Among the useful establishments of Louis, France is indebted to him for that of posts : he also paid great at tention to commerce and manufactures ; and, to encourage the latter, he invited silk manufacturers from Greece and Italy, whom he exempted from all taxes, as well as their wives and children. He issued an ordinance, permitting the clergy, nobility, and all other persons, to carry on corn merce, without derogating from their rank or civil privi leges. He proposed to make a collection of all the written and unwritten laws, in order to compose a regular code, and to abridge the forms of process. He also attempted to introduce uniformity of weights and measures through out the kingdom ; on the other hand, he increased the taxes, saying that he levied contributions on the purses of his nobles, in order to spare their blood. On his death bed, however, he advised his son to lighten the taxes. In short, his predominant character was duplicity and dis simulation; and he frequently said, " If my hat knew my secret, I would burn it." His education of his son, from whatever motives adopted, was by no means qualified to render bin, fit for a throne ; for he was brought up in re tirement, seen by nobody but the king's servants, and per mitted to engage only in the most childish amusements. He was not even instructed in letters ; the king saying, that the only maxim in the Latin language worth know ing, was this : qui nescit dissimulare, nescit regnare.
Had not Charles VIII. his son, been naturally of good talents, as well as a good disposition, he must have been ruined by such a mode of education. He was only I3 years old when his father died ; and the Duke of Orleans, as first prince of the blood, claimed the regency ; but he found a competitor in the Duke of Bourbon, who main tained, that as the Duke of Orleans was only 24 years old, he himself stood in need of a guardian. The states•gene ral were assembled at Tours, and declared that there was no necessity for a regency ; they at the same time confirm ed the last will of Louis, by which the care of the person of the king was entrusted to his sister Anne of France, lady of Beaujieu. This princess being a woman of talenti and prudence, and, what was of more consequence, de termined to discharge the duties of her situation, made choice of a council for the government of the kingdom, and gave the constable's sword to the Duke of Bourbon, brother of her husband. The speech of the deputy of the noblesse of Burgundy, at the meeting of the states, in deserves notice. " If," said he, any dispute should arise, either with respect to the succession to the throne, or with respect to the regency, who ought to decide it but the people, from whom all sovereigns derive their authority, and in whom actually resides the sovereign power. When I say the people, I mean all the citizens, comprehending the princes of the blood themselves, as the chiefs of the order of the nobility." The commons, or third estate, made a very strong and touching representation ing the poverty of the kingdom, and they complained of the multiplication of judicial offices, many of which werc publicly sold : they demanded that the tribunals should select three men of merit, of whom the king should chuse one, to fill any vacant office ; that all arbitrary and unequal taxes and impositions should be abolished ; and that hence forward, in conformity to the natural freedom of France, no taxes should be imposed without the free consent of the states-general. These representations had not their full effect ; nevertheless, the taxes were considerably di minished.
The Duke of Orleans, disappointed in his expectations of the regency, went into Brittany, where he persuaded the Duke of that province to commence an insurrection ; but the war was of short duration. The king was everywhere successful ; and the victory which his troops gained at Saint Aubin, completed the destruction of the rebels. The
Duke of Orleans was made prisoner, and shut up in the Tower of Bourges. It is supposed that his captivity was prolonged, and rendered more irksome than it otherwise would have been, in consequence of the resentment of Anne of France, whose passion he had slighted. As soon, how ever, as Charles took the sovereignty into his own power, he set him at liberty ; and the Duke's gratitude and good sense induced him to become a loyal subject : he even used his influence with Anne of Bretagne, though lie was ena moured of her, to induce her to marry the king. This hap py union took place in 1491, and put an end to all the civil wars which that duchy had occasioned.
But Charles was not destitute of ambition : Louis XI. as heir of the house of Anjou, had acquired a claim on the kingdom of Naples ; he was, however, too prudent, as well as too little inclined to war, to enforce his claim. Charles, on the contrary, as soon as his kingdom was secured in tranquillity, resolved to attempt the conquest of Naples and he accordingly set out on this hazardous expedition in 1494, almost without money, and with very few troops. At first, every thing promised success ; the Italians were not warlike ; Florence opened its gates ; Charles made his en try into Rome as a conqueror ; and the Pope was compel led to grant him the investiture of the kingdom of Naples. He lost no time, but immediately left Rome for his new kingdom. Ferdinand, his competitor, fled at his approach ; the city of Naples instantly declared for him ; and of the whole kingdom, only three towns continued in the interest of Ferdinand. Had Charles not been dazzled by the rapi dity and splendour of his success, he would instantly have secured his conquests ; but he wasted his time at Naples in festivals and triumphs, and was indulging in the vain and presumptuous hope of being able even to extend his victori ous arms to Constantinople, and to subvert the Ottoman empire ; while a combination was forming against him of most all the Italian states, supported by the Emperor Max imilian, and Ferdinand King of Arragon. Charles, there fore, was soon too fatally convinced, that, instead of extend ing his conquests, or even retaining the kingdom he had acquired, it would be absolutely necessary for him to se cure his retreat into France. On every side, his enemies collected in great force ; while, to add to the difficulties and embarrassments of his situation, the Duke of Orleans ne glected the cause of his sovereign and his country, to en gage in an attempt against Ludovico Sforza. Charles's vigour of mind was of great avail in this emergency : At the head of not more than 9000 men, lie traversed the Alps, while the confederates, though they had 30,000, were afraid to encounter him in the mountains, and patiently waited for him in an open plain near Placentia. Here the battle of Fornova was fought. Charles was among the first who charged the enemy ; and his officers and soldiers, animated by the example of their sovereign, fought nobly and suc cessfully. The Italians fled ; but Charles, on account of the very great inferiority of his forces, either was not able or did not deem it prudent to pursue them, but continued his march unmolested, and soon afterwards relieved the Duke of Orleans, who was blocked up in the city of Nova ra by Sforza. Notwithstanding his success, the King of France would probably have found it very difficult to have extricated himself, had not a reinforcement of 16,000 Swiss troops joined him, by means of which lie was placed in a situation to dictate the terms of peace with Sforza. In the mean time, Ferdinand returned to Naples, which, however, he did not reconquer, till after an obstinate defence by the Duke of Alontpensier, to whom the government of it had been entrusted by Charles.