Colbert shared the erroneous views of most economists of
his age in supposing that the wealth of a country is measured by the amount of
gold and silver which it possesses. He wished, therefore, to provide the French
with colonies, where they could obtain the products which they had previously
been obliged to purchase from the Spaniards, Dutch, and English. At this time
many islands in the West Indies were acquired, Canada was developed, and
Louisiana, the vast territory drained by the Mississippi, was opened up to
settlement. France, under Colbert, became one of the leading colonial powers of
Europe.
REVOCATION OF THE EDICT OF NANTES, 1685 A.D.
As long as Colbert lived, he kept on good terms with the
Huguenots, who formed such useful and industrious subjects. But Louis hated
them as heretics and suspected them of little love for absolute monarchy. To
Louis religious unity in the state seemed as necessary as political unity.
Accordingly, he revoked in 1685 A.D. the Edict of Nantes, after the French
for almost a century had enjoyed religious toleration. The Huguenots were
allowed to keep their Protestant faith, but their freedom of worship was taken
away and was not restored till the time of the French Revolution. The
Protestants in France to-day are about as numerous, in proportion to the Roman
Catholic population, as they were under Louis XIV.
