Jean Baptiste**, Marquis of Segneelay, one of the greatest statesmen that France has produced, was born at Paris in 1619. He was descended from a respectable family of Scottish extraction who resided at Rheims in Champagne. His grandfather is said to have been a wine-merchant, and his father at first followed the same occupation, but afterwards became clerk to a notary. In 1648, his relation Jean Baptiste Colbert, lord of St Pounage, preferred him to the service of his brother-in-law Le Tellier, secretary of state; and here he soon became distinguished by his diligence and exactness in the execution of the commissions intrusted to his care. One day his master sent him to Cardinal Mazarin, who was then at Sedan, with a letter written by the queen mother, and ordered him to bring it back after that minister had seen it. Colbert carried the letter, and refused to return without it, though the cardinal treated him roughly, used various arts to deceive him, and obliged him to wait several days for the document. Some time afterwards, when the cardinal returned to court, and found himself in want of a secretary or amanuensis, he desired Le Tellier to furnish him with a fit person for that employment; and Colbert having been presented to him, the cardinal, who had some remembrance of the young man, desired to know where he had seen him. Colbert was afraid of putting his eminence in mind of Sedan, lest the recollection of his importunity in demanding the queen's letter should renew the cardinal's anger; but the cardinal, whose insight into character was very great, was so far from disliking him for his fidelity to his former master, that he received him on condition that he should serve him with equal zeal.

Colbert applied himself wholly to the advancement of his master's interests, and gave so many marks of his diligence and skill that the cardinal afterwards made him his steward. He accommodated himself so dexterously to the inclinations of the minister, by retrenching his superfluous expenses and otherwise, that he was intrusted with the management of the lucrative trade of selling benefices and governments. It was by Colbert's counsel that the cardinal obliged the governors of frontier places to maintain their garrisons out of the contributions they had exacted; a suggestion with which Mazarin was extremely pleased. He was sent to Rome to negotiate the reconciliation of Cardinal de Retz, for which the pope had showed some concern; and to persuade his holiness to consent to the disannexation of Casto, according to the treaty concluded with his predecessor Urban VIII. Mazarin had so high an opinion of Colbert's abilities, and was so strongly impressed with a sense of his faithful services, that at his death in 1661 he earnestly recommended his protégé to Louis XIV. as the most proper person to regulate the finances, which at that time stood in great need of reformation. Louis accordingly made Colbert intendant of the finances. The latter applied himself to their regulation, and succeeded in his object, although it procured him many enemies. France is also indebted to this minister for establishing her trade with the East and West Indies.

In 1664 Colbert became superintendent of buildings, and from that time applied himself to enlarging and adorning the royal edifices, such as the palace of the Tuileries, the Louvre, St Germain, Fontainebleau, and Chambord. In the same year he founded the Academy of Inscriptions, and in 1666 the still more celebrated Academy of Sciences. France also owes to Colbert all the advantages she has derived from the canals which connect the Mediterranean with the Atlantic; a work begun in 1666, and finished in 1680.

In 1669 Colbert was made secretary of state, and intrusted with the management of naval affairs; and his services in this department were commensurate with the confidence reposed in him. He suppressed several useless offices; and perceiving the king's zeal for the extirpation of heresy, he shut up the chamber instituted by the edicts of Paris and Rouen. He proposed several new regulations concerning criminal courts, and was extremely severe to the parliament of Toulouse for obstructing the measures he took to carry these improvements into execution. His main design in reforming the tedious methods of proceeding at law, was to give the people more leisure to apply themselves to trade; for the advancement of which he procured an edict, erecting a general insurance office at Paris for merchants and others. In 1672 he was appointed minister of state; but in the midst of public business he was careful never to omit any opportunity of promoting the interest and aggrandizement of himself and family. He had six sons and three daughters, all of whom he married to persons of rank; thus wisely securing his fortune by powerful alliances. See FRANCE.

This great minister died of the stone Sept. 6, 1683, in his 64th year. In his last moments he was attended by Bourdaloue; and when his wife attempted to talk to him of public affairs, he repulsed her, saying, "Vous ne me laisserez donc pas même le temps de mourir." He was of middle stature, his mien low and dejected, his air gloomy, and his aspect stern. He slept little, and lived temperately. He was of slow conception, but spoke judiciously of everything after he had once comprehended it. He filled the most important offices with high reputation and credit; and his influence diffused itself throughout every department of the government. Colbert proved himself a wise, active, public-spirited minister, attentive to the interests of his master, the happiness of the people, the progress of arts and manufactures, and, in short, to everything that could advance the credit and interest of his country. Though an enlightened patron of science and literature, Colbert was not himself an author. The work entitled Le Testament Politique de Colbert, published in 1694, is a compilation by another hand, in imitation of the Testament Politique du Cardinal de Richelieu.