all her attention.

Fortunately a change was at hand. The prolonged struggle
of the Thirty Years' War and of the war against Spain
had been ended by the treaty of Munster and Osnabruck in
1648 and by that of the Pyrenees in 1659. The civil
dissensions of the Fronde were over, thanks to the skilful
policy of Cardinal Mazarin, Richelieu's successor. After
the death of Mazarin in 1661, Louis XIV had taken into
his own hands the reins of administration. He was young,
painstaking, and ambitious; and he wanted to be not only
king but the real ruler of his kingdom. In Jean Baptiste
Colbert, the man who had been Mazarin's right hand, he
had the good fortune to find one of the best administrators
in all French history. Colbert soon won the king's
confidence. He was instrumental in detecting the
maladministration of Fouquet as superintendent of Finance,
and became a member of the council appointed to investigate
and report on all financial questions. Of this body he
was the leading spirit from the beginning. Although at
first without the title of minister, he was promptly
invested with a wide authority over the finances, trade,
agriculture, industry, and marine affairs. Within two
years he had shown his worth and had justified the king's
choice. Great and beneficial reforms had been accomplished
in almost every branch of the administration. The exhausted
treasury had been replenished, trade and industry were
encouraged, agriculture was protected, and a navy created.
Under a progressive government France seemed to awake to
new life.