opposed it; “you think you have done the deed of a good man; what! did not I know as well as you that the king could get money by borrowing?  But I was careful not to say so.  And so the borrowing road is opened.  What means will remain henceforth of checking the king in his expenditure?  After the loans, taxes will be wanted to pay them; and, if the loans have no limit, the taxes will have none either.”  At the king’s death the loans amounted to more than two milliards and a half, the deficit was getting worse and worse every day, there was no more money to be had, and the income from property went on diminishing.  “I have only some dirty acres which are turning to stones instead of being bread,” wrote Madame de Sevigne.  Trade was languishing, the manufactures founded by Colbert were dropping away one after another; the revocation of the edict of Nantes and the emigration of Protestants had drained France of the most industrious and most skilful workmen; many of the Reformers had carried away a great deal of capital; the roads, everywhere neglected, were becoming impracticable.  “The tradesmen are obliged to put four horses instead of two to their wagons,” said a letter to Barbezieux from the superintendent of Flanders, “which has completely ruined the traffic.”  The administration of the provinces was no longer under supervision.  “Formerly,” says Villars, “the inspectors would pass whole winters on the frontiers; now they are good for nothing but to take the height and measure of the men and send a fine list to the court.”  The soldiers were without victuals, the officers were not paid, the abuses but lately put down by the strong hand of Colbert and Louvois were cropping up again in all directions; the king at last determined to listen to the general cry and dismiss Chamillard.

“The Dukes of Beauvilliers and Chevreuse were intrusted with this unpleasant commission, as well as with the king’s assurance of his affection and esteem for Chamillard, and with the announcement of the marks thereof he intended to bestow upon him.  They entered Chamillard’s presence with such an air of consternation as may be easily imagined, they having always been very great friends of his.  By their manner the unhappy minister saw at once that there was something extraordinary, and, without giving them time to speak, ‘What is the matter, gentlemen?’ he said with a calm and serene countenance.  ’If what you have to say concerns me only, you can speak out; I have been prepared a long while for anything.’  They could scarcely tell what brought them.  Chamillard heard them without changing a muscle, and with the same air and tone with which he had put his first question, he answered, ’The king is master.  I have done my best to serve him; I hope another may do it more to his satisfaction and more successfully.  It is much to be able to count upon his kindness and to receive so many marks of it.’  Then he asked whether he might write to him, and whether they would do him the