Louis did not long survive this peace : he died on the 1st of September 1715, in the 73th year of his age. The events of his reign sufficiently illustrate his character as a monarch. His love of glory and ambition were insatiable, and leapt over the boundaries of justice and humanity, in order to attain its wishes. His courage has, however, been doubted ; it is certain, at least, that he never exposed his person, and never, while he commanded the army, under took the siege of a place which he was not certain to re duce, or fought a battle which he was not certain to win. It must be said in exculpation, that this love of glory and ambition, which led him to cause the destruction of so ma ny of his fellow creatures, and to despise the plainest and most powerful dictates of justice and humanity, also induc ed him to patronise and encourage every species of litera ture, science, and art ; so that France was, in his time, equally illustrious, by the great military talents of her nerals, and by the splendour of her men of science and lite rature. At the head of his armies were Turenne, Conde, Luxemburg, Catinat, Crequi, Bouflers, Montesquieu, Ven dome, and Villars ;—his fleets were commanded by Tour ville, Du Quesne, and Du Guay-Trouin ;—Colbert, Lou vois, Torcy, and Pomponne, directed his councils ;—Bos suet, Bourdaloue, and Massillon, taught him his duty ;— Vauban fortified his towns ; Riquet formed his canals ; Perrault and Mansard constructed his palaces, which were embellished by Le Pouissin, Le Seur, and Le Brun ;— Corneille, Racine, Moliere, Quenault, La Fontaine, Bru yere, and Boileau, relieved his more serious cares, by their wit and literature ;—and Fenelon, Huet, Flechier, Beauvil liers, and Bossuet, were the instructors of his children.
Louis seems to have seen the folly, if not the injustice, of his pursuits before he died ; for he made use of the fol lowing memorable expressions to his successor—" En deavour to preserve peace with your neighbours ; I have been too fond of war ; do not imitate me in that, or in being too expensive. Take advice on all occasions, and endea vour to discover the best, that you may always follow it. Relieve your people as soon as you can ; and do,that, which unfortunately I could not do." Ile also advised him never to forget his duty towards God.
By an edict, which was registered in 1714, he called his legitimated children to the succession, failing the princes of the blood ; but this edict was revoked in 1717.
The Duke of Orleans, soon after the death of Louis XI V. appealed to the decision of the Parliament of Paris against the will or that monarch, and was appointed by them sole regent. Although excessively addicted to pleasure, yet, in the early part of his administration, his measures were popular, wke, and beneficial. Ile restored to the parlia ment the right of remonstrating against the edicts of the crown ; compelled those who had plundered the people, by their extortions during the late reign, to give up their unjustly acquired wealth ; repcopled the towns and dis tricts that had been thinned by the ravages of war ; nou rished commerce and agriculture ; and entered into a close alliance with Great Britain and the United Provinces. But
his measures were interrupted, and his power threatened, by the intrigues of the Cardinal Albcroni, first minister of Spain. This man, persuading Philip V. that his renuncia tion of the throne of France was invalid, and that he had a better right to it than the Duke of Orleans, in case of the death of Louis XV. endeavoured to inflame those who were discontented with the measures of the Duke. But his plots having been discovered, his adherents in France were executed, and the Duke's authority was henceforth more firmly established. Soon after this, the Duke formed the quadruple alliance ; and Alheroni still continuing his intrigues, a declaration of war against Spain was issued by Great Britain and France. The Duke of Berwick, who had the command of one of the French armies, marched to words the frontiers of Spain, took possession of St Sebas tian and Fontarabia ; and having made preparations for the siege of some other places in the kingdom, Philip was in timidated into a peace, acceding to the terms prescribed by the quadruple alliance, and dismissing Alberoni. In order to cement the thrones of France and Spain, the Duke of Orleans projected a double marriage ; his own daughter being united to the Prince of Asturias, and the Infanta of Spain to the King of France.
In 1716, the famous Mississippi scheme began. John Law, a Scotchman, who had been compelled to fly from England for murder, and afterwards became an adven turer, was the author of it ; and the greatness of the idea recommended it to the Duke of Orleans. His project was to pay off the national debt, by the introduction of paper money. A bank was accordingly established, which was soon declared royal, and united with the Mississippi, or West India company, from whose commerce the greatest riches were expected. The opinion that had long been prevalent, that the neighbourhood of the liver Mississippi contained inexhaustible treasures, was the origin of this expectation. It would appear, that Law himself, who at first regarded the Mississippi scheme as merely subordi nate and auxiliary to his plan of paper credit, was in a short time beguiled by it. In 1719, the notes which he fabricated, exceeded in nominal amount fourscore times the real value of the current coin of the kingdom. At first, only the debts of the state had been paid off in this paper; but afterwards, so extreme was the eagerness to obtain a share in the scheme, that they were circulated very widely through the kingdom. At length, the late financiers, in conjunction with the great bankers, exhaust ed the royal bank, by continually drawing upon it for large sums. The consequence of this was, that every one wanted to convert his notes into cash; and public- credit sunk all at onct,. Law himself was obliged to flee. Upwards of 500,000 sufferers presented their whole fortunes to govern mein in paper, which, after liquidating these debts, charged itself with the enormous sum of 1631 millions of to be paid in specie.