After the death of Mazarin, Louis admitted no more ecclesiastics into bis counciL The spirit of jealousy of the Galilean church made it less dependent on Rome and more subservient to the crown ; and tho hostility of the magistracy against the clergy furnished the king with an arm always ready to cheek any mutinous disposition in the clerical body.
The parliaments were also subdued, like the nobility and clergy, by the absolute will of Louis. When only seventeen years of age, in 1655, the parliament of Paris having mado some remonstrances against an edict of the- king concerning the coinage, he rode from Vincennes to Paris, entered the hall of the parliament, booted es he was, holding his whip in his hand, and, addressing the first president, told him that the meetings of that body had produced calamities enough, and that he ordered them to cease discussing his edicts. "And you, Mr. President," said be, " I forbid you to allow it." In 1657 Louis issued an edict forbidding the parliament of Paris from making any remonstrances concerning' the royal edicts before re gistering them, and not until eight days after it had obediently registered them, after which the parliament might address him written remonstrance& From that time and to the end of hie reign the parlia ment offered little or no impediment to the royal authority ; it withdrew itself from state affairs, and confined itself to its judioial functions.
Having destroyed all opposition from the only orders which enjoyed any consideration in the state, Louie took care to make it known to the tiers 6tat, or commons, that it was not for its advantage that he had humbled the privileged classes. In fact, he did not consider the tiers &at as forming a class, but as an ignoble crowd of roturiers who were doomed to work for him and to obey his mandates, and from amongst whom he deigned from time to time to select some indivi duals as objects of his favour. In his celebrated edict of 1679, con cerning duels, he speaks with the most insulting contempt of all persons "of ignoble birth" who are "insolent enough" to call out gentlemen to fight ; and In case of death or serious wounds resulting therefrom, he sentences them to be strangled and their goods con fiscated, and awards the same penalties to thoso gentlemen who shall presume to fight against "unworthy persons and for abject causes."
This law, most offensive to the great mass of the French people, was confirmed after Louis's death by the edict of February 1723, and continued in vigour till the fall of the old monarchy.
Louie established that system of centralisation in tho administration which has been followed and rendered more complete by the various governments that have succeeded each other till our own days, and which renders France the most compact power in Europe: and in which the action of the executive residing at Paris is felt at every step by every individual in the most remote corners of the kingdom. lie at the same time began the first labours for a regular system of legisla tion, by issuing separate ordonnances for civil and criminal process, for commercial matters, for tho woods and forests, and for the marine, and which with all their imperfections formed the basis of distinct codes. The education of Louis had been very imperfect, and ho was himself in great measure uninformed ; but he encouraged sciences and litera ture, for %idols he was rewarded by numerous flatteries. His reign was a brilliant epoch of learning in France. With regard to the arts he had more pomp than taste; be felt a prido In conquering obstacles, as the millions he lavished on Versailles, in a moat unfavourable locality, amply testify.
Louis XIV. hated the Protestants, not so much from religions bigotry as because he considered them as rebellious subjects: he wanted uni formity in everything, in religion as well as politics. This led him to that most unjust and disastrous measure, the revooation of the edict of Nantes, in 1685, by which Protestantism was proscribed in France. France lost thousands of its most industrious citizens, who repaired to England, Switzerland, Holland, and Germany, carrying with them their manufacturing skill, and all the efforts of Colbert to encourage French industry were rendered abortive by that cruel and fanatical act, of which the revolt of the C6venuee and the war of extermination which followed were remote consequences. The persecution of the Jansenists was another consequence of Louis's intolerance.