No absolute ruler, however conscientious and painstaking,
can shoulder the entire burden of government. Louis XIV necessarily had to rely
very much on his ministers, of whom Colbert was the most eminent. Colbert,
until his death in 1683 A.D., gave France the best administration it had ever
known. His reforming hand was especially felt in the finances. He made many
improvements in the methods of tax-collection and turned the annual deficit in
the revenues into a surplus. One of Colbert's innovations, now adopted by all
European states, was the budget system. Before his time expenditures had been
made at random, without consulting the treasury receipts. Colbert drew up
careful estimates, one year in advance, of the probable revenues and
expenditures, so that outlay would never exceed income.
COLBERT'S ECONOMIC MEASURES
Although the science of economics or political economy was
little developed in the seventeenth century, Colbert realized that the chief
object of a minister of finance should be the increase of the national wealth.
Hence he tried in every way to foster manufactures and commerce. Among other
measures Colbert placed heavy duties on the importation of foreign products, as
a means of protecting the "infant industries" of France. This was the
inauguration of the protective system, since followed by many European
countries and from Europe introduced into America. Colbert regarded protectionism
as only a temporary device, however, and spoke of tariffs as crutches by the
help of which manufacturers might learn to walk and then throw them away.
