Henri Léonard Jean Baptiste Bertin (born 24 March 1720,

Périgueux Périgueux (, ; or ) is a commune in the Dordogne department, in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. Périgueux is the prefecture of Dordogne, and the capital city of Périgord. It is also the seat of ...

; died 16 September 1792,

Spa, Belgium Spa (; ) is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city of Wallonia in the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium, whose name became an eponym for spa, mineral baths with supposed curative properties. It is ...

) was a French statesman, and controller general of finances of

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defi ...

(1759–1763).

Biography

In 1741, he was a lawyer in Bordeaux, and then advise the Grand Council president, comptroller of

Roussillon Roussillon ( , , ; , ; ) was a historical province of France that largely corresponded to the County of Roussillon and French Cerdagne, part of the County of Cerdagne of the former Principality of Catalonia. It is part of the region of ' ...

(1749) and

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

(1754) before being named lieutenant general of police of Paris (1757–1759). He agreed in 1759 to become controller general of finance on the grounds that France was at war and finance was easier in times of war because all expedients are then allowed. But he warned

that he would resign once peace returned, which he did in 1763. He created the Land Registry to enable a better distribution of taxes. But his reforms were met with hostility from the parliament of Paris. He then received, on 14 December 1763, a secretariat of State composed strangely detached from the overall control of Finance, whose duties included: the East India Company, manufactures of cotton and painted canvas, the stud and veterinary schools, agriculture and corporate agriculture, mining, inland waterways, canals, public carriages, cabs and couriers, taxi, small items, deposits and collections of charters, lotteries, the exchange of Principality of Dombes, and, like other secretaries of state, grants, pensions, patents and shipments depending on the department. This fairly extensive, included Guienne, Normandy, Champagne, the principality of Dombes, the Lyons, the Berry Islands France and Bourbon and all institutions of the East India Company. Faced with the encroachment of the general control of finances, Bertin abandoned in 1764 the East India Company and the manufacture of painted cotton cloth, and in 1775 the coaches and express to Turgot. He however managed to keep the mines, through the abandonment of navigation to the superintendent of finance in charge of bridges and causeways. There was attributed to great difficulty in 1773 issues related to the clearing of communal property. Bertin was one of the architects of the renovation of Agriculture, and the creator of the Veterinary School of Lyon. Fascinated by China, he allowed two young Chinese Catholics to spend several years of study in France, and then returning to China, and receiving a pension from King Louis XVI. Bertin supported the Jesuit mission to the Emperor of China (fathers Bourgeois and Amiot). Vergennes did not follow his recommendations, which is unfortunate, because China was the natural complement of trade with India, which the British understood very well in the crucial years between 1778 and 1785. Bertin emigrated in 1791. He was an honorary member of the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

(1761) and the

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres The () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the . The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigraphy) and historical literature (see Belles-lettres). History ...

(1772).

Biography

References

Further reading