The rapidity with which countries may recover from the ravages of war has been often remarked upon; in no case was it more strikingly exemplified than by the marvellous growth of material prosperity in France, so soon as Henry IV was complete master of the realm. This can hardly be ascribed, however, to a natural recuperation after the removal of the disturbing causes; it was really due to the view which Henry and his advisers took of the duty of government, and the excellent manner in which they discharged their task. It was to the interest of the French monarchy, with its large income drawn from taxation, that measures should be taken to advance internal trade, to plant industries, and to improve agriculture, so that the people might be prosperous and able to contribute their quota to the revenue. Henry IV set himself consciously and deliberately to develop the material resources of France, and his schemes were so well devised that the foundations of the magnificent and powerful monarchy of Louis XIV were successfully laid. The King was admirably assisted by Sully, and profited from the suggestions of Laffemas and Olivier de Serres, who were respectively experts in the organisation of industry and in promoting agriculture; and he possessed, moreover, the means for carrying out the schemes that met his approval. The revival of France was brought about on royal initiative, by royal administrators, and to a large extent by drawing on royal wealth for the necessary capital. A comparison with the position of the Crown in England, when Cecil was working for the development of the realm, may serve to point the contrast. Elizabeth was very poor, and she was particularly averse to summoning Parliament and levying taxation; she had little money to spare for encouraging improvements in rural and industrial pursuits that would only bring indirect gains to the government. The King of France had a large permanent income from taxation, and it was worth his while to invest a part of it in undertakings that were not directly remunerative; the increase of the wealth of iig subjects was the surest method of increasing the prospective income of the Crown.
At the time when Sully became superintendent of finances in 1598, he had to face an enormous burden of debt, entailed by the expenses of the Wars in which Henry had rendered his possession of the throne secure. The debt amounted to no less than 348 million livres; loans had been obtained by pledging the personal estates of the King, as well as a large part of the receipts from taxation. Only a comparatively small portion of the taille was available for current expenditure. Sully’s first care was to reform the abuses in the collection of the revenue; he completely overhauled the fiscal administration and rendered the incidence of taxation more equable; while, by cancelling heavy arrears of taille, he relieved the tax-payers from an intolerable burden, and placed them in a position of solvency which rendered it possible for them to meet the current demands of the government. By these means he was able to steadily diminish the burden of indebtedness, while there was money at command, not only for the expenses of the Court, but also for much-needed public works.
The most important undertaking was that of facilitating internal trade by improving the water-communication through different parts of France. Humphry Bradley, who had had much experience in Holland, was the principal engineer employed; in some cases rivers were opened to the passage of barges, while canals were also laid out to connect the river-basins, and thus to provide great channels of through communication; a canal was planned between the Garonne and the Aude to complete a water-way from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean; and another to connect the Loire with the Seine was begun. Great engineering works were also undertaken in the way of banking and draining, so as to recover considerable stretches of land that were lying waste; and attempts were made to improve the facilities for travel by land, especially in the reconstruction of bridges. In many instances the town chiefly concerned defrayed part of this last expense; but the main burden generally lay with the government which had been responsible for initiating these improvements, and no less a sum than a million livres a year was devoted to the construction of main roads.
The policy pursued by the French Crown in the planting of industry is open to criticism; but it must at least be allowed to have attained success. France was already richly supplied with the necessaries of life, and considerable progress had been made in the useful arts; but large sums were expended yearly in the purchase of luxuries, and it seemed possible to introduce the manufacture of silk and artistic goods, so that there should be less reason for the drain of treasure, and that the country might be entirely self-sufficing, not only for necessaries, but also for luxuries. Sully was doubtful as to this policy; he would have preferred to check the use of luxuries by sumptuary laws, and to develop those industries in which French products were the materials employed. This objection was partly met by extensive efforts to introduce sericulture on French soil; and, on the whole, experience seems to have proved that the King was well-advised in following the example of Venice and Florence and trying to plant this new industry, even though it required large subventions at first. In the latter part of the seventeenth century it flourished to such an extent as to provide an important and valuable article of export trade, so that foreign customers had to pay a considerable balance in bullion. The manufacture of glass and that of fine pottery were introduced during this reign into various districts of France by persons who had special privileges conferred upon them; the tapestry-manufacture needed still further encouragement, and obtained a royal subvention of 100,000 livres, and a sum of 150,000 livres was lent to two merchants of Rouen who proposed to undertake the making of fine cloth. While such pains were taken to stimulate exotic and plant new industries, a very careful scheme was devised for the reorganisation of the corps-de-metier, so as to provide more effective supervision for the existing trades; attempts were made to check the preposterous claims of the “Kings of the Mercers,” and to break down the arbitrary restrictions by which the status of master in any trade had been guarded. A Council of Commerce was established, which carried out some useful changes in particular trades, though it did not reconstitute the corps-de-metier as completely as might have been desirable. Their powers were, however, limited, and they were not allowed to obstruct enterprising individuals who were trying to introduce improved processes of manufacture; many abuses were checked, and these institutions as modified continued to be a convenient piece of administrative machinery. The efforts that were made to improve agriculture also resulted in the stereotyping of the old social organisation. The King could not interfere to force on progress in the arts of tillage; all that could be done was to set an example of enterprise on the royal estates, and to bring pressure upon the magnates to follow it. The cultivators could only be effectively reached through the landed aristocracy, and there was a tendency to coerce them for their good by the exercise of seigniorial powers. The preservation of the relics of natural economy was also unfortunate, inasmuch as the metayers were thus cut off from the stimulating influence of the independent pursuit of their calling as a trade.
The French government was extraordinarily successful in consolidating the nation by these means. Separate and local interests were cared for; but they were always kept in conscious