, son of the celebrated French minister, Colbert, was born Sept. 19,
, son of the
celebrated French minister, Colbert, was born Sept. 19, 1665.
Being sent early in life to several foreign courts, he was
deservedly appointed secretary of state for the foreign department in 1686, director-general of the posts in 1699,
and counsellor to the regency during the minority of Louis
XV.; all which offices he filled with great distinction. His
embassies to Portugal, to Denmark, and to England, put
him upon a level with the most able negociators. He died
at Paris the 2d of September, 1746, at the age of eightyone, an honorary member of the academy of sciences. He
had married a daughter of the minister of state Arnauld de
Pomponne, by whom he had several children. Ten years
after his death, in 1756, were published his “Memoirs of
the Negotiations from the treaty of Ryswic to the peace of
Utrecht,
” 3 vols. 12mo, divided into four parts. The first
is assigned to the negociations for the Spanish succession;
the second to the negociations with Holland; the third to
those carried on with England; and the fourth to the affairs
concerning the treaty of Utrecht. These memoirs, says
the author of the Age of Louis XIV. consist of particulars
interesting to those who are desirous of gaining a thorough
knowledge of this business. They are written with greater
purity than any of the memoirs of his predecessors: they
are strongly marked with the taste that prevailed in the
court of Louis XIV. But their greatest value arises from
the sincerity of the author; whose pen is always guided by
truth and moderation. Torcy has been justly characterised
as profoundly wise in all great affairs, fertile in resources
in times of difficulty, always master of himself amid the
allurements of good fortune, and under the pressures of
bad. Though of a serious disposition, yet in company he
could be agreeably gay, especially whenever he chose to
give way to a vein of delicate pleasantry which was peculiar
to him. His temper, always even, was neither ruffled nor
clouded by the most arduous circumstances. To this rare
quality he added that of a good husband, a tender father,
and a humane and gentle master.