74© N O R T H L E I G 
is the Cardinal de ^encin. For the Management of pub- 
lick Affairs there are four principal Secretaries of State, 
who have each their feparate Departments* Thefe are 
at prefent the Count de Maurepas^ who has the Ma- 
rine ; the Count de Puifieux^ who is Secretary for Fo- 
reign Affairs ; the Count de Saint Florentine who has 
the Care of Domeftic Concerns i and the Count Ar~ 
genfon^ who is Secretary at War. The principal Officer 
of the Revenue is the Comptroller General of the Fi- 
nances, at prefent M. de Machaulte who has under him 
a Multitude of Intendants and other Officers, fubjeft 
to the Diredion of the Council of Finances, of which 
the Duke de Bethune is Prefident. As to the ordinary 
and fettled Revenue of the Crown of France, if we may 
believe their own Writers upon that Subjed, it is not 
at all increafed in its real, though it is confiderably aug- 
mented in its nominal Value. In 1683, it was com- 
puted at 116,873,476 Livres, and in 1730, it amount- 
ed to no more than 140,278,473 Livres, which make 
5,844,973 Pounds of our Money, which fhews that nei- 
ther the general Wealth of France, nor the Income 
of the King, are near fo great as is commonly ima- 
gined. It is, indeed, very true, that in Time of War 
the King levies much larger Sums ; but it is very plain, 
that even thefe muff fail ffiort of what fome People 
would perfuade us they amount to, fince there muft be 
always a Proportion between the ordinary and extraor- 
dinary Revenue •, and confequently, if we know the 
one, we may very eafily compute how far the other 
can be carried, becaufe even under arbitrary Govern- 
ments, fome Meafures muft be preferved, and fome 
Regard had to the general Income of the People, which 
is lefs in Time of War, at the fame Time that the pub- 
lick Expence is greater. 
With regard to the Commerce of France, there re- 
mains no Sort of Doubt, that it has grown more ex- 
tenfive and more profitable than formerly, when Trade 
was very little known in this Country. It may feem a 
little ftrange, but the Fad is certainly very true, that 
the Commercial State of this Country is entirely under 
the Diredion of the Crown and in this there feems 
to be the lefs Hardfhip, becaufe it may be very truly 
affirmed, that the Commerce of France is as much or 
rather more the Work of their Minifters, than of their 
Merchants. When Colhert was at the Head of Affairs, 
he made the Increafe of Manufadures, the Facilitating 
Domeftick, and the Improving Foreign Trade, one of 
the principal Objeds of his Miniftry. In this he 
was very fuccefsful ; he underftood Commerce as a great 
Man fhould underftand it, fo as to render it beneficial 
to a Nation, without confulting too minutely the Profit 
of private Perfons. Upon this Occafion I will venture 
to relate, after an eminent French Author, a very lin- 
gular Story : He invited feveral eminent Merchants to 
meet in his Cabinet, in order to difeourfe on the Prin- 
ciples of Commerce, and promifed them the utmoft 
Liberty in Converfation. At their firft Meeting, a cer- 
tain Merchant, who was confider’d as the beft Head 
amongft them, made a fett Harangue againft the Ma- 
nagement of the Duties, and fpoke fo bluntly, that 
the Minifter rofe in great Heat, and bid him hold his 
Tongue, for that was no Part of his Bufinefs. If no 
Freedom, no Speech, anfwered the Merchant, we will 
be going, if you cannot hear, it is impoflible you fhould 
learn, and if you will not corred what is immediately 
in your own Power, what are we to exped ^ Colbert 
bid him fit down, and go on, an'd from that Time 
forward never checked any of them, let them fay what 
they would. By this Means, in a few Years, he knew 
more than them all. Madam de Maintenon was likewife 
a great Politician in Commerce; and it fell out, when 
the Affairs of Louis XIV. were in the utmoft Diftrefs, 
nh Travels, Sccl Book II. 
that fome of his Minifters propofed poflponing the Pay* 
merit of the Sums due to his Bankers for a Year : To 
which the King feemed inclined* The Lady, who was 
fpinning at the other End of the Room, without quit- 
ting her Work, addrefsffi herfelf to the King in thefe 
Words ; Sire, If you flop Payment to your Bankers, they 
will lofe their Credit with their Foreign Correfpondents 
which while they maintain, you are never at a Lofs for 
Money in any Part 0/ Europe. While I kings continue in 
this State, your Dikireffes are known only to a few but 
if you take this Refolution, you will become a Bankrupt in 
the Eyes of the whole World : Stop therefore your Pen^ 
fions, the Money dejiined for Buildings, and other Plea- 
fares, and pay the Bankers pundfually^ for Credit is the true 
Bafs of Power. The King took her Advice, which was 
certainly better than that of his Minifters ; and it an- 
fwered the End that was propofed. 
By this it appears, as well as by what was faid in the 
former Volume, of the French Eaji- India Company^ that 
the Commerce of France is the Creature of the State 5 
and from thence it follows, that though in particular 
Branches it may flouriffi v/onderfully, yet, taking in the 
Whole, it is nothing near fo confiderable as it might 
be, nor can it ever be made fo under a Government 
conftituted like that which fubfifts in this Country at 
prefent •, which is one of the beft Reafons that can be 
affigned, why the ordinary Revenue of France is not 
higher now than it was many Years ago, and why even 
very fmall Sums of Money, in Comparifon of what are 
railed elfewhere, are raifed here with fo much Difficulty. 
I he Shipping of France is certainly increafed, but not in 
that Proportion that is commonly imagined, much lefs 
in the Degree fome of our political Writers have af- 
ferted, for I have adfiially feen Computations of the 
Shipping employed in only one Branch of Trade 
very confidently laid down, which I could demonftrate 
to be very near, if not beyond the whole Shipping of 
this Country *, a very clear and inconteftable Proof of 
this, is the prefent State of their Navy. I have before 
me a Lift of it, in the Year 1693. when it confifted 
of One hundred and fourteen Ships of the Line, but 
at the Beginning of the prefent War, they had not forty 
Sail of Men of War and Frigates of all Sizes : I have 
likewife before me a Memorial prefented by the Mer- 
chants of France, to the Count de Maurepas, at the 
Clofe of laft Year, in which the Loffes fuftain’d thereby, 
are computed at Two hundred Millions, which makes 
Nine Millions three hundred thoufand Pounds of our 
Money. In this Memorial it is faid, that if the King 
could maintain Sixty Men of War and Frigates, in- 
cluding the Brejl Squadron, which is reckoned at twenty 
Sail, the whole Trade of France might be well protec- 
ted, which is an Evidence, that it is very far from be- 
ing protedled at prefent, and that the King has not 
any fuch Force as the Merchants think is requifite 
for that Purpofe. While the War continues it is im- 
poffible he ffiould, foreign Subfidies, and the Ex- 
pences of his Land-Forces run away with all, and more 
than all ; fo that if our Naval Force was employed in 
Diftreffing the French Trade, in every Part of the 
World, but more efpecially in the Weft-Indies, there is 
no Doubt that we might put them back for half a Cen- 
tury, at leaft ; and if at the End of this War, there 
ffiould remain fuch a Part of the Sinking Fund, as, 
would enable us to take off the Duties upon Sugar 
entirely, I believe their Weft -India Trade could never 
revive. But I ought to ask my Reader^s Pardon for 
this Digreffion, and for extending my Remarks to fuch 
a Length ; but the Defire of fhewing, that if France 
be a Hydra, it is not impoffible fhe may meet with a 
Hercules, was what led me thus far, and I hope will 
ferve for a tolerable Excufe, 
CHAP. V. 
