Chapter XV: Appendix: A

1. _The Councils._

In the reign of Louis XIV there were four chief councils, the _Conseil d’État_ known unofficially as the _Conseil d’en haut_, the _Conseil des dépêches_, the _Conseil des finances_, and the _Conseil des parties_.

Of these the _Conseil d’État_ was by far the most important. It consisted of not less than four and not more than five members, nominated by the King at his pleasure without any formality. They were chosen from the Secretaries of State, the Controller-General and the _Chef du Conseil des finances_, but no office carried with it a seat in the council. They had the title of _Ministre d’État_, or briefly _Ministre_. The appointment was for life, but might be terminated by dismissal or resignation.

The following are the names of those who sat in the _Conseil d’État_ from the death of Mazarin to the death of Louis XIV: Fouquet, Le Tellier, Lionne, Colbert, Villeroy _père_, Pomponne, Louvois, Croissy, Le Peletier, Seignelay, Pontchartrain, Beauvillier, Torcy, Chamillart, Desmaretz, Voysin, Villeroy _fils_. Of these seventeen, eight were fathers and sons, viz. the two Villeroys, Le Tellier and Louvois, Colbert and Seignelay, Croissy and Torcy. Only three, the Villeroys and Beauvillier, were _ducs et pairs_, or even belonged to the old nobility.

The Council met in the presence of the King every Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday, and every other Monday.

The _Conseil des dépêches_, also presided over by the King, met once a fortnight. It was composed of the Chancellor, the Ministers, and the Secretaries of State.

The _Conseil royal des finances_, also presided over by the King, consisted of the Chancellor, the _Chef du Conseil des finances_, the Controller-General, and two councillors.

The _Conseil des parties_, also called the _Conseil privé_, sat, not in the royal apartments, but in the _Palais de justice_. It was usually presided over, not by the King, but by the Chancellor, and was composed of thirty _conseillers d’État_ and over eighty masters of requests. It was the supreme judicial and administrative body of the kingdom.

(See A. de Boislisle, _Les Conseils sous Louis XIV_, Appendices to vols. IV.-VII. of his edition of Saint-Simon’s _Memoirs_, and separately, 1901.)

2. _The Secretaries of State._

The four Secretaries of State divided between them the administration of the Provinces. In addition each had his special department. These were four--Foreign Affairs, War, the King’s Household and the Navy, and the Protestants (_La Religion prétendue réformée_), of which the last became less and less important.