church and State. That patriot- 
 ism alone outweighed with Sully the pre- 
 dominance of the party in religion to 
 whose opinions he had attached himself, 
 is proved by his sacrifice of every private 
 interest to his religious integrity ; he re- 
 fused the alliance of his royal master's 
 daughter with his own son, that the re- 
 formed faith might unalterably be pre- 
 served in his house and lineage; thus de- 
 voting to the cause all the glory of the 
 name of Sully. In 1604 he prepared a 
 memorial, the object of which was to 
 unite the Protestants and Catholics in 
 one view of religious truth ; if he had 
 
11 
 
 succeeded, what tears and blood might 
 have been spared. 
 
 The memorable assembly of the Pro- 
 testants at Chatelleraut in 1605, placed 
 Sully in the most delicate circumstances. 
 Never was a greater mark of confidence 
 bestowed by his master than his appoint- 
 ment as President, and when we consider 
 that he was himself a Protestant, his en- 
 lightened zeal and his loyalty seem 
 strangely opposed, and his situation re- 
 plete with danger and difficulty. The 
 line of conduct to which he determined 
 to adhere, was, neither to betray his reli- 
 gion or his Prince ; he pursued it with 
 undeviating intregrity. His wisdom was 
 conspicuous throughout the proceedings 
 of this perilous assembly, in which Mor- 
 nay with blind and impetuous zeal, 
 enacted the part of an enthusiast, ever 
 ready to place arms in the hands of fana- 
 tical and rebellious subjects. Sully pre- 
 sided in two similar assemblies, that of 
 Rochelle, in 1607, and that of Gergeau, 
 
12 
 
 in 1608; in both he rendered the most 
 essential service to the King and the 
 State. 
 
 It is hardly possible to conceive the 
 cabals which Henry had to crush in his 
 own party. Every head was turned by 
 fanaticism and ambition ; and Sully was 
 equally useful in battle as in negociation. 
 In 1594 he left the siege of Laon to quell 
 in Paris the disturbances on the subject of 
 the Jesuits. 
 
 During the childhood of Sully six 
 pitched battles had been fought between 
 the Protestants and the Catholics. The 
 massacre of St. Bartholomew, more de- 
 structive than ten battles, disgraced France 
 in 1592. Sully, then twelve years of age, 
 had been educated in the Protestant faith. 
 He studied in the College of Burgundy, 
 but did not live there. At midnight he 
 was awakened by all the bells in Paris, 
 and the confused uproar of the populace, 
 and was no sooner informed of its cause 
 
13 
 
 than he resolved to take refuge in the 
 College; he put on his scholar's habit, 
 and placed a Catholic prayer-book under 
 his arm. When he entered the streets 
 they were inundated with blood, he be- 
 held the furious soldiery breaking into 
 the houses, and heard the terrific cry : 
 " Kill, kill the Huguenots." His alarm 
 increasing, he redoubled his speed ; three 
 bands of soldiers stopped him succes- 
 sively, and each time he owed his safety 
 to the book he carried. New perils as- 
 sailed him when he reached the College 
 of Burgundy : the porter twice refused 
 him entrance, and left him in the streets 
 at the mercy of the assassins. Happily 
 the Principal of the College was apprised 
 of his danger ; this worthy man did not 
 consider assassination to be a religious 
 duty. He took young Rosni into his own 
 apartment : two priests were there, who, 
 citing the example of the Sicilian Vespers, 
 would have murdered him on the spot, 
 alledging, that the edict commanded even 
 nurslings to be put to death. The Prin- 
 
14 
 
 cipal with difficulty rescued him from 
 their fury and conveyed him to a closet, 
 in which he locked him. 
 
 On how - ender threads do the desti- 
 nies of nations hang ! Henry narrowly 
 escaped the same day ! The charitable 
 priest who saved the life of Sully when he 
 was twelve years old, little thought he had 
 rescued the deliverer of France. 
 
 The civil war, which seemed crushed 
 by the massacre of St. Bartholomew was 
 renewed in 1574, but the King of Na- 
 varre did not recover his liberty till 1576. 
 Rosni accompanied him in his flight; he 
 entered the infantry as a volunteer and 
 made his first Campaign at Tours, when 
 he greatly signalized himself. The King 
 of Navarre having learnt that he had con- 
 ducted himself with more valour than 
 prudence, sent for him and thus addressed 
 him : " Rosni, I do not wish you now to 
 hazard your life, preserve it for a more 
 glorious occasion." He was often in 
 
15 
 
 peril in the various actions which fol- 
 lowed : at the siege of Marmande, where 
 he commanded the archers ; he was 
 nearly overpowered by the superiority 
 of numbers, when the Ku J of Navarre 
 in a slight coat of mail, flew to his assist- 
 ance, and gave him time to seize the post 
 he assailed. 
 
 Young Rosni's economy and the mi- 
 litary earnings of this campaign, enabled 
 him to maintain several gentlemen as his 
 followers, with whom he attached him- 
 self more immediately to the service of 
 the King. Though only sixteen years 
 of age, he managed his income with such 
 economy that he was enabled to keep up 
 an appearance beyond his fortune. The 
 King of Navarre remarked it and con- 
 ceived a high esteem for him in conse- 
 quence. Mankind in general do not 
 discern great characters by trivial marks, 
 but the King of Navarre possessed this 
 penetration, and perhaps already antici- 
 
16 
 
 pated a Prime Minister in the young 
 Ensign. 
 
 Henry, King of Navarre, who, with 
 the assistance of Sully, so greatly im- 
 proved the condition of the French peo- 
 ple, was his senior by seven years. Born 
 in 1553, at Pau, in Beam, he was brought 
 up in a castle among rocks and moun- 
 tains. His usual diet was brown bread, 
 cheese, and beef. He often went with 
 his head and feet uncovered. This mas- 
 culine education doubtless imparted to 
 his soul its vigorous temper, and made 
 him a great man. It were to be wished 
 that such examples could be imitated in 
 our times. Luxury, the prevailing error 
 of modern education, by enervating the 
 bodily frame, destroys the principle of 
 energetic conduct, and, if we may so ex- 
 press it, stifles the soul before it can 
 expand into existence. 
 
 In a sketch which merely illustrate* 
 
17 
 
 the Eulogy of Sully, it is needless to de- 
 tail the various actions in which he sig- 
 nalised himself and did justice to the 
 choice of his royal master. The military 
 achievements of those times were of so 
 wonderful a character, that they appear 
 as deeds of ancient chivalry, when com- 
 pared with the events of modern warfare. 
 The soul of Henry IV. inspired his whole 
 army, and gave a lofty character to his 
 cause which hlended interest with the 
 horrors and atrocities of civil and reli 
 gious dissensions. 
 
 A few traits will sanction this remark. 
 At the battle of Arques, Henry, at the 
 head of three thousand men, encountered 
 the Duke of Mayenne, at the head of 
 thirty thousand ; but convinced that a 
 brilliant stroke was required to raise his 
 party, never did he appear more tranquil 
 and serene. A few moments previous to 
 the attack, a prisoner of distinction being 
 brought to him, the King met and em- 
 braced him, smiling ; he testified to the 
 
18 
 
 King his astonishment at the small num- 
 ber of soldiers of which his army was 
 composed. " You see not my whole 
 forces," replied the King, with the ut- 
 most cheerfulness, " you have omitted 
 in your reckoning God and my good 
 cause." After this famous victory, he 
 wrote to the Duke de Crillon this memo- 
 rable letter: — " Brave Crillon, hang thy- 
 self — thou wert absent when we fought 
 the battle of Arques." Before this de- 
 cisive day, he said he was a King without 
 a kingdom, a husband without a wife, 
 and a warrior without supplies. 
 
 At the siege of Rouen, Rosni and the 
 Marshal de Biron differed in opinion. 
 Biron^s prevailed. Rosni was also ex- 
 cluded from a post he was desirous to 
 obtain in the artillery, and which he so- 
 licited with the ardour of a man anxious 
 to be useful ; but his talents had already 
 made him obnoxious to several of his in- 
 feriors, who by artifice obtained his ex- 
 clusion. But he had the glory of being 
 
19 
 
 foremost in all the perils to which Henry 
 was exposed ; in the attack of the trenches 
 in a cold night in December, he was 
 twice thrown down, his armour forced 
 off and broken. The impetuous valour 
 of Henry had exposed him to such dan- 
 gers in this action that his life was des- 
 paired of. The next day Rosni was the 
 bearer of the representation of the army 
 on this subject ; the King interrupted 
 him with these words : " My friend, 
 how can I act otherwise when I fight for 
 my glory and my crown. My life and 
 every other advantage are dust in the 
 balance." 
 
 At the siege of Dreux, a fort was to 
 be taken which was considered cannon- 
 proof. Rosni promised the King that it 
 should surrender. His enemies dared to 
 assert that this promise was ridiculous. 
 The King himself doubted of his success ; 
 yet by mine and sap Rosni succeeded in 
 six days. By the care and vigilance of 
 Rosni, the army wanted for nothing. 
 
20 
 
 Montmelian passed for being impreg- 
 nable ; there were persons in the Council 
 who dreaded the success of Rosni as much 
 as the Duke of Savoy himself. Zeal at 
 length overcame envy ; Rosni attacked 
 Charbonnieres, a place of nearly equal 
 strength, and situated on an inaccessible 
 rock. He endured incredible fatigue, 
 and promised the king that the place 
 should surrender the next day. While he 
 exposed his life, the courtiers were em- 
 ployed in censuring his operations, one 
 of them boasted that if he were in the 
 place it should not be taken for a month ; 
 " Go then," said Sully, wearied with his 
 impertinence, " you and your colleagues, 
 enter it, and if I do not have you all 
 hanged before evening, call me a fool." 
 
 Before evening the garrison surren- 
 dered!!! 
 
 At the battle of Ivri, in 1590, Sully 
 had two horses killed under him, re- 
 ceived seven wounds, and fainted on 
 
21 
 
 the field ; when he revived he found him- 
 self disarmed, surrounded by the dead, 
 and without a follower ; he thought the 
 battle was lost, when four of the enemy 
 surrendered to him as prisoners, and im- 
 plored him to save their lives. Sully 
 was carried on a hurdle made of branches 
 of trees to his Castle of Rosni, with the 
 prisoners, the enemies 5 colours drooping 
 round him, and his brave soldiers co- 
 vered with honourable wounds. Henry 
 hastened to meet the cavalcade, and more 
 as a friend than a king, testified the ten- 
 derest anxiety for his recovery. Rosni 
 thanked him and said it raised him in 
 his own opinion to have suffered for so 
 good a master. Henry replied, " brave 
 soldier and valiant knight : I ever ho- 
 noured your courage, and conceived high 
 hope of your virtue ; but your noble 
 achievements and distinguished modesty 
 surpass my expectation. Before I leave 
 you I must embrace you in the presence 
 of these princes, great captains, and wor- 
 thy knights." So saying, he clasped him 
 
22 
 
 in his arms, and lavished many more af- 
 fecting expressions of his regard, and 
 bade him adieu, adding " Above all, re- 
 member you have a good master." 
 
 By his superior knowledge of man- 
 kind, Sully was enabled to hold his vir- 
 tuous course till resistance gave way to 
 the energetic courage that shaped the re- 
 formation of long-standing abuses: faction 
 bowed to power or was conciliated by 
 magnanimity. He possessed the pene- 
 tration and coolness which are necessary 
 to acquire true judgment of men and 
 measures. The King of Navarre had 
 placed him in the Court of Catherine de 
 Medicis, to unravel its crooked policy ; 
 he there beheld the talented and fasci- 
 nating Italian apparently immersed in 
 pleasures, but busied in external political 
 intrigues ; to the varied hues of the ser- 
 pent, its poisonous subtilty, its inveterate 
 cruelty, its innate grovelling propensities, 
 the manners, mind and character of this 
 Queen, may be justly assimilated. Rosni 
 
23 
 
 silently observed her tortuous course, the 
 withering influence by which she imbued 
 the heart and government of her son with 
 her own vices ; the luxurious splendour 
 of her polished court. Even the generous 
 soul of Henry IV. was tainted with the 
 prevailing vice of gallantry, to the detri- 
 ment of his subsequent career, which 
 might otherwise in private as well as 
 public life have passed down to posterity 
 with unsullied glory and undiminished 
 felicity. To the penetrating eye of Rosni 
 and to his more exquisite moral discri.- 
 mi nation, all the objects which dazzled 
 and seduced the other members of the 
 court appeared in their true colours. 
 The popularity of the Guises did not 
 efface in his estimation the tyranny by 
 which it wa$ upheld ; its fatal termination 
 might be anticipated in the extreme and 
 hazardous measures to which imperious 
 favourites were ever impelling this ambi- 
 tious and ill-fated race. The King inertly 
 allowed the formation of the league, 
 which, when authorised by his weakness, 
 
24 
 
 spread around him the toils from which 
 he vainly endeavoured to extricate him- 
 self. Rosni transmitted exact relations 
 of the state of affairs to Henry, and when 
 Henry III. declared himself chief of the 
 league which was formed to dethrone 
 him, Rosni addressed himself to those 
 Frenchmen in whom the spirit of loyalty 
 and patriotism was not wholly extin- 
 guished on this critical occasion. In 
 1588, after the Barricades, that memo- 
 rable instance of audacity in the subject 
 and weakness in the King, Rosni's master 
 directed him to watch the motions of the 
 Count of Soissons and observe the new 
 system that was about to be adopted at 
 Court. Thus did Sully acquire his su- 
 perior knowledge of mankind : thus, in 
 fact, can such a study only be pursued. 
 It is in stormy times, in the shock of 
 factions amid contending interests, by 
 the crimes and virtues peculiar to such 
 conjunctures, that the characteristics of 
 the species are displayed. In peace an 
 uniform tenor of action obliterates the 
 
25 
 
 energetic traits of character, or blends in 
 uniformity the mask that covers the face 
 of society. After this notice of the school 
 in which Sully was formed, his character 
 breaks on the mind in its native force and 
 originality, uncorrupted and undeceived 
 by false maxims, or devious practice. 
 His policy was undebased by artifice ; in- 
 genious but not false, virtuous but not 
 rigid ; it was the policy of integrity, 
 which always adheres to iruth, and pos- 
 sesses that place in the public esteem 
 which induces confidence. 
 
 Nothing but evil can be made to pre- 
 vail without contradiction ; let him who 
 would benefit mankind be prepared for 
 opposition. That courage which shrunk 
 not in the bloody field, when opposed to 
 unequal numbers, maintained unshaken 
 its moral strength in the more difficult 
 combat which awaited Sully in his attack 
 of the prejudices, passions and vices, 
 which distorted the Government of 
 France, when, as Superintendant of Fi- 
 
26 
 
 nance, this branch of political economy 
 was placed immediately under his cog- 
 nizance. In his administration, we may 
 particularly remark that ascendancy which 
 the man of genius ever gains over weak 
 characters and paltry aims. To appre- 
 ciate what Sully performed in the amelio- 
 ration of this branch of legislation, it is 
 necessary to notice the prevailing fea- 
 tures of the character of his predecessor 
 under Henry III. and in the commence- 
 ment of the reign of Henry IV. Francis 
 
 D'O had precisely the faults which 
 
 should have excluded him from a similar 
 post; — indolent, dissipated, a gamester, 
 immersed in pleasures. Vainly ostenta- 
 tious of his absurd prodigality, refusing 
 no indulgence to himself, while the King 
 wanted common necessaries. Such was 
 the man to whom the superintendance of 
 finance was intrusted ; he died in 1794, 
 with a fortune amounting to four millions, 
 leaving a national debt of eight hundred 
 and ten millions. 
 
27 
 
 At his death the superintendancy was 
 suppressed, and the king appointed a 
 Council of Finance, composed of eight 
 individuals. Sully did not approve of 
 this mode of administration, because it 
 is more difficult to find ten persons of 
 integrity than one. His opinion was too 
 well justified in the sequel. Robbery 
 and dissipation flourished more vigor- 
 ously under the eight commissioners than 
 before. The King begged eight hundred 
 crowns from them, to maintain the siege 
 of Arras, as a beggar implores the assist- 
 ance of a rich man without being able to 
 obtain them. This good Prince thus 
 described his situation to Sully in a letter : 
 " I am close to the enemy and have not 
 a horse to bear me into battle ; my shirts 
 are worn out, and my waistcoats darned 
 at the elbow, and I dine alternately 
 with my officers because my purveyors 
 have no provisions for my own table." 
 Yet the eight commissioners revelled in 
 luxury, and insulted the public misery. 
 
28 
 
 It is humiliating to humanity that a 
 great man is ever exposed to the attacks 
 of those who envy him. Never did any 
 one suffer more from them than Sully. 
 His merit might have been pardoned, but 
 what was unpardonable was the unlimited 
 confidence of his master. Women, cour- 
 tiers, ministers, all leagued against him ; 
 it is memorable that this faithful servant 
 and tender friend, was on the point of 
 being disgraced fifteen times. Every 
 year this persecution was renewed. The 
 Catholics were jealous of the favour be- 
 stowed on a Huguenot, the Protestants 
 envied the justice done to his merit. To 
 such a height were these jealousies car- 
 ried, that Henry and Sully agreed to bear 
 themselves towards each other in public 
 very distantly: often did the King visit 
 him privately, but on these occasions the 
 most delightful familiarity characterised 
 their intimacy. This Prince required 
 not adversity to soften his heart, but he 
 imparted all its bitterness in his letters to 
 
29 
 
 Sully, which amount to above three thou- 
 sand. He took the most lively interest 
 in his domestic affairs, and in their res- 
 pective sorrows they experienced mutual 
 consolation from the tender friendship 
 with which each endeavoured to alleviate 
 the misfortunes of the other. The noble 
 frankness with which Sully warned Henry 
 of his faults is well known ; he exercised 
 the same watchfulness over his master as 
 over his own bosom. When he tore the 
 marriage promise extorted from his sus- 
 ceptible master, Henry asked him if he 
 were mad ; " Yes, truly," replied Sully, 
 " and would to God I were the only 
 madman in France." 
 
 Sully beheld with due affliction, the 
 demoralization which attended the ruin- 
 ous state of finances. He had the princi- 
 ples of the ancient legislators ; he would 
 have been Lycurgus at Sparta, and Cato 
 at Rome. How remote are such princi- 
 ples from our modern ways of thinking. 
 With short sighted policy we nicely cal- 
 
 E 
 
30 
 
 culate the benefits a state may derive 
 from population, commerce and industry, 
 but morals are passed over. We exclaim 
 that mankind are become degenerate, and 
 what can we expect but degeneracy when 
 gold is regarded as our best possession. 
 A mercenary spirit has annihilated every 
 noble principle ; every thing, even virtue 
 has its price; and a good action is no 
 sooner performed, than its salary is de- 
 manded. This is the root of destruction. 
 With the downfall of morals the downfall 
 of the State is inseparably connected. — 
 Let gold and honour be restored to their 
 separate degree of estimation. This vile 
 metal narrows the soul : honour and es- 
 teem elevates it. The wise minister of 
 Henry IV. was indignant at seeing the 
 nobility of his day coveting independence 
 and authority, during the civil wars, and 
 in peace dazzled by the luxury of the 
 merchants, so mean as to have no other 
 emulation than to obtain riches. With 
 what eloquence does he expatiate in his 
 memoirs, on luxury, on frivolity of man- 
 
31 
 
 ners, and the value which our vain pas- 
 sions have affixed to gold; on the decay of 
 the ancient spirit of honour, the confusion 
 of ranks, the illegitimacy of blood, and 
 the inherent superiority of the generous 
 races of the nobility and gentry over the 
 mere monied men, the line of separation 
 which ought to subsist between these two 
 orders of citizens, that the example of 
 opulent leisure may not strike too nearly 
 those whose duty it is to be employed in 
 war, and to devote themselves by energetic 
 labours and painful sacrifices to the ser- 
 vice of the King and the State. His 
 style is on this topic instinct with life and 
 energy ; he feels the transports of virtue, 
 his austere and noble soul, attacks vice 
 with the same energy with which he at- 
 tacked the enemy in the day of battle. 
 Such episodes, though less agreeable than 
 those of modern memoirs, are more use- 
 ful ; they have the beauty and utility 
 which belong to our ancient medals. 
 
 Sully became Minister of Finance in 
 
32 
 
 1595. The King died in 1610. During 
 the interval of fifteen years, although 
 Sully had diminished the taxes five mil- 
 lions, and paid the national debt, amount- 
 ing to three thousand and ten millions, he 
 had augmented the annual revenue four 
 millions, and placed in the King's coffers 
 in money and credit forty-one millions. 
 He opposed all the efforts that were made 
 by the interested in every department to 
 avoid giving a strict account of their of- 
 ficial conduct, repelled the insolence of 
 the powerful, and personally inspected 
 throughout the provinces, the specula- 
 tions of their agents. During the ad- 
 ministration of Sully, speculators were 
 depressed. He encouraged learning, 
 gave pensions to its professors, and in 
 particular to Causaubon, who was the 
 greatest scholar of his time. He had the 
 difficult task of restraining the violence 
 of party spirit in two rival religions; of 
 quelling the fanaticism which was not 
 yet wholly extinguished, and soothing 
 the expiring struggles of a powerful 
 
 
33 
 
 party which had long agitated France. 
 The army was regularly paid, the cities 
 adorned with public buildings and useful 
 establishments, manufactures encouraged, 
 and above all, agriculture, which Sully 
 regarded as the prime source of a nation's 
 prosperity, was improved in all its 
 branches, by the liberal encouragement 
 afforded to it. 
 
 Sully himself has left us a sketch of 
 his life during his ministry. He rose at 
 four in summer and in winter : employed 
 two hours in reading and replying to the 
 memorials placed on his table ; at half- 
 past six he dressed and attended the 
 council, which sat from seven till ten, and 
 sometimes till eleven ; he passed the rest 
 of the morning with the King, who gave 
 him directions for the different depart- 
 ments of the administration, and then 
 returned to dine ; the simplicity of his 
 table was little admired by the courtiers: 
 when reproached with it, he replied, " If 
 my guests are wise, they will be satisfied : 
 
34 
 
 if they are otherwise, I can dispense with 
 their company." After dinner he gave a 
 regular audience, to which every one, 
 even the meanest peasant, was admitted. 
 The audience was impartial ; Sully gave 
 every one a prompt answer, and was thus 
 occupied till the hour of his evening re- 
 past ; then the doors were closed, he took 
 leave of business, and enjoyed the society 
 of a few friends. He usually went to rest 
 at ten o'clock, and when any unforeseen 
 event retarded the dispatch of business, 
 he stole from sleep the time necessary 
 for its completion. 
 
 The conduct of Sully in the domestic 
 relations of life are not irrelevant to his 
 public character ; the intimate sentiments 
 of the human soul evince its latent ten- 
 dencies, and the virtues which render 
 the individual fit to be entrusted with the 
 welfare of a nation, will first find exercise 
 in the exemplary fulfilment of private du- 
 ties. This virtue is distinct from mere ta- 
 lent, which may exist in union with many 
 
35 
 
 vices. As a son, a father and a husband, 
 Sully was as justly dear to his family, as 
 he was to his Royal master: and the 
 happy people who owned his benevolent 
 and enlightened sway. It is true that the 
 courtiers, the ladies and the ministers often 
 endeavoured to deprive him of Henry's 
 well-bestowed confidence, and it is dis- 
 graceful to human nature that envy worked 
 sosuccessfullyon fifteen different occasions 
 as nearly to effect his disgrace ; on these 
 occasions, Sully calmly pursued his un- 
 sullied career, and disdaining other justi- 
 fication, left the issue to the penetrating 
 mind and grateful heart of his friend, 
 which were too well in accordance with 
 his own to remain long open to the mean 
 and sinister suggestions of the enemies of 
 virtue, which they could neither imitate 
 or successfully oppose. On the most me- 
 morable of these occasions, Henry, after 
 three months passed in constraint and 
 coldness, no longer able to endure the 
 torments of mistrust, sent for Sully, and, 
 after a full explanation, in which his in- 
 
36 
 
 nocence was clearly proved, the generous 
 monarch presented his faithful minister 
 to the envious throng, with these wither- 
 ing words : " I desire to make vou tho- 
 roughly aware that I love Rosni more 
 than ever, and desire to be served no 
 better than I have ever been during his 
 administration." 
 
 After the assassination of Henry, in 
 1610, measures were entirely changed ; the 
 old methods of oppressing the people and 
 enriching individuals were resorted to. 
 Sully, indignant, tendered his resigna- 
 tion ; but his family, well pleased with 
 his official situation, for a time retarded 
 his retreat. At length, weary of the mean 
 and impolitic conduct of which he was a 
 daily witness, he disdained to lend it his 
 sanction, and retired to his estates.. The 
 public favour followed him, when he left 
 Paris three hundred horsemen escorted 
 him ; it was the triumph of injured virtue. 
 The Queen, in consideration of his ser- 
 vices, sent him a grant of one hundred 
 
37 
 
 thousand crowns ; it appeared to be the 
 price of his resignation, and it would ill 
 have become Sully to accept it ; he ac- 
 cordingly refused it. They then endea- 
 voured to accomplish his ruin by bring- 
 ing him to trial; and he, who had for 
 twenty years absolutely devoted himself 
 to the service of the state, was called on 
 for his justification. He wrote to the 
 Queen, who spared the nation this insult 
 to its feelings. Such proceedings are 
 sufficient to inspire disgust of the task of 
 promoting the real welfare of a people if 
 it were possible to appal the courage of 
 the true citizen, Colbert, experienced the 
 same ingratitude, and rendered similar 
 services. 
 
 From the retreat of Sully to his death 
 he scarcely ever appeared at Court. Louis 
 XIII. having sent to consult him on the 
 state of affairs, he unwillingly attended 
 the summons. The young courtiers 
 turned into ridicule his dress, his grave 
 demeanour and dignified manners. Sully 
 
38 
 
 perceived it and thus addressed the king : 
 " Sire, when your royal father, of glori- 
 ous memory, did me the honour to con- 
 sult me on high and important matters, 
 he dismissed the Court buffoons ! ! ! M 
 What a reproof ! 
 
 Maximilian de Bethune was born in 
 1560 ; in 1580, he was appointed Cham- 
 berlain to the King of Navarre : in 1594, 
 Secretary of State, subsequently Governor 
 of Mantes, President of the board of Fi- 
 nance, Grand Master of the Artillery, 
 Governor of the Bastile, and in 1606, 
 Duke of Sully and Peer of France. In 
 1611, he quitted the Court and public 
 affairs; in 1634, he was made Marshal 
 of France, and died at Villebon in 1641, 
 aged eighty-one years. The Duchess of 
 Sully erected to the memory of her hus- 
 band a fine statue of white marble, exe- 
 cuted by one of the most famous Italian 
 sculptors; it is placed in an apartment 
 of the Castle of Villebon— doubtless it 
 might have been more appropriately 
 
39 
 
 placed ; it should have adorned the ca- 
 pital ! The remains of Sully, with those 
 of the Duchess, his wife, are deposited 
 in a mausoleum at Nogent le Rotron, 
 otherwise Bethune. 
 
EULOGY 
 
 OF 
 
 MAXIMILIAN DE BETHUNE, 
 
 Duke of Sully. 
 
 The melancholy experience of every 
 age and nation bears witness to the in- 
 justice of mankind towards those who 
 are its greatest ornaments. Surpassing 
 merit cannot be tolerated by those in 
 whom it excites a sense of humiliation. 
 It overpowers their weakness ; posterity 
 is more just, envy no longer hovers 
 around the silent tomb, persecution sub- 
 sides, and petty passions are extinguished, 
 interfering interests no longer exist, and 
 truth is at last triumphant. The interval 
 which separates our age from that of Sully 
 is favourable to his glory ; the benefits 
 
41 
 
 derived from his administration have 
 been more truly appreciated since it has 
 passed away ; the resources of his genius 
 have been more admired since the evils 
 they remedied have again occurred. His 
 reputation, at first disputed and vaccillat- 
 ing, now stands in its own strength, like 
 the oak of the forest, rooted in storms 
 and rendered firm by the convulsions of 
 succeeding centuries. The Eulogy of 
 this Minister is the echo of fame, dictated 
 by the voice of ages. 
 
 Shame to the man of letters who de- 
 grades his talent by flattery. Our object 
 is not individual panegyric, but a lesson 
 for nations and the human race. If a 
 country experience the same miseries and 
 the same disorders ; abuses passed into 
 laws, morals corrupted by meanness, the 
 springs of Government relaxed by lux- 
 ury, I write for that country. In dis- 
 playing the talents of Sully, I shall un- 
 fold mighty resources ; in describing his 
 merits, I shall offer a splendid example. 
 
42 
 
 I am well aware that there are times 
 in which he who dares to eulogise virtue 
 is deemed the enemy of his age ; but I 
 were unworthy to pronounce the name 
 of Sully if I were deterred by such fear. 
 Let us at least have the courage to bear 
 witness to virtue, in an age when so few 
 dare to practise it. The virtuous will 
 uphold me, and the indignation of vice 
 will be a fresh wreath in my crown. 
 
 This eulogy shall be equally conse- 
 crated to thee, Oh tender friend of Sully, 
 the greatest monarch and the most gene- 
 rous master ! Thou at whose memory the 
 eyes of thy countrymen fill with tears ! 
 If thy cold ashes could speak, thyself 
 would describe the virtues of Sully in thy 
 own manly eloquence ; an eulogy more 
 worthy of him than the tribute of the 
 most splendid oratory. 
 
43 
 
 FIRST PART. 
 
 The least distinction of Sully was an 
 illustrious birth ; on one side he was 
 allied to the house of Austria, on the other 
 to that of France. This fortunate con- 
 currence might have corrupted a weak 
 mind ; to his it was the source of that 
 elevation of spirit, which, indignant at 
 the least approach to meanness, enters the 
 career of glory by the path of virtue. 
 Fortune had assigned to him another 
 advantage, — he was poor. While he was 
 educated at Rosni, in the austere strength 
 of the morals of earlier ages, the child 
 who was destined to be the conqueror 
 and ruler of France, grew and improved 
 under similar discipline among the moun- 
 tains and rocks of Beam. Their union 
 was decreed for the happinesss of the State, 
 while in the weakness of childhood, they 
 
44 
 
 were nursed amid carnage. The four 
 battles in which torrents of the blood of his 
 countrymen were shed, are the epochs of 
 Sully's nonage. Greater miseries ap- 
 proached. How can the memory of that 
 day be obliterated, which was the signal 
 of a civil war which lasted twenty-six 
 years ; that day on which fanaticism 
 transformed a mild people into a nation 
 of assassins, and deluged their altars with 
 blood. Praise be to Heaven, Sully and 
 Henry perished not on that tremendous 
 day. Their death would have been more 
 fatal to their surviving countrymen than 
 the loss of sixty thousand citizens who 
 bled in that hour of madness and of hor- 
 ror, the massacre of St. Bartholomew. 
 
 The education of Sully was interrupted 
 by these troubles. He was obliged to 
 give up the study of languages. But 
 history had placed before his eyes the 
 examples of great men, and he felt him- 
 self born to imitate them. The study of 
 mathematics trained his mind to those 
 
45 
 
 just and rapid combinations which form 
 the warrior and the statesman. His age 
 was a living lesson. The religious mad- 
 ness of which he had been the witness, 
 and almost the victim, inspired him with 
 a horror of fanaticism. The ravaged ci- 
 ties and plains awoke compassion in his 
 heart. Hunger, thirst, perils and toils, 
 fortified his courage. What! in con- 
 templating the feeble minds and corrupted 
 morals of our own times, shall we be re- 
 duced to envy those periods of civil dis- 
 cord, where the state is agitated, but 
 minds are fortified. Sully, at sixteen, 
 had already shewn himself no common 
 character. Military talents were the first 
 by which he was distinguished. 
 
 Charles IX. a weak and ferocious 
 prince, the slave of his mother, and sul- 
 lied with the blood of his subjects, was 
 dead . Henry the Third had arrived from 
 Poland, but Catherine, voluptuous and 
 cruel, a barbarous Queen, and a super- 
 stitious woman, held the bloody reins of 
 
 G 
 
46 
 
 empire. The Protestants, dreadful in de- 
 feat, hastened to avenge the murders of 
 St. Bartholomew. Henry burst his chains 
 and flew from prison to the field. Rosni 
 followed him, impatient to conquer ; he 
 served as a volunteer. On the plains of 
 Tours he gathered his early laurels. The 
 feeling heart of Henry trembled for him, 
 and while he praised his courage he 
 blamed its temerity. The colours were 
 confided to his hand, and he made them 
 the standard of triumph. To the ser- 
 vice of his master he devoted the gold 
 which was the price of his blood, and 
 maintained several gentlemen, who vowed 
 to fight and die in his cause. 'From this 
 period he was attached to the personal 
 service of the king. It was a devotion to 
 peril and a league with honour. Henry, 
 with a few comrades, was hemmed 
 within the walls of the enemy, and sepa- 
 rated from his army. Sully fought at his 
 side against the entire force of the enemy ; 
 this new Parmenio saved his Alexander. 
 Perils increased. Here he is surrounded 
 
47 
 
 and appears to have no choice but an ho- 
 nourable death ; there, sword in hand, 
 he opposes an army. Henry blames this 
 excess of courage. But his example au- 
 thorised what his commands forbid, and 
 Sully in battle was more apt to imitate 
 his master than to obey him. 
 
 France, bleeding and rent with civil 
 scars, at length seemed to enjoy the 
 sweets of repose ; the two courts instantly 
 passed from war to dissipation ; strange 
 contrast of ferocity and voluptuousness. 
 Those warriors whom superstition had 
 plunged into the horrors of civil carnage, 
 amused themselves with gallantry, feasts 
 and dances. Interest soon dissolved an 
 ill-cemented peace. The King of Na- 
 varre, at the head of fifteen hundred men, 
 attacked an important and well garrisoned 
 town. The gates were forced, but within, 
 a hundred barriers presented themselves* 
 History will tell the deeds of Sully ; fight- 
 ing beside his king, at every step he en- 
 counters a fresh enemy, repels fresh as- 
 
48 
 
 saults; exposed to the fire of batteries, 
 the hail of musquetry, the stones falling 
 from the house-tops for five days and 
 nights, during which he never quitted 
 his arms, hastily snatching his food in the 
 bloody field, sleeping upright against 
 ruinous houses ready to crush him ; in 
 this state wounded and bleeding, but 
 still fighting with one hand, he attacks 
 the enemy, and with the other he defends 
 his king. 
 
 The warfare of those times did not 
 resemble ours, where the opposition of 
 equal forces, form firm battalions, who 
 study and observe each other, combine 
 with deep wisdom their wary move- 
 ments, and balance with tremendous po- 
 licy the fates of Empires. Armies were 
 less numerous and more disposable. The 
 enthusiasm of civil contest embued every 
 mind and communicated a dreadful energy 
 which dared and braved every peril. The 
 fate of war turned rather on a coup de 
 main than a regular battle ; and actions 
 
49 
 
 often repeated, had less decisive influence. 
 Audacity supplied the place of strength. 
 Cities were by turns taken and re-taken. 
 Negociations succeeded to battles, and 
 intrigue was mingled with war. 
 
 I shall not accompany Sully in all the 
 campaigns in which he served and fol- 
 lowed Henry. They every where present 
 the same delineations : battles, perils and 
 wounds. I will rapidly discuss these to- 
 pics, and pass on to more important ob- 
 jects. Henry III. was no more ; this un- 
 happy prince was pierced by the poniard 
 sharpened by his own weakness. The 
 throne of France, vacant by assassination, 
 was disputed by rebellion and intrigue. 
 May en tie had in his favour his descent 
 from the house of Lorraine, his talents 
 and the popular fanaticism. The Cardi- 
 nal of Bourbon, his rights and the phan- 
 tom of power. Philip II. the gold of 
 Mexico, the thunders of Rome, and the 
 genius of the Duke of Parma. Henry 
 IV. his claims, his virtues, his sword 
 and Sully. 
 
50 
 
 Sully had already made himself mas- 
 ter of the important fortress of Meulan, 
 when the Duke of Mayenne advanced at 
 the head of thirty thousand men. Henry 
 ventured to attack him with only three 
 thousand : he entrusted his friend with 
 one of those important positions which de- 
 cide a victory. Sully is at once a soldier 
 and a general ; he gives the word and offers 
 the example — his ranks are broken — he 
 rallies them. New enemies appear, — 
 and his soldiers give way; he flies to 
 Henry and begs a reinforcement. " My 
 friend," says the King, " I have none to 
 give you, but do not lose courage." 
 Sully flies to his forces, announces speedy 
 succour; he did not deceive them; his 
 valour, his intrepidity, his zeal for the 
 state, his love for the King; all these 
 virtues, inflamed by Henry's danger, are 
 the reinforcement he brings. These sen- 
 timents pervade every heart, the wounded 
 see their blood flow with unconcern ; the 
 dying revive, strength multiplies, and the 
 conquering Sully turns the fate of victory 
 to the side of Henry IV. 
 
51 
 
 Paris is besieged. Sully, master of a 
 suburb, spreads terror through the city. 
 He makes the besiegers retire from Meu- 
 lan and defends against a whole army a 
 place destitute of walls. The Spaniards 
 join the Leaguers. Mayenne andEgmont 
 march against Henry ; the fate of France 
 hangs upon a battle. On the plains of 
 Ivri Sully fought with intrepidity till he 
 fell under the horse's feet, with seven 
 wounds ; he remained without helmet or 
 armour, fainting and deserted on the field 
 of battle. It was on the close of this 
 battle that Henry, bending over his 
 wounds, bestowed on him the title of 
 u brave and noble knight ;" no vain title 
 to flatter vanity, but the just distinction 
 of a hero. Noble Frenchmen, your an- 
 cestors bore this title ; have you forgotten 
 it ? They bought it with their blood, they 
 maintained it by their virtues ; it ex- 
 pressed honour, but did not supply its 
 place ; never was it better bestowed than 
 on Sully. Having learnt that the King 
 again besieged Paris, he directed that he 
 
52 
 
 should be borne thither. His failing 
 steps would no longer support him in 
 battle ; his arm in a sling could no longer 
 wield a sword ; but his counsels can as- 
 sist his Prince, and his voice animate his 
 troops ; the very sight of his wounds are 
 the signal of battle and the example of 
 valour. Soon he is able to resume his 
 sword. He takes Gisors, flies to the siege 
 of Chartres, and nearly perishes there ; 
 he lays a plot to get Mayenne into his 
 hands, but the impetuous valour of Henry 
 saves the chief of the League. At the 
 siege of Rouen he requests the honour of 
 the command of a battery, but envy al- 
 ready wished to deprive him of the glory 
 of serving the state. At least they cannot 
 deprive him of the satisfaction of shedding 
 his blood at the side of his master. The 
 Duke of Parma again entered France. 
 The King, who never counted his troops, 
 again marched to encounter him. With 
 one hundred men he faced thirty thou- 
 sand. The name of Henry could alone 
 authenticate this action, in which he 
 
53 
 
 fought like the Spartans at Thermopylae ; 
 sixty of his comrades perished by his 
 side, and his single arm, with the re- 
 mainder, upheld the destiny of France 
 against thirty thousand men. Sully was 
 endowed by nature with a talent for 
 sieges, led on by his genius he had stu- 
 died the science of attack and defence. 
 This science was far from being perfected ; 
 it awaited Vauban. But Sully, even in 
 this department, had the glory which is 
 peculiar to genius, of outstripping his 
 age. At the siege of Dreux his enemies 
 dared to insult his measures. His success 
 avenged him. He greatly promoted the 
 capture of Laon, and here he fought for 
 the last time against the French. Wil- 
 lingly would he have broken the sword 
 of civil contest ; he preserved it only to 
 wash its stains in the blood of the ene- 
 mies of his country. Henry declared 
 war against the Spaniards, and Sully went 
 to the siege of Fere ; he directed its ope- 
 rations and provisioned the army. Be- 
 fore Amiens he was not less useful to his 
 
 H 
 
54 
 
 King ; the loss of this city almost over- 
 threw the throne of Henry IV. The 
 peace of Vervins terminated these trou- 
 bles, but war soon arose at the foot of the 
 Alps. The Duke of Savoy, by the arti- 
 fices of a weak potentate, drew on himself 
 the arms of the conqueror of the League. 
 Henry advanced and Sully drives back 
 the enemies of France. He had the au- 
 dacity to attack two forts situated on a 
 sharp and inaccessible rock ; a path sur- 
 rounded with precipices was the only road 
 by which cannon could reach it, and it 
 was necessary to carry it afterwards over 
 the summit of the mountain ; to fix bat- 
 teries it was necessary to level rocks, and 
 to take the citadel they must spy out some 
 less defended part. After all these ob- 
 stacles were overcome, one remained 
 more invincible still, the jealousy of the 
 courtiers. Sully triumphed over all. The 
 enemies of France learned to fear him. 
 Henry's esteem increased and the cour- 
 tiers acquired a new motive of hatred. 
 
 I shall not dilate on the military ac- 
 
55 
 
 tions of Sully ; what would be the princi- 
 pal glory of the history of another man's 
 life is only an episode in his, and I be- 
 hold this great man with the eyes of pos- 
 terity, who, in the statesman, have seen 
 the warrior eclipsed. I shall merely give 
 a rapid sketch of his negociations, and 
 pass on to the description of hisadininis* 
 tration. 
 
56 
 
 SECOND PART. 
 
 When the death of the last Prince of 
 the House of Valois had opened to Henry 
 the Fourth a path to the throne, this 
 prince cast his eyes upon France and 
 its dependencies, to consider what re- 
 mained either to hope or to fear. Eng- 
 land, agitated by the tyrannical caprices 
 of Henry VIII. weakened under Edward 
 VI. flowing with blood under Mary, flou- 
 rishing and tranquil under Elizabeth, 
 was laying the foundations of permanent 
 grandeur, and appeared disposed to sup- 
 port the pretensions of a Protestant King 
 in France. Holland, struggling with its 
 tyrants, beheld in their enemy a necessary 
 ally. Germany degraded under the sway 
 of Rodolph, dreaded the Ottomans, and 
 had little influence over its neighbours. 
 Switzerland, brare and free, needed in 
 
57 
 
 its poverty to sell its soldiers and its 
 blood. Spain, increased by its territories 
 in the New World, had overwhelmed 
 Portugal, threatened England, and deso- 
 lated France. Rome launched its thun- 
 ders. Sweden and Denmark were un- 
 connected with the middle of Europe. 
 Poland was in a state of barbarism. Rus- 
 sia had no political existence : within the 
 kingdom was the League protected by 
 Spain, authorised by the Popes, who op- 
 posed Kings in the name of Heaven. 
 Here he contemplated Mayenne, wise in 
 counsel, slow in execution, an excellent 
 chief of a party, a more able than fortu- 
 nate warrior ; Aumale, ardent, impetuous 
 braving death and kings; Nemours, suf- 
 ficiently eminent to excite the jealousy 
 of Mayenne ; Mercoeur, a philosopher in 
 the bosom of revolt, and humane amid the 
 atrocities of civil war ; Brissac, a romantic 
 and singular genius, anxious to create the 
 model of ancient Rome out of the ruins 
 of France ; the Cardinal of Bourbon, 
 who from weakness was forced to assume 
 
58 
 
 ihe crown. Guise, whose name was a 
 host ; Epernon, whose distinguishing* cha- 
 racter was pride, and who never inspired 
 any other sentiment than fear; Villars, 
 haughty and violent, but frank and brave ; 
 Joyeuse, devout from caprice and a war- 
 rior from fanaticism ; Villeroi, an upright 
 man and an able statesman ; added to 
 these was the President Jeannin, too vir- 
 tuous for a rebel, the lover of his country, 
 the enemy of Spain, hated by the Sixteen, 
 the soul of his party in spite of themselves, 
 he moderated their violence. On the 
 other side was Aumont, a faithful subject 
 and an intrepid warrior ; Biron, who had 
 been Generalissimo in seven battles : he, 
 who to be great wanted only to be vir- 
 tuous ; Givri, equally eminent in letters 
 as in war; Crillon, whose name and ho- 
 nour is synonymous ; Lesdiguieres, risen 
 from the ranks to be Constable, in times 
 when merit finds its own level ; Mont- 
 morency, worthy of his honoured name ; 
 Mornai, an almost solitary instance of re- 
 ligion carried to excess without fanati- 
 
59 
 
 cism ; Sanci, a warrior, a magistrate, a 
 negotiator and a minister. Harlai, who 
 had the glory of suffering for his King ; 
 Bouillon, in whose ardent and restless 
 genius was combined the activity of am- 
 bition and the phlegm of policy; the 
 Count D'Auvergne eager for cabals and 
 dissipation ; the Count de Soissons, brave 
 but inconstant, little attached to his mas- 
 ter, jealous of his glory, without fore- 
 sight in his passions, needing agitation, 
 and tormenting himself without a settled 
 object. Such were the virtues and the 
 vices, the qualities and the dispositions, 
 of those who served and those who op- 
 posed Henry IV. To unite such various 
 interests, to calm such opposite passions, 
 to vanquish was insufficient ; it was ne- 
 cessary to negotiate. Sully, a warrior 
 and a politician, assisted the King's cause 
 by his talents as well as served it by his 
 valour. Hardly was the League formed 
 when Henry sent him to the Court of 
 France to observe its operations. He 
 noted a conjuncture preceding great trou- 
 
60 
 
 bles, in which every one is engaged in 
 taking measures for self-preservation, 
 when friendship assumes the guise of 
 party spirit, when hatred becomes fac- 
 tion, when private interests clog the 
 wheels of Government, when the vulgar 
 cease to wonder at Sovereign grandeur, 
 when the nobility make a traffic of their 
 faith and set a price on their integrity. 
 He had followed all the revolutions of 
 the state, and the progress of the various 
 systems. He had negociated at the peril 
 of his life the treaty which united the 
 two Kings. He negociated with all the 
 Leaguers who had the resources of the 
 state at their disposal, or whose reputa- 
 tion weighed on the fidelity of the people. 
 Villars, master of an important position, 
 opposed blind courage and indiscrimi- 
 nating passion. Sully, by coolness, mo- 
 deration and frankness, triumphed over 
 this haughty spirit, and restored a citizen 
 to the state. The heir of the House of 
 Guise fought to uphold the throne shaken 
 by the intrigues of his family. Sully 
 
61 
 
 brought a crowd of rebels to the feet of 
 his master. He profited by their jealousy 
 to sow the seeds of division ; by their 
 mutual hatred to inspire the love of duty ; 
 flattered ambition by dignities, interest 
 by riches, vanity by praises ; estimated 
 by the strength of character and passion 
 the value that individuals set on their 
 hatred or their vengeance; calculated 
 the service that each could render his 
 master, what number he would carry 
 along with him ; flattered the powerful 
 with the glory of influencing the scale of 
 empire, the subordinate class with the 
 hope of greatness; persuading each that 
 to him belonged the greatest share of con- 
 fidence, and engaging all to decision, 
 that they might not see others bear away 
 the reward. Such was the management 
 employed by Sully towards the obscure 
 factious crowd which form the mass of 
 parties, and whose policy is passion. 
 But with men of a superior order, he put 
 forth all the strength of reason. He 
 weighed the interests of France, balanced 
 i 
 
62 
 
 its claims, unfolded his resources, depicted 
 the horrors of civil contests, the necessity 
 of a directing power, the King's virtues ; 
 he awakened in every heart the voice of 
 the country which called for its citizens 
 and displayed that masculine eloquence 
 which had its source less in talent than 
 in the vigour of sentiment. 
 
 In these deplorable times fidelity itself 
 was factious; while the Leaguers were 
 returning to their duty, it was necessary 
 to endeavour to maintain a spirit of loy- 
 alty in Henry's party. Obedience seemed 
 a favour, not a duty. The Catholics, 
 jealous of the Protestants, and corrupted 
 by Spain, were ever forming conspiracies, 
 which they termed sacred, because they 
 were disguised with the colour of reli- 
 gion. The nobility, accustomed to in- 
 dependence, feared the dominion of a 
 king, who would be a check on their 
 tyranny. The Protestants were animated 
 by a republican spirit, which had its 
 source in civil discord ; the example of 
 
63 
 
 Holland and persecution itself fostered 
 the growth of this spirit; at first they 
 espoused the cause of Henry IV. but 
 served him most equivocally, rather as 
 conspirators than as subjects ; indignant 
 that the Catholics should share the honour 
 of taking up arms in his cause ; anxiously 
 beholding* him almost alienated from 
 their faith ; looking on the privileges 
 accorded them in the edict of Nantz as 
 their right, and every refusal of their de- 
 mands as injustice; irreconcilable with 
 the religion of the party which had tri- 
 umphed, they formed a numerous body 
 in the state, alternately repressed by au- 
 thority and struggling against it. Henry 
 opposed the genius of Sully to all these 
 contending factions. Sully never for a 
 moment relaxed his vigilance. He gave 
 timely notice of the approach of rebellion, 
 ever less formidable when foreseen ; or 
 he extinguished its elementary principles. 
 
 If we narrowly observe the tendency 
 of assemblies where the interest of the 
 
64 
 
 subject and the state are set in opposition, 
 we shall perceive that the assemblies held 
 by the Protestants were of a formidable 
 character ; their congregated strength was 
 thus made obvious, their concentrated 
 passions acquired additional activity. — 
 It would doubtless have been desirable 
 that these assemblies should have been 
 put down : but it was only by their 
 toleration that a yet unsettled Govern- 
 ment could appear to retain the power 
 of suppressing them. To prevent their 
 ill effects it was requisite that an indi- 
 vidual should preside in them armed with 
 the Royal authority, who should influ- 
 ence their decisions while he appeared 
 only to coincide with them. A mind so 
 firm as to maintain the honour of the 
 throne, and so wise as not to aggravate 
 spirits already too much excited ; who 
 possessed pliability of character to conci- 
 liate various tempers, and dignity to awe 
 them ; animated, yet self-possessed, in- 
 genious to divide and eloquent to induce 
 concurrence, endowed with penetration 
 
65 
 
 rather than impenetrable. Such was 
 Sully ; he conciliated distrust, dissipated 
 rumours spread by animosity, interposed 
 authority to check measures of little con- 
 sequence, and silently and secretly re- 
 pressed the most dangerous. He kept 
 some in the path of duty by fear, others 
 by interest, some by shame, the rest by 
 glory ; not a passion or a vice but yielded 
 to his control and concurred to the tran- 
 quillity of the State. 
 
 This influence was not limited to 
 France ; wherever it could promote the 
 interest of Henry, the genius of Sully 
 predominated. I leave to others the task 
 of narrating the negociations of this 
 great man with Switzerland, Savoy, Rome 
 and Florence, and will follow him to Eng- 
 land, where Elizabeth no longer reigned, 
 but was succeeded by the son of Mary 
 Stuart. Henry IV. had planned the hu- 
 miliation of the House of Austria. Irri- 
 tated by the pride of Charles V. and the 
 treachery of Philip II. ; bearing all the 
 
66 
 
 weight of the misery of France, and his 
 private injuries; he resolved to be the 
 avenger of France, Europe and himself, 
 and finally to terminate the general dis- 
 pute. The assistance of England was 
 requisite in a quarrel which was to arm 
 one half of Europe against the other. 
 Sully leaves France with Henry's instruc- 
 tions. When he arrived in London, no- 
 thing but obstacles presented themselves ; 
 a proud and magnanimous nation, capa- 
 ble of conceiving vast projects, the enemy 
 of its rival state, making its own aggran- 
 dizement the focus of its strength and its 
 designs, an agitated and factious Court ; 
 the partisans of France opposing those of 
 Spain, others equally jealous of both 
 powers ; some seditious, eager for inno- 
 vation attached to no particular party, 
 but anxious to increase the general fer- 
 ment ; Ministers, ardent in their ambi- 
 tious pursuits, careless of the welfare of 
 the state, refusing to lend their assistance 
 to a project which did not emanate from 
 themselves ; a courageous Queen, pas- 
 
67 
 
 sionately attached to the Catholics, brav- 
 ing- her husband's authority from fana- 
 ticism. A Prince, acting from a sense 
 of justice, but weak and irresolute; a 
 theologian rather than a King ; composing 
 books instead of governing his people; 
 without firmness to restrain his own 
 subjects, or policy to influence other na- 
 tions. The genius of Sully met all these 
 difficulties like an able general, who, 
 having to oppose the enemy in a disad- 
 vantageous country, carefully observes 
 and seizes every tenable post. Sully, on 
 his arrival in London, considered every 
 obstacle and advantage relative to his ne- 
 gociation. He appreciated the weakness 
 of the King ; he learnt to distrust his 
 Ministers, he frustrated the intrigue of 
 the Spaniards, he excited the hatred of 
 their tyrants in the Dutch Envoys, he 
 engaged Sweden and Denmark, to extend 
 their views to the middle states of Eu- 
 rope ; he inflamed Venice with the hope of 
 recovering her ancient grandeur. Armed 
 with these united forces, he again assails 
 
68 
 
 the King, and urges the vast designs of 
 Henry IV. approved by Elizabeth ; he 
 places before him Europe, rent into two 
 great factions : on one side the Emperor, 
 possessing only claims and weakness, the 
 Pope, an honourable slave to Austria, 
 Spain devastated by America, Spanish 
 Flanders tottering under the Government 
 of Philip II. ; Savoy, hemmed in by two 
 great powers which overwhelmed it, the 
 lesser states of Italy fated to depend on 
 the power that might chuse to conquer or 
 deign to purchase them ; on the other 
 side, France, fertile in resources, and 
 arising more formidable in strength from 
 the ashes of civil combustion. England, 
 powerful from her fleets, and yet more 
 from her genius; Sweden, mighty in 
 arms and heroes ; Denmark, proud of its 
 former conquests; Venice, like Tyra, the 
 merchant city, and the conquering Car- 
 thage ; Holland, celebrated by the suc- 
 cessive victories of forty years; and, 
 lastly, the Protestant States of Germany 
 and Switzerland, enthusiastic in liberty 
 
(39 
 
 and religion. He detailed his project, 
 displayed his means of carrying them into 
 execution, and at length interested the 
 vanity of James, by describing the Kings 
 of France and England at the head of 
 this great enterprise, altering the face of 
 Europe and deciding the fate of Kings. 
 But, alas ! how vain are the triumphs of 
 great men ! what avails it that Sully tri- 
 umphed over all these obstacles, and 
 united England and France against Aus- 
 tria j The death of Henry IV. rendered 
 all these strokes of polic}' useless. The 
 execution of a part of this vast plan was 
 left to Richlieu ; the other was never 
 completed ; and all that was effected was 
 effaced by succeeding events. Thus the 
 political world experiences even more 
 revolutions than the physical. 
 
 How great soever the talents of Sully 
 might be for negociation, in this species 
 of glory he is perhaps rivalled by the 
 President Jeannin and the Cardinal Ossat; 
 but as a Minister he had no equal : he 
 
70 
 
 surpassed his predecessors, and is deser- 
 vedly the model of posterity. 
 
 THIRD PART. 
 
 How inadequate are the orators of 
 these times, unconnected with the busi- 
 ness of Government, to treat subjects 
 which embrace the political system of 
 nations. It would belong to the orators 
 of the ancient Republics, or rather to 
 some individual who might observe all 
 the changes of all nations, discern periods 
 and climes, trace the causes and effects 
 of the rise and fall of kingdoms, to eu- 
 logise a Minister and a Statesman. Who 
 shall pretend to display the qualities with 
 which he ought to be adorned. If I as- 
 
71 
 
 sign him wisdom and activity, a talent 
 for detail as well as a genius for great 
 combinations — if I say that he should 
 govern like nature by invariable and 
 simple principles, by a system so com- 
 pletely organised that the lesser opera- 
 tions were carried on imperceptibly ; who 
 in judging of a particular measure, com- 
 pared it with the general system* calcu- 
 late the reciprocal influence of the se- 
 veral powers, and of each on their com- 
 bined influence, seize the connection of 
 objects apparently distant, discern the 
 sources and application of power, unite 
 public and private interests, make them 
 concur even in their opposition to the 
 general harmony — if I say that a Minister 
 should adopt facility in measures, and 
 avoid almost as evils, half-remedies in 
 great misfortunes, approach the object 
 of his efforts without dwelling on obsta- 
 cles ; distinguish the administration of 
 affairs, from acts of authority, and those 
 conjunctures which are never so happy 
 as when left to themselves, not to take the 
 
72 
 
 forced posture of affairs for their natural 
 state, and not to depart from general 
 principles because adherence to them 
 may occasion trifling inconvenience, and 
 not to imagine that all abuses can be 
 eradicated, the most fatal error of all ; 
 not to sacrifice the welfare of the state 
 to that of a single city, nor cause the mi- 
 sery of ages for momentary advantage — 
 if I add that it should be the incessant 
 endeavour of a Minister to retrench the 
 sum of evil caused by daily embarrass- 
 ment, the turmoil of business, the exi- 
 gency of the moment, the indolence or 
 corruption of agents, and the eternal 
 contrast of what would be possible in the 
 nature of things, and what ceases to be 
 so from human passions ; were I to assert 
 all this and more I should have faintly 
 traced the qualities and duties which be- 
 long to a statesman. The actions of 
 Sully will speak for him, and demonstrate 
 the profundity and extent of his talents. 
 
 Before he was Minister of Finance 
 
73 
 
 his master had cast his eyes on him to 
 repair the evils under which his country 
 groaned. His first merit was lhat he 
 was aware of their existence. He con- 
 templated the entire extent of the mis- 
 chief, he beheld a kingdom sinking 
 under thirty years of civil warfare, a prey 
 to all the evils produced by weakened and 
 despised authority. He began by calculat- 
 ing the debts of the state; he found it in- 
 debted to England, Switzerland and Hol- 
 land, which had furnished Henry with 
 troops, vessels, arms and gold, to aid his 
 conquest of the Leaguers ; to the army 
 yet unpaid ; to the usurers who forced 
 the kingdom to pay for its destruction ; 
 to all the officers of the various depart- 
 ments of the administration, who claimed 
 twenty years arrears of services and pen- 
 sions, to the slaves and favourites, on 
 whom Henrv III. had lavished the trea- 
 sures drained from the vital of the State ; 
 to the farmers of the taxes, who, loading 
 the Government with heavy payments, 
 enjoyed in indolence, the fruits of a na- 
 
74 
 
 tion's toils ; and to the chiefs of the 
 League, who had almost all sold their 
 fidelity to their new master. He had 
 been necessitated to purchase every for- 
 tress, to pay for every treaty, to estimate 
 the price at which each would sell the 
 profits of rebellion, as if the honour of 
 returning to duty had not been the most 
 ample reward. He calculated and found 
 the sum total of these debts to be three 
 hundred and thirty millions. Sully 
 passed on to the examination of the re- 
 venue. Would it were possible in this 
 age to create astonishment by stating that 
 the King had the disposal of only thirty 
 millions, while the people paid one hun- 
 dred and fifty millions. What could be 
 the cause of this incredible disorder? 
 The weakness of kings, the rapacity of 
 subjects. Besides the subsidies levied 
 for the exigencies of the state, every 
 officer, either of war, justice, or finance, 
 levied taxes on the people, who were 
 obliged to maintain these subaltern ty- 
 rants. All the creditors of the state, 
 
75 
 
 whether foreigners or subjects, taking 
 the payment into their own hands, had 
 appropriated to their private uses the 
 revenues of their Prince, and their ban- 
 ditti of clerks and commissaries disputed 
 with those of the Government the plunder 
 of a nation. The formers general having 
 established subordinate farms, which were 
 divided and subdivided, the revenue was 
 exhausted by passing through so many 
 hands, like those accumulated waters, 
 which tumbling down the depths of preci- 
 pices in reiterated cascades, evaporating in 
 foam, and borne by winds to distant 
 plains, reach only in part their basin in 
 the valley beneath. Domains to the value 
 of one hundred millions had been illegally 
 alienated. A great portion of the Royal 
 revenue had been usurped by the nobles 
 or sold at a contemptible price by those 
 in whose hands its management had been 
 placed. But the principal source of dis- 
 order were the peculations of agents. It 
 is not possible to detail all the contri- 
 vances invented by avarice to appropriate 
 
76 
 
 the revenues of the state. The receipts 
 were falsified, the expenditure fraudu- 
 lently stated ; the emoluments of places 
 augmented, double and triple offices cre- 
 ated, some expenses erroneously entered 
 and others suppressed. Sully detected 
 all these hidden sources of peculation, by 
 which the receivers appropriated the gold 
 of France. He examined all the registers, 
 compared the statements, verified the ac- 
 counts, collated and combined them. I 
 shall not hesitate to say that this obscure 
 labour does Sully the highest honour. 
 The mind of a great man feels secret 
 pleasure when it predominates in coun- 
 sel and braves powerful enemies for the 
 good of the state; his genius expands 
 when he forms those mighty combina- 
 tions which influence the fate of Europe ; 
 but to plunge into details which require 
 constant and common-place attention ; 
 to consecrate to minute calculations the 
 hand accustomed to wave armies to vic- 
 tory ; these toils of certain difficulty and 
 uncertain benefit, in which the imagina- 
 
77 
 
 tion is not sustained by the sentiment of 
 glory, demands a stronger mind than the 
 more brilliant operations of Government. 
 
 Sully continued his scrutiny : he ob- 
 served the effects of these abuses through- 
 out the kingdom. He sees industry ob- 
 structed, the circulation checked, lands 
 uncultivated and of little value, the peo- 
 ple in misery, credit destroyed, no pre- 
 sent resource and almost inevitable ruin. 
 Yet France, in her aspiring struggles, 
 agitated and tormented herself to find a 
 remedy for her evils. A Council of Fi- 
 nance had been created, a sort of hydra, 
 more fatal to France than was the admi- 
 nistration of the Superintendent it re- 
 placed ; the members of this Council in- 
 creased the evils they were appointed to 
 reform ; they governed all the farms of 
 the kingdom under borrowed names, 
 and appropriated to themselves large 
 sums for contracts, of which they paid 
 only a small proportion, forced the cre- 
 ditors of the state by long delays to re- 
 
78 
 
 duce their payments, but entered the en- 
 tire sum in their accounts ; they refused 
 for the necessary supplies of the war 
 those treasures which they lavished in 
 luxury, and revelled in the necessities of 
 the King, the miseries of the people, and 
 the ruin of the state. So have we be- 
 held in our own age a city overthrown 
 by an earthquake, the prey of plunderers 
 who sought for gold among the dead, to 
 whom its ruins afforded a sepulchre; 
 these licenced plunderers rejoiced in the 
 overthrow of their country. France was 
 on the verge of ruin : but Sully was its 
 minister. While every thing was com- 
 bined for its destruction, he omitted no 
 effort to save it. That he might com- 
 pletely ascertain its difficulties he made 
 journies through its different provinces. 
 Oh ye who would know and remedy the 
 evils of a state, leave your palaces. 
 Seated at your luxurious boards, you are 
 ignorant that thousands perish with hun- 
 ger. In courts and around the throne 
 no tale is told but that of prosperity ; 
 
79 
 
 but when the fields are deserted, the in- 
 struments of husbandry broken, the cot- 
 tages uninhabited and falling into ruins ; 
 when the grass is growing in the solitary 
 streets of the towns, when whole families 
 are met on the high roads, bidding adieu 
 to their native land and seeking subsist- 
 ence in happier climes ; then the heart 
 throbs, tears flow, and we begin to com- 
 prehend that the court is not the state, 
 and that the luxury of a few individuals 
 is not the prosperity of twenty millions 
 of citizens. 
 
 Such was the spectacle presented to the 
 eyes of Sully ; but to the heart of a citizen 
 he united the discrimination of a philo- 
 sopher. While he observed the evils he 
 studied their remedy. Posterity ought 
 to be informed that Sully had as many 
 obstacles to overcome from the conduct 
 of the financiers as his master had to en^ 
 counter when he disputed every city with 
 the Leaguers. Sully's virtue triumphed ; 
 he explored this desolated kingdom with 
 
so 
 
 the most enlightened and benevolent 
 views. Misery at length disappears and 
 light dawns. Solly is armed with Ihe 
 King's authority, he is endowed with all 
 the energy imparted by benevolent views. 
 He commenced by the reform of abuses. 
 He deprived the agents of Government 
 and the nobles of the power of levying 
 contributions on the provinces, the peo- 
 ple, freed from their tyrants, rejoiced that 
 they had only one master to pay. In 
 vain did Epernon uphold the opposite 
 party in the Council, fear was not made 
 for Sully, As a minister he frustrated 
 injustice, as a warrior he was unawed by 
 menaces. Unappalled by difficulties, he 
 pursued his career. He forbid the cre- 
 ditors of the state to make levies on 
 farms of the revenue. By this regulation 
 the revenues were rescued from the grasp 
 of England, Germany, Switzerland, Flo- 
 rence, Venice, and the most powerful of 
 the subjects of France. Henry IV. him- 
 self was alarmed at the storm that was 
 gathering over the head of Sully. But 
 
81 
 
 Sully was firm. He annihilated the sys- 
 tem of underletting the farms of the re- 
 venue. He prepared a general scheme 
 of Finance, which frustrated undue means 
 of gaining riches. He invented new me- 
 thods of keeping the accounts. The dens 
 of avarice were explored, and the tigers 
 who preyed on the vitals of the people 
 dislodged. Unjust gains were scrutinized 
 in the Courts of Law. Avarice was 
 obliged to refund her pillage, and the 
 riches which had been alienated from 
 the use of the state, were again restored 
 to it. If Government did not derive from 
 these decisive measures all the advantage 
 that was expected — if several great cri- 
 minals escaped, Sully must not be ac- 
 cused ; such irregularities arose from ve- 
 nality and intrigue: from the difficulty 
 of doing good and the excess to which 
 disorder had arrived. For at some pe- 
 riods gold will avert the punishment of 
 crimes of which it has been the source. 
 However a new face of things was pre- 
 sented. The revenue was doubled. Fo- 
 
82 
 
 reigners had no share in its profits and 
 ceased to sell their protection. From 
 that moment employments were more 
 deservedly bestowed : for I dare assert 
 that patronage is seldom worthily ex- 
 ercised. He who tempts others must al- 
 ready be corrupt, and how can we esteem 
 him who employs bribery to gain his 
 ends. Tyranny and usurpation disap- 
 pears; domains to the value of eighty 
 millions are restored to the Sovereign. 
 Sully performs a more difficult operation : 
 the system of Finance is thoroughly fa- 
 thomed — its source, its hypothesis, its 
 changes, every debt is discussed, every 
 degree of fraud and injustice considered, 
 the debts discharged, and the impositions 
 abolished. 
 
 Strict equity presided over these re- 
 gulations, and measures which were in- 
 jurious to the fortunes of individuals re- 
 established the public credit. Laws were 
 enacted to prevent the specie from passing 
 into the neighbouring states. But laws 
 
83 
 
 were inadequate while interested views 
 were a constant temptation to their vio- 
 lation. Sully applied various remedies 
 to this evil, but none was entirely suc- 
 cessful. This great man must have the 
 credit of all the good he was anxious to 
 do, and his age the disgrace of the abuses 
 he could not correct. Order facilitated 
 payments, every expenditure was met by 
 a portion of the revenue. Government 
 was no longer in arrears because the dis- 
 bursements did not exceed the receipts. 
 Delays were forbidden by a strict edict, 
 and those shameful treaties abolished in 
 which the creditor was obliged to set to 
 sale a part of his debt to purchase the 
 rest. If these details appear tedious, we 
 must consider that causes apparently mi-, 
 nute influence the prosperity of nations. 
 Every reform instituted by Sully amelio- 
 rated the condition of the people. The 
 cities and the provinces were relieved 
 from their burden of imposts. The 
 vexatious delays, the odious formalities, 
 remedies yet more cruel than evils, were 
 
84 
 
 suppressed. Privileges often unjust and 
 even dangerous, were reduced to their 
 due limits, and impartiality facilitated 
 redress. 
 
 It will here be proper to unfold the 
 principles of state economy adopted by 
 Sully, in which he was so ably seconded 
 by the genius and humanity of Henry IV. 
 How could these warriors so readily as- 
 sume the characters of statesmen 1 Does 
 the habit of danger familiarise the imagi- 
 nation to resource ? Or is it the brilli- 
 ant motives, the glory, the toils, the 
 mighty combinations which are present 
 to those in whose hands are the fate of 
 nations, that elevates minds and makes 
 them exert all their energies? 
 
 We must not confound the science of 
 State economy with the simple adminis- 
 tration of Finance; the latter requires 
 only mechanical order, the former is the 
 science of Government. It penetrates 
 the sources of riches, it augments, it re- 
 
85 
 
 gulates, it distributes them. The records 
 of vanity bear the names of numerous 
 Superintendants of Finance : to the an- 
 nals of his country are inscribed the 
 name of SULLY. 
 
 By what fatality is taxation more ru- 
 inous to states than war, pestilence, or 
 famine? Why are the fields deserted, 
 the country depopulated? Why has 
 France lost half of her revenue? — be- 
 cause the profits which would produce 
 accumulated profits are wrung* from the 
 husbandman, and the source of the re- 
 venue being exhausted, caanot produce 
 fresh enterprise. To obviate this griev- 
 ance one of the first acts of Sully was 
 to sink twenty millions of the arrears of 
 taxes, and annually to diminish this tax 
 two millions. This great minister re- 
 garded the land tax as erroneous in itself, 
 more particularly when it is of so arbi- 
 trary a nature as to render property un- 
 certain and exposed to capricious tyranny. 
 Consider the husbandman, limiting his 
 
 M 
 
86 
 
 industry, anticipating a bad harvest with 
 pleasure, and fearing to expend his capi- 
 tal in improvements lest his riches should 
 be imputed to him as a crime. Consider 
 the poor sinking under toil, yet obliged 
 to bear the burden of the rich ; privileges 
 sold to one class; the misery of another ; 
 the fertility of some lands balanced by 
 the sterility of others ; oppression leaving 
 only the naked walls of a hut from which 
 it had torn the bed on which a mother 
 had given citizens to the State ; seize on 
 the garments of the new-born infant ; un- 
 fortunate beings with sighs and groans 
 refusing to give up the last sheaf which 
 they had secreted for the food of their 
 little ones. Are the peasantry then the 
 enemies of the state, that they are devoted 
 to oppression and tyranny? Shame to 
 the narrow soul that calls such oppression 
 policy : as if the mass of the people were 
 not citizens, as if their prosperity were not 
 the prosperity of the other classes, as if 
 despair encouraged industry more than 
 ease and libertv ! Yet such were the 
 
87 
 
 abuses against which Sully daily raised 
 his voice in Council. He likewise op- 
 posed the tax upon commodities as a 
 fresh burden on the land. But his en- 
 tire indignation was excited by the tax 
 on salt, a sort of scourge which desolated 
 certain provinces, and forced the poor to 
 buy salt when they wanted bread ; it was 
 exacted by violence, and withered enter- 
 prize and industry, whenever it was in 
 force. " Sire," said Sully to Henry IV. 
 " you have delivered your country from 
 civil anarchy, but they enjoy not the 
 blessings of peace : armies of robbers 
 besiege their dwellings ; rescue your sub- 
 jects from their real enemies, and France 
 from desolation more awful than ensued 
 from the battles of St. Denis, Jarnac, 
 Moncontour and Courtras." I shall not 
 dwell on the tenant service which wrested 
 from the peasant not only his money but 
 his toil, which spared the state the wages 
 of a few labourers, but by the injury it 
 did to agriculture deprived it of one 
 source of revenue. 1 will not expatiate 
 
88 
 
 on the manner in which taxes were le- 
 vied : a greater grievance than the taxes 
 themselves; evil pervades every thing, 
 and law supposes its perversion. 
 
 Kings, Princes, Ministers, consider 
 the leading principle of Sally. Agricul- 
 ture is the basis of your power. Agri- 
 culture maintains fleets and levies armies, 
 and victory blossoms in the fertile field. 
 Athens and Rome required warriors and 
 sages. To renovate France Sully de- 
 manded only shepherds and husbandmen. 
 He encouraged this useful class ; he gave 
 rewards to those who cultivated waste 
 lands. He every where put in requisition 
 the toil of the peasantry to fertilise the 
 plains. He called to France the eight, 
 hundred thousand Moors, whom super- 
 stition had driven from Spain. By a 
 wise regulation he secured the peasantry 
 from the oppression of the army. " Sol- 
 diers and husbandmen," he exclaimed, 
 " why are these disputes % Are the De- 
 fenders of the country to attack its Sup- 
 
89 
 
 porters?" He protected them from a 
 species of depredators yet more formi- 
 dable : from those who, under the shadow 
 of law, seized their ploughs and steers 
 in the unfinished furrow. Happy change! 
 Agriculture revived, the plains became 
 fertile, joy and serenity smiled in the 
 cottage of the husbandman. Oh ! days 
 of prosperity. France increased one third 
 in population, furnished part of Europe 
 with bread. England imported our corn 
 and thus paid tribute to our soil. It can- 
 not be too often repeated, particularly 
 in these times, that this abundance was 
 the happy result of the freedom of com- 
 merce, it is true that there existed even 
 then persons entrusted with a limited 
 portion of the administration who eagerly 
 seized an opportunity of deciding in mat- 
 ters of state, and for the interests of a 
 district were willing to sacrifice the hap- 
 piness of a kingdom. Such persons ven- 
 tured to restrict the exportation of corn 
 in their districts. Sully exerted that au- 
 thority which is ever benevolent when it 
 
90 
 
 exercises useful severity. " If every 
 agent of Government" said Sully to the 
 King, " did the same, " your subjects 
 would be destitute, and consequently 
 your Majesty." These words are a les- 
 son to Princes. 
 
 Liberty is the soul of commerce, 
 which ever flies oppression Sully en- 
 couraged and sought to fix it in France. 
 The interior commerce suffered from im- 
 posts, which the nobles levied under the 
 sanction of weak and unenlightened au- 
 thority. The abuses of freedom had been 
 replaced by the monopoly which ever 
 exists under a false system of police. 
 Sully opposed all these avaricious tyrants. 
 He established a board of trade, a neces- 
 sary institution, but which will never 
 possess complete powers, till the merchant 
 shall be united to the statesman. The 
 former will add experience to the genuine 
 views of the latter. He undertook to join 
 by a canal the Seine and the Loire. He 
 made other rivers navigable. He im- 
 
91 
 
 proved the roads, not like the ancient 
 Romans, for the extension of slavery, but 
 for th^ circulation of riches and plenty* 
 He encouraged and protected industry, 
 bnt he kept it in the subordinate class 
 to which it belongs. In the course of 
 his observations on other nations he had 
 noticed the gold of Peru circulating 
 through the Indies and Europe, but in 
 the greater proportion through fertile 
 kingdoms. From this he argued that 
 agriculture is the prime source of riches, 
 that smaller states may be benefited by 
 commeree, but that it properly belongs to 
 great kingdoms. Of manufactures he 
 only encouraged that of wool, because it 
 is connected with the pasturage of flocks, 
 and is a new source of fertility. The 
 principal advantage of industry is to give 
 a value to commodities by facilitating 
 their consumption, and the most com- 
 mon manufactures are the most useful. 
 
 The vulgar 3 who are over-awed by 
 magnificence, admire great cities and a 
 
92 
 
 splendid metropolis ; the sage regards 
 them as colossal decorations which threat- 
 en to crush a nation. Sully made it a 
 principle of government to endeavour to 
 disperse these congregated masses. He 
 wished every one to love the inheritance 
 of his forefathers ; every husbandman to 
 be proud of his profession and to prefer 
 the honour of reigning over his fields to 
 selling his service in cities. The multi- 
 plication of offices has ever been consi- 
 dered by the statesman as a public disaster. 
 Sully discerned the point at which ne- 
 cessity ends and abuse begins, and within 
 these limits he reduced the agents of Go- 
 vernment. The high interest of money 
 burdened the nobility with debt and en- 
 couraged the indolence of the people. 
 This interest was reduced, estates reco- 
 vered their value, and the active class of 
 citizens found resources. By this prin- 
 ciple he re-imbursed the revenue a hun- 
 dred millions. He was pained to behold 
 the indolence of so many persons main- 
 tained by the state. This able minister 
 
93 
 
 saw the political connection of morals 
 and laws ; he strove to suppress vice, and 
 especially luxury : luxury, more fatal 
 than war and sedition, because the latter 
 only occasions temporary convulsions, 
 while the former eats into the vitals of a 
 country by the destruction of virtuous 
 principle. 
 
 By an administration founded on these 
 principles, in fifteen years Sully renovated 
 France ; but he could not have liquidated 
 a debt of fifty millions, and have placed 
 forty millions in the King's coffers, if he 
 had not added to his other resources eco- 
 nomy. I mean by economy the retrench- 
 ment of trifling expences, which procures 
 only trifling aids. I mean that true eco- 
 nomy which manages the public treasure 
 as individuals do their family possessions. 
 The establishment of order and the pre- 
 vention of dissipation, and which to the 
 use of the state in general that wealth 
 which is the substance of the state. Praise 
 be to Sully that he has given to Ministers 
 
 N 
 
94 
 
 an example of this courageous economy, 
 and may it be permitted us to pray that 
 so great an example may not be without 
 its use to the nations. 
 
 So many cares and toils in the econo- 
 mical department did not engross the ge- 
 nius of Sully ; it comprehended the whole 
 extent of administration. Artillery, war, 
 the navy, the arts, religion, policy, all 
 are improved. I may even assert that 
 this great man was the benefactor of 
 France when he ceased to exist. He 
 anticipated the reign of Louis XIV. and 
 was the model of Colbert. Colbert and 
 Sully, — it is pleasing to unite these ho- 
 noured names, and by them to date the 
 most interesting epochs of our history, 
 and perhaps of the history of Europe. 
 
 Both destined to act distinguished 
 parts, they rose to power under similar 
 circumstances. Sully appeared after the 
 horrible depredations of favourites, and 
 the disorders of the League. Colbert had 
 
95 
 
 to repair the evils caused by the enfeebled 
 and turbulent reign of Louis XIII. the 
 brilliant but artificial operations of Riche- 
 lieu, the war of the Fronde, and the dis- 
 ordered state of Finance under Mazarin. 
 Both found the people burdened with 
 taxes, and the King deprived of a consi- 
 derable portion of his revenue ; both had 
 the good fortune to have to deal with 
 Princes who had geniuses adapted to go- 
 vernment, anxious for the welfare of the 
 state ; who had courage to attempt and 
 firmness to maintain it ; equally desirous 
 of glory, one of the glory of France, the 
 other of his own. Both began by the li- 
 quidation of the national debt ; and the 
 same necessities led to the adoption of 
 similar measures. Both strove to aug- 
 ment the public treasure. Both under- 
 stood the theory of taxation, but Sully did 
 not derive equal advantage from it ; Col- 
 bert nicely balanced this system. Each 
 diminished the expenditure and abolished 
 the shameful traffic of places, which en- 
 riched and degraded the Court, and both 
 
96 
 
 deprived the courtiers of the power of 
 farming the revenue. 
 
 Both facilitated the receipts and di- 
 minished the profits of the receivers. 
 But in all these departments the glory 
 of Colbert is only that he imitated Sully 
 and revived the laws of this able minister. 
 The minister of Louis XIV. by Sully's 
 example, secured a fund for each branch 
 of expenditure, reduced the interest of 
 money, and facilitated internal inter- 
 course ; but Colbert made the canal of 
 Languedoc, which Sully only planned. 
 They both laid on the rich the burdens 
 from which they relieved the poor, and 
 each are reproached with having checked 
 industry by taxation. Credit, that im- 
 portant part of public riches, which cir- 
 culates its real possessions, and supplies 
 its wants, appears not to have been suffi- 
 ciently known to Sully, and but little ap- 
 plied by Colbert. The excessive pre- 
 miums of lenders were abolished by both ; 
 but Sully understood better the import-^ 
 
97 
 
 ance of uniting the resources of the finan- 
 cial system with those of commerce and 
 agriculture. They both directed their 
 attention to the currency, but Sully per- 
 ceived only defects, and applied danger- 
 ous remedies ; Colbert had in this de- 
 partment the advantage of experience 
 and that of his age. Both perceived that 
 the reform of the Courts of Law would 
 influence the national happiness ; but the 
 period was calculated for Colbert to exe- 
 cute what Sully could only wish. One 
 in turbulent times, under a warrior king, 
 only hinted to the nation that the sciences 
 were worthy of esteem ; the other the 
 minister of a King who was magnificent 
 even in his literary pleasures, gave the 
 world an example too often forgotten, of 
 the reward, encouragement, esteem and 
 developement of every species of talent. 
 Sully found out the utility of the navy, 
 and this was much in an age which Mas 
 emerging from barbarity. Colbert had 
 the glory of creating the navy of France. 
 Commerce was protected by both minis- 
 
98 
 
 ters : but one limited it to the produce of 
 agriculture, the other to that of manufac- 
 tures. Sully preferred with reason that 
 which can neither be divided by other 
 nations, or carried away, which insures 
 the dependence of foreigners. Colbert 
 was not aware that the other species is 
 founded on capricious tastes, and that it 
 may pass with its manufacturers into any 
 other country. Sully therefore surpassed 
 Colbert in his knowledge of the real 
 sources of commerce ; but Colbert went 
 beyond him in care, activity, and political 
 calculation in this department. He di- 
 minished the customs of the interior, 
 which Sully sometimes augmented by his 
 ability in combining the imports and ex- 
 ports, which is perhaps the nicest calcu- 
 lation of a legislator, and in which the 
 most trifling error may cost millions to 
 the state. It would be difficult to equal 
 Colbert in the extensive principles or 
 details of commerce: and it would be 
 difficult to surpass Sully in the encourage- 
 ment he gave to agriculture ; not that 
 
99 
 
 Colbert entirely neglected this important 
 branch. 
 
 Let us not exaggerate the imperfec- 
 tions of the great men ; the extreme of 
 censure is as absurd as the extreme of 
 panegyric. Colbert followed the exam- 
 ple of Sully in making the peasantry pros- 
 perous : he diminished the land tax, he 
 remedied the evils of arbitrary taxation, 
 he encouraged by useful regulations the 
 improvement of cattle, and encouraged 
 population by recompense, but not per- 
 mitting the exportation of corn many ad- 
 mirable measures failed. There was no 
 real prosperity ; the state appeared flou- 
 rishing, and the people were wretched ; 
 the specie circulated by commerce never 
 reached the labouring classes ; the price 
 of corn was depreciated till scarcity en- 
 sued. Such were the principles and 
 measures of these two great men. If we 
 now compare their character and talents, 
 we shall find that the minds of both were 
 just and comprehensive, their projects 
 
100 
 
 great and executed with order and acti- 
 vity. But Sully was perhaps superior in 
 seizing the general scheme of government, 
 while Colbert excelled in details. One 
 had more of the calculation of modern 
 policy, the other of the policy of the 
 ancient lawgivers, who deduced conse- 
 quences from one great principle. The 
 plan of Colbert is a vast and complicated 
 machine which required constant repair ; 
 the plan of Sully was simple and uniform 
 like that of nature. Colbert depended 
 on men : Sully on things. One created 
 resources unknown to France : the other 
 employed the resources she possessed. 
 The reputation of Colbert is therefore 
 more brilliant: that of Sully more solid. 
 As to personal qualities each had courage 
 and strength of mind, without which no 
 great progress can be made either in good 
 or evil : but the policy of one was conge- 
 nial to the austerity of his morals ; that of 
 the other to the luxury of his age. It 
 was the melancholy fate of each to be 
 hated : one by the great, the other by the 
 
101 
 
 people. Colbert was accused of harsh- 
 ness ; Sully of pride ; but if they had the 
 misfortune to displease individuals, they 
 were beloved by the nation at large. If 
 we examine their conduct in reference to 
 the Princes they served, we shall perceive 
 that Sully directed his master, but that 
 Colbert's governed him ; that the former 
 was the popular, the latter the royal 
 minister ; from a comparative estimate of 
 the talents of the two Sovereigns, we may 
 judge that Sully was indebted to Henry 
 IV. for a part of his glory, and that Louis 
 XIV. owed a considerable portion of his 
 to Colbert. 
 
 The character of Sully would be par- 
 tially estimated, if any one remained ig- 
 norant that his virtues were equal to his 
 talents. Why do not my limits permit 
 me 'to quote that part of his memoirs, 
 where, tracing the portrait of a perfect 
 statesman, he expresses all the moral 
 qualities he possessed without perceiving 
 it! His pure morals, his aversion to 
 
102 
 
 luxury, that stoical courage which con- 
 quers nature: which resists pleasures and 
 denies itself every indulgence that can 
 enervate the soul. Sully had adopted 
 these habits from principle as well as 
 character. At Court he continued the 
 frugal mode of living which he had ac- 
 quired iti camps. The rich voluptuaries 
 would have disdained his table ; but 
 Gueschin and Bayard would have hecome 
 his willing guests. His days were de- 
 voted to incessant application. He ap- 
 portioned his time to the exigencies of 
 the state ; every year bore on its passing 
 wings its tribute to his country. Even 
 his recreations were of a noble and digni- 
 fied character ; they brought repose with- 
 out indolence, and pleasure without en- 
 feebling luxury. Domestic economy had 
 trained his mind to that public economy 
 which saved the state. His enemies 
 praised his probity. His justice might 
 have excited admiration even in a virtuous 
 age, his loyalty was conspicuous in a nation 
 of rebels. After the death of his master 
 
103 
 
 they might persecute him* but they never 
 could make him a disloyal subject. His 
 fidelity was unshaken by the ill treatment 
 of the Court, and he rendered services to 
 the Queen though she oppressed him. 
 When he entered upon his ministerial 
 career he feared not to give the na- 
 tion an inventory of his possessions, 
 and when he retired from office he could 
 defy the censures of his age and of poste- 
 rity. The bribes tendered to corrupt him 
 disgraced only those who offered them. 
 As a minister he received no gifts from 
 subjects : as a subject he received from 
 his master only the recompenses sanc- 
 tioned by the laws. We have shewn his 
 firmness in duty. France was leagued 
 against him to prevent her rescue from 
 destruction; he resisted all opposition, 
 he had the courage to be hated. Noble 
 birth, which never excites vanity except 
 in weak minds, inspired him with vir- 
 tuous emulation. Never was the high 
 principle of honour, the basis of chivalry, 
 carried further. Calumny and envy fol- 
 
104 
 
 lowed of course. He defeated calumny 
 by virtue, and bumbled envy by success. 
 He avenged himself of his enemies by 
 losing no opportunity of doing them 
 good. The wicked found him rigid and 
 inflexible, the miserable feeling and com- 
 passionate. Zealous in religion without 
 fanaticism and tolerant without indiffer- 
 ence, he was the mediator of the Pro- 
 testants with the King and the protector 
 of the Catholics ; he was adored at Ge- 
 neva and esteemed at Rome. A good 
 husband, a good master, a good father of 
 a family : he offered to mankind a signal 
 example ; he was the friend of a King. 
 Oh Henry the Fourth! Oh Sully ! How 
 perfect were the reciprocations of your 
 hearts ! how consoling the duteous atten- 
 tions of your friendship ! With Sully 
 Henry forgot his sorrows: to him he 
 confided all his vexations. The tears of 
 a hero flowed on the bosom of a friend. 
 Military frankness and pleasing familiarity 
 marked their intercourse ; the distinction 
 of King and subject disappeared ; they 
 
105 
 
 were friends and therefore equals. On 
 the part of Sully this tender friendship was 
 still courageous and equitable. Through 
 the murmur of flattery with which the 
 court resounded, Sully made the voice 
 of truth to be heard. He had too much 
 esteem for Henry and for himself to speak 
 any other language. All that would have 
 been unworthy of one and would have 
 degraded the other was impossible to 
 either. Therefore he often ventured to 
 displease his master. I shall not particu- 
 larise his actions or his words on these 
 occasions. There are some which would 
 not suit the taste of this corrupted age. 
 Weak minds would call them rash ; mean 
 spirits might denominate them criminal ; 
 but by the virtuous they will ever be held 
 in honour. I will only present the sub- 
 ject in one light; — the idea of Sully was 
 to Henry what the remembrance of the 
 Deity is to the just: a check to evil and 
 an incitement to virtue. 
 
 Alas ! that a tie so tender, a commerce 
 
106 
 
 §6 elevating, was to be broken? For 
 how short a period was France blessed 
 with this King and with this minister. 
 Oh ! moment of horror ! when the ear 
 of Sully was struck with the fatal sounds — 
 the King is assassinated ! the King is 
 no more ! when a faithful domestic who 
 beheld the regicide placed before him, 
 the fatal knife yet reeking with the life 
 blood of Henry, when Sully rushed 
 through the weeping, shrieking, sobbing 
 and groaning populace, and hurried to 
 the Louvre, once more to behold and to 
 embrace the corpse of his friend, his 
 master. He presses to his bosom and 
 bathes with his tears the child destined to 
 succeed the unfortunate Henry ! We 
 may imagine his feelings, when, in this 
 house of mourning, this palace in which 
 were the remains of the murdered King, 
 almost in the very chamber of death, and by 
 the light of the funeral torches, he beheld 
 the joy of the new court, a joy more ago- 
 nising to his soul than if he had beheld 
 the knife plunged in the bosom of his 
 
107 
 
 master, and seen his blood flow. From 
 this moment he anticipated the future; 
 he perceived that France was struck with 
 the blow under which Henry IV. pe- 
 rished. Yet he loved the state too well 
 to leave it to its new tyrants. He re- 
 newed his efforts ; he dared to pronounce 
 the names of duty and justice; but cor- 
 ruption was arrived at that point when 
 the example of a great oian only accumu- 
 lates the guilt of his cotemporaries. Un- 
 able to avert evil, the only glory that re- 
 mained to him was to refuse it his sanction. 
 He resigned his employments, quitted 
 the court, carrying with him his virtues, 
 his services, and the ingratitude of man- 
 kind. 
 
 History has described sages in retreat, 
 and heroes under oppression, but it offers 
 no delineation so imposing as the dignity 
 of Sully in retreat. It was the dignity of 
 virtue itself, on which men courts and 
 kings have no power. The greatness of 
 his soul seemed to pervade his dwelling. 
 
108 
 
 A crowd of domestics, numerous gentle- 
 men, attendants and ushers, elegance not 
 frivolous, but magnificent: the dignity 
 of his style of living, the respect of his 
 numerous vassals, the subordination of 
 an illustrious family : apartments orna- 
 mented with paintings of the heroic ac- 
 tions of Henry IV. inseparable from those 
 of Sully : the grand simplicity of his 
 extensive domains: Sully, gray-headed, 
 dressed in the mode of his own times, 
 wearing the portrait of Henry IV. next 
 his heart, the sacred gravity of his dis- 
 course, the majesty of his countenance, 
 the elevated seat on which he was placed 
 to distinguish him from his children, the 
 honourable reception which the aged re- 
 ceived from his family, the silence min- 
 gled with awe of the young people whom 
 their parents brought to behold this great 
 man : the whole seemed to present a scene 
 above common life, and excited extraor- 
 dinary emotions in the hearts of the be- 
 holders. How different are these manners 
 from our own ! Thus he lived thirty years 
 
 
109 
 
 in retreat, without complaining either of 
 mankind or their injustice, grieving for 
 the loss of his master, faithful to the new 
 King, esteemed and hated by Richelieu, 
 and having survived all but virtue, which 
 accompanied him to the tomb. Death 
 terminated a life extended to his eighty- 
 second year ; fifty years of his life were 
 devoted to the service of the state, and 
 the rest might have been equally useful to 
 it. 
 
 A mausoleum raised over his ashes, 
 has preserved the effigy of this great man ; 
 his spirit has been transmitted to us in 
 his memoirs : it yet lives in their pages, 
 it watches our errors and our crimes: 
 it casts a reproving glance on nations, 
 governments, and mankind. It instructed 
 Colbert, it may yet be a lesson for one of 
 those minds which appear in every age. 
 The titles and estates of Sully have 
 descended to his posterity ; his virtues 
 are public property : they belong to who- 
 ever will imitate them. Where shall we 
 
110 
 
 find so brave a spirit? If it exist, let it 
 not expect tranquillity or popular favour, 
 the idol of weak minds. Let him know 
 that a great minister is the victim of the 
 state, that to contribute to the real benefit 
 of mankind often displeases them. But 
 if he be worthy to save his country, he 
 will look for other recompense more truly 
 valuable; he may like Sully be secure of 
 the approbation of his Maker, the witness 
 of his own heart, the suffrage of true citi- 
 zens, the admiration of great minds, and 
 the applause of posterity. 
 
 FINIS, 
 
 J. J. Hadley, Printer, Journal Office, Cheltenham. 
 
 LRBA 
 
Page 8, line 20, for ' blinded ' read ' blended.' 
 Page 10, line 7, for ' succeding ' read ' succeeding.' 
 Page 22, line 19, for ' external ' read ' eternal.' 
 Page 34, line 16, for ' are ' read * is.' 
 Page 77, line 11, for ' aspiring' read ' expiring.' 
 Page 93, line 15, after ' mean ' insert « not.' 
 Same page, line 21, after ' which ' insert * devotes.'