LOUVOIS, FRANcOIS-MICHEL-LETELLIER, MARQUIS DE, Prime Minister to Louis XIV., during the more brilliant part of his reign, was born on the 18th of January 1641, at Paris. His father, the Chancellor Letellier, the subject of one of Bound's ' Oraisons Funebres,' served the same monarch in high offices of trust, during a course of forty-one years, until his death in 1685. So powerful was Letellier's influence at court, that as early as 1654, when the youth Franeois-31ichel was only in his fourteenth year, the king consented that the office of secretary of war, then filled by the father, should in due time be transferred to the son, the youth being trained to its duties in the interim under his father's eye. He married in 1662 Anne de Souvr6, marquise de Courtanvaux, who brought him an ample fortune and great connections. Hitherto be had been of idle habits, but be henceforth became remarkable for the diligence with which he prosecuted his duties. Nothing was in fact left unexplored which belonged to his military functions, nor did any abuse escape his vigi lance, while for every ovil which he denounced he was ready with a remedy. He thus gradually won the esteem of the king, who was induced to believe that he bad in some sort formed the minister whose abilities were so eminent, while to the last Louvois used to flatter the monarch by intimating that all his most successful measures had really emanated from the suggestions of his Majesty. At first the office of war minister had been held jointly by Louvois and his father, but from 1666 until 1691, comprising all the chief campaigns of Tureone, and several of the most brilliant of those of Cond6 [Lours XIV.], Louvois alone directed the administration of war. Meanwhile a still greater minister, Colbert, was expanding to the utmost all the resources of the kingdom.
In 1667 the king opened the campaign, with the Vicomte de Turenne as second in command, and captured several fortified places, which Louvois was afterwards commissioned to garrison with French troops. In 1663 the conquest of Franche Comt6 increased his credit, and he was made Surintendant-G6n6ral des Postes. In 1671 he became Chancelier des Ordree du Roi; in 1673, Administratenr-G6neral des Ordree de Saint-Lazare et du Mont Carmel, and then Orand Veneur, or Master of the Hounds—honorary places awarded to him for his services, but none of which remained sinecures in the hands of a man whose energy seemed indefatigable. Whatever may and must be said of his ambition, his Inst of power, and disregard of the French people, whom he oppressed with burdens, it must be acknowledged that the military glory of Louis XIV. was mainly due to Louvois. It must also be added to his credit that he founded some hospitals, restored others, and provided asylums for hundreds of old and dis abled officers. It was he who conceived the plan of the Hotel des Invalides, and began its erection in 1671.
The arrogance of Louvois rendered him as unpopular with the courtiers as his harsh measures did with the people. His hatred of Turenne is said to have led him to thwart and impede that corn minder's great military successes when they were at their height; and tin Louvois, rather than to Turenne, recent historians have attributed the atrocious devastation of the Palatinate. [Lours XIV.J But Louvois shared iu the honours of the capture of Ghent (March 4th, 1678), his own plan having been preferred for the siege of the place. The peace of Nitneguen being concluded in 1678, the minister was at length able to turn his attention to domestic improvements. A war of twelve years duration had not yet exhausted those resources and expedients which the sagacity of Colbert had collected; and, prompted by Louvols, the king commenced the foundation of those national edifices which have ever since been identified with his name. The palace of Versailles, the two Trianons, the magnificent Place Vendome, where Napoleon's column of Austerlitz now stands, and the great aqueducts of Maintenon, involving an outlay of many millions sterling, were all erected at the instigation of Louvois. This prodigal expendi ture, after the great charges of the war, was vainly resisted by Colbert, who, having to provide the means to support it, was compelled to lay heavy burdens on the people, whereby he became the object of unmerited aversion during the last days of his life. [CoLamm] On the death of that illustrious financier, September 6th, 1683, the power of Louvois became almost absolute. Colbert had always fostered and protected the Protestants, even against the king, who disliked them. This was enough to provoke Louvois to prosecute them; from a feeling of rivalry. He began by employing Roman Catholic missionaries to argue with the reformed (les r6form6s); but this was too slow for his impatience, so he replaced them by dragoons. A ruthless system of extermination was begun : the unhappy Pro testants in vain sought concealment in the woods and amidst the rocks; men, women, and children were killed unarmed, sometimes singly, at others in families or parties. To one governor of a province Louvoia wrote—"His Majesty orders you to employ the utmost rigour against those who refuse to be converted." In October 1685, chiefly by means of this inflexible man, the Edict of Nantes, which Henri IV. had passed to secure the lives and estates of his Protestant subjects, was revoked—a measure which dealt a fatal blow to the interests of agriculture and commerce, and was not unfelt either in the army or navy. This revocation was followed by a vast emigration : great numbers of Protestants of every rank fled from France, more particu larly those who belonged to trade and commerce.