There may indeed be periods when such rude shocks have a bracing effect, but they are exceptional, and of short duration, and they do not invalidate the general statement.

Such isolation was the lot of France during the later wars of Louis XIV., and it well-nigh destroyed her; whereas to save her from the possibility of such stagnation was the great aim of Colbert's life.
War alone could not entail it, if only war could be postponed until the processes of circulation within and without the kingdom were established and in vigorous operation.

They did not exist when he took office; they had to be both created and firmly rooted in order to withstand the blast of war.

Time was not given to accomplish this great work, nor did Louis XIV.

support the schemes of his minister by turning the budding energies of his docile and devoted subjects into paths favorable to it.