François, marquis de Barbé-Marbois (31 January 1745 – 12 February 1837) was a French civil servant, diplomat, and politician. He was ambassador of France to the United States (1784–1785), where he married the daughter of the Governor of Pennsylvania, William Moore. He then became

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

's Minister of the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry; in a business context, corporate treasury. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be ...

(1801–1806), before Napoleon appointed him First President of the '' Cour des Comptes'', ("Court of Accounts"), France's supreme audit institution (1807–1814).

Early career

Born in

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

, where his father was director of the local mint, Barbé-Marbois tutored the children of the Marquis de Castries. In 1779, he was made secretary of the French legation to the United States. In 1780, Barbé-Marbois sent a questionnaire to the governors of all thirteen former American colonies, seeking information about each state's geography, natural resources, history, and government.

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

, who was then finishing his final term as Virginia's governor, responded to this query with a manuscript that later became his famous '' Notes on the State of Virginia''.R.E. Bernstein, ''Thomas Jefferson'', p. 50. Barbé-Marbois was elected a Foreign Honorary Member to both the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

and the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1781. When the minister

Chevalier de la Luzerne Chevalier may refer to: Honours Belgium * a rank in the Belgian Order of the Crown (Belgium), Order of the Crown * a rank in the Belgian Order of Leopold (Belgium), Order of Leopold * a rank in the Belgian Order of Leopold II * a title in the Be ...

returned to France in 1783, Barbé-Marbois remained in America as chargé d'affaires in 1784. That year he married Elizabeth Moore, the daughter of William Moore, former governor of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. In 1785, he became

intendant An intendant (; ; ) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In the War of the Spanish Success ...

of the

colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colonization of the Americas, French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1803. The name derives from the Spanish main city on the isl ...

under the ''

Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...

''.

In the Revolution

At the close of 1789, he returned to France, and then placed his services at the disposal of the French Revolutionary government. In 1791 he was sent to

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

to help the Marquis de Noailles, the French

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

. Suspected of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

, he was arrested on his return but soon freed. In 1795, he was elected to the Council of Ancients, where the general moderation of his attitude, especially in his opposition to the exclusion of nobles and the relations of ''

émigré An ''émigré'' () is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social exile or self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French verb ''émigrer'' meaning "to emigrate". French Huguenots Many French Hugueno ...

s'' from public life, brought him under suspicion of being a royalist, though he pronounced a eulogy on

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

for his success in Italy. During the anti-

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...

''coup d'état'' of the 18th Fructidor (4 September) 1797, he was arrested and transported to

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

. Transferred to the island of Oléron in 1799, he was set free by Bonaparte after the Coup of 18 Brumaire. In 1801, under the

Consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth countries, a ...

, he became councillor of state and director of the '' Trésor public'' (Treasury), and in 1802 a

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

. In 1803 he negotiated the

Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase () was the acquisition of the Louisiana (New France), territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. This consisted of most of the land in the Mississippi River#Watershed, Mississipp ...

treaty by which

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

was ceded to the United States, and was rewarded by the First Consul with a gift of 152,000

francs The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' ( King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centur ...

Empire, Restoration, and July Monarchy

Loyal to the First Empire, he was made grand officer of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

and a

count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

in 1805, and in 1808 he became president of the '' Cour des Comptes''. His career as Head of the Treasury ended in 1806. In return for these favours, he heaped praise upon Napoleon; yet, in 1814, he helped to draw up the act of abdication of the emperor, and declared to the ''Cour des Comptes'', with reference to the invasion of France by the Sixth Coalition: :"...united for the most beautiful of causes, it is long since we have been as free as we are now, in the presence of the foreigner in arms." In June of that year, under the First Restoration, Barbé-Marbois was made Peer of France by King

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. Before his reign, he spent 23 y ...

, and confirmed in his office as president of the ''Cour des Comptes''. Deprived of his positions by Napoleon during the Hundred Days, he was appointed Minister of Justice under the Duc de Richelieu (August 1815), tried unsuccessfully to gain the confidence of the

Ultra-Royalist The Ultra-royalists (, collectively Ultras) were a Politics of France, French political faction from 1815 to 1830 under the Bourbon Restoration in France, Bourbon Restoration. An Ultra was usually a member of the nobility of high society who str ...

s, and withdrew at the end of nine months (10 May 1816). In 1830, when the

July Revolution The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution (), Second French Revolution, or ("Three Glorious ays), was a second French Revolution after French Revolution, the first of 1789–99. It led to the overthrow of King Cha ...

brought Louis Philippe and the Orléans Monarchy, Barbé-Marbois went, as president of the ''Cour des Comptes'', to compliment the new king, and was confirmed in his position. He held his office until April 1834.

Works

In 1829, he wrote the book ''Histoire de la Louisiane et la cession de cette colonie par la France aux Etats-Unis de l'Amérique septentrionale; précédée d'un discours sur la constitution et le gouvernement des Etats-Unis'' ("History of Louisiana and of Its Cession to the United States of Northern America; Preceded by a Discourse on the Constitution and Government of the United States"). He published various texts, including: * ''Reflexions sur la colonie de Saint-Domingue'' ("Thought on the Colony of Saint-Domingue", 1794) * ''De la Guyane'', etc. ("On renchGuiana", 1822) * ''Journal d'un deporté non-jugé'' ("Diary of a Non-Tried Deportee", 2 vols., 1834) Written in 1780, while secretary to the French legation to the US Army: "D'Complot du Benedict Arnold & Sir Henri Clinton contre Eunas` States du America General George Washington", one of the first accounts of Arnold's treason, was not published until 1816.

Notes

References

* *

Works cited

* Tugdual de Langlais, ''L'armateur préféré de Beaumarchais, Jean Peltier Dudoyer, de Nantes à l'Isle de France'', Éd. Coiffard, 2015, 340 p. () * Tugdual de Langlais, ''Marie-Etienne Peltier, Capitaine corsaire de la République'', Éd. Coiffard, 2017, 240 p. ().

External links

* * https://web.archive.org/web/20040813061110/http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/diplomacy/france/louis2.htm
Letter from George Washington
* * https://web.archive.org/web/20040816205311/http://www.antebellumcovers.com/catalog104.htm

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbe-Marbois, Francois 1745 births 1837 deaths Politicians from Metz Marquesses of Barbé-Marbois Counts of the First French Empire Government ministers of France Members of the Council of Ancients Members of the Sénat conservateur Members of the Chamber of Peers of the Bourbon Restoration Members of the Chamber of Peers of the July Monarchy 18th-century French diplomats 19th-century French historians Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Writers from Metz Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences International members of the American Philosophical Society 18th-century French historians 18th-century French male writers French proslavery activists French male non-fiction writers 19th-century French male writers Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour