p.

233.] Desmarets in the finance and Voysin in the war department, both superintendents of finance, the former a nephew of Colbert's and initiated into business by his uncle, both of them capable and assiduous, succumbed, like their predecessors, beneath the weight of the burdens which were overwhelming and ruining France.

"I know the state of my finances," Louis XIV.

had said to Desmarets; "I do not ask you to do impossibilities; if you succeed, you will render me a great service; if you are not successful, I shall not hold you to blame for circumstances." Desmarets succeeded better than could have been expected without being able to rehabilitate the finances of the state.

Pontchartrain had exhausted the resource of creating new offices.