308 



COKE-COLBERT. 



sen pursuit ; and, as usual, more philosophical and 

 general powers were sacrificed to its exclusiveness. 

 His principal works are, Reports, from 1600 to 1615 ; 

 A Book of Entries (folio, 1614): Institutes of the 

 Laws of England, in four parts; the first of which 

 contains the commentary on Littleton's Tenures; the 

 second, a Commentary on Magna Charta and other 

 statutes ; the third, the criminal laws or pleas of the 

 crown ; and the fourth, an account of the jurisdic- 

 tion of all the courts in the kingdom : A Treatise 

 of Bail and Mainprise (1636, 4to) : Reading on the 

 Statute of Fines, 27 Edw. (4to); Complete copy- 

 holder (1640, 4to). 



COKE, THOMAS, a missionary, was born in 1747, 

 at Brecon, in South Wales. In 1775, he took his 

 degree of LL.D. at Oxford, and, soon after, became 

 acquainted with the celebrated John Wesley, who 

 soon brought him over to his own opinions, and in 

 1780, appointed him to superintend the London dis- 

 trict ; he also made him one of the trustees, on his 

 execution of the deed of declaration as to all his cha- 

 pels. In 1781, Wesley is said to have consecrated 

 him as a bishop, for the purpose of superintending 

 the Methodist societies in America. The doctor 

 now, therefore, made several voyages to the United 

 States and the West Indies, establishing meeting- 

 houses, organizing congregations, and ordaining min- 

 isters. He subsequently returned to England, where 

 lie had a misunderstanding with Mr Wesley, who, as 

 the founder of a sect, expected more submission than 

 doctor Coke was inclined to bestow. He accordingly 

 determined on visitingls'ova Scotia; but in consequence 

 of a storm the ship in which he embarked took 

 refuge in the harbour of Antigua, which led liim to 

 preach there, and to visit several other islands ; and 

 ae examined the state of religion generally, both in 

 the West Indies and America, before he again re- 

 turned to England. He made, altogether, nine voy- 

 ages to this quarter of the globe, on the same busi- 

 ness, and met witli great success as a missionary. He 

 was the author of a Commentary on the Bible, un- 

 dertaken at the request of the Methodists ; A His- 

 tory of the West Indies, and several other works, 

 among which was a life of Wesley, written hi conjunc- 

 tion with Henry Moore. In 1814 he sailed forthe East 

 Indies, but died on the voyage. He was of a zealous, 

 but also of an amiable character. 



COLBERG; a Prussian fortress and sea-port in 

 Pomerania, in the district of Koslin, on the river Per- 

 sante, one mile from the sea, with about 7000 inhabi- 

 tants. Here is an important salt manufactory. This 

 small fortress was often attacked and besieged by the 

 Russians, in the war against Frederic the Great; 

 and, in 1807, it was admirably defended by gene- 

 ral Gneisenau, Schill, and the citizen Nettlebeck, 

 against the French generals Feulie, Loison, and 

 Mortier, who commanded hi succession the besieg- 

 ing corps, consisting of 18,000 men, which fired 

 into the town 6775 balls, besides those thrown 

 against the works. The garrison which was only 

 6000 men strong, lost 429 killed, 1093 wounded, 209 

 prisoners, and 159 missing. The fortress was not 

 taken. The remnant of the garrison was formed into 

 one regiment, called the Colberg regiment, which 

 was considered one of the bravest in the Prussian 

 army. Blucher returned thanks to them in particu- 

 lar, for their conduct in the battle of Ligny, June 

 16, 1815, on which occasion they had been engaged 

 from one o'clock till about dark, and liad suffered 

 great loss. 



COLBERT, JEAN BAPTISTE, a celebrated French 

 minister of finances, was descended from a Scottish 

 family, bu), born at Rheims, in 1619. His grandfather 

 and father were both wine-merchants. He entered, 

 ill 1 548, the service of le Tellier, secretary of state, 



by whom he was made known to cardinal Mazarin, 

 who availed himself of his assistance, in the financial 

 administration of the kingdom. Mazarin rewarded 

 him, in 1654, with the office of secretary to the 

 queen, and recommended him, at his death, to the 

 kuig (1660). Louis XIV. made Colbert intendant of 

 the finances. Colbert and Le Tellier now joined to 

 effect the fell of Fouquet, for which purpose they had 

 united, the former from ambition, the latter from en- 

 vy. After effecting this object, Colbert, with the 

 title of a controleur-general, assumed the direction 

 of the finances. He had a task to remedy the evils 

 which the feeble and stormy reign of Louis XIII., the 

 splendid but arbitrary measures of Richelieu, the 

 troubles of the Fronde, and the confused state of the 

 finances under Mazarin, had occasioned. He found 

 fraud, disorder, and corruption prevailing every- 

 where. The domains were alienated. Burdens, privi- 

 leges, and exemptions were multiplied without mea- 

 sure ; the state was the prey of the farmers-general, 

 and, at the same time, maintained only by their aid. 

 The people were obliged to pay 90,000,000 of taxes, 

 of which the king received scarcely 35,000,000 ; the 

 revenues were anticipated for two years, and the 

 treasury empty. Colbert had to proceed from the 

 same point as Sully ; but the jealous and impetuous 

 Louvois, the wars, the luxury and the prodigality of 

 Louis XIV. increased his difficulties, and he was 

 forced, in the latter half of his career, to retrace 

 the steps which he had taken in the former. He 

 began with establishing a council of finances and a 

 chamber of justice ; the first that he might have an 

 oversight of the whole; the other that he might 

 watch the embezzlements of the farmers-general, and 

 liquidate the debts of .the state. For the purpose of 

 alleviating the public burdens, he endeavoured to 

 lower the interest of the public debt ; and, in order 

 to mitigate the odium of this measure, he consented 

 to a considerable diminution of the taxes, and to the 

 remission of all arrears up to 1656. He abolished 

 many useless offices, retracted burdensome privileges, 

 diminished salaries, put a stop to the infamous trade in 

 offices, and to the no less injurious custom of making 

 the courtiers interested, as farmers-general, in the 

 produce of the public revenue ; he exposed the arts 

 and abuses, and limited the immense gain of the col- 

 lectors ; established a loan-bank ; diminished the in- 

 terest of money : re-established the king in the posses- 

 sion of his domains, and appropriated suitable funds 

 for each expenditure. A better distribution and col- 

 lection of the taxes enabled him to reduce them almost 

 one-half. The happiest success crowned his wise and 

 courageously executed measures. Notwithstanding 

 the expenses of nearly ten years' war, and the. 

 prodigality of a luxurious king, Colbert succeeded, 

 in twenty-two years, in adding to the revenues more 

 than 28,000,000, and making an equal diminution in 

 the public burdens; and, at his death, in 1683, the 

 revenue actually received amounted to 116,000,000. 

 In 1664, Colbert was superintendent of buildings, 

 of arts and manufactures, and, in 1669, minister of 

 the marine. To his talents, activity, and enlarged 

 views, France owes the universal development and 

 the rapid progress of her industry and commerce. 

 France was not only freed from the taxes wluch its 

 luxury had hitherto paid to foreign countries, but it 

 partook also of the advantages of that industry which 

 had previously distinguished Britain, Holland, Ve- 

 nice, Genoa, the Levant, and some cities of Flan- 

 ders and Germany. Manufactures were established, 

 and flourished ; the public roads were improved, and 

 new roads laid out. Colbert built the canal of Lan- 

 guedoc ; formed the plan of that of Burgundy ; de- 

 clared Marseilles and Dunkirk free ports; granted 

 premiums on goods exported and imported ; regulated 



