Jean Moreau de Séchelles (; 10 May 1690 – 31 December 1760) was a French official and politician. The

Seychelles Islands Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (; Seychellois Creole: ), is an island country and archipelagic state consisting of 155 islands (as per the Constitution) in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, Victoria ...

were named in his honor.

Biography

Made a

maître des requêtes A Master of Requests () is a counsel of the French ''Conseil d'État'' (Council of State), a high-level judicial officer of administrative law in France. The office has existed in one form or another since the Middle Ages. The occupational titl ...

on 13 October 1719, he was the

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 Hainaut in

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...

from 1727 to 1743. He was the intendant of

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

from 1743 to 1754, while simultaneously the intendant of

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

from May 1745 until 18 October 1748 during its French occupation. He was named the

controller-general of finances The Controller-General or Comptroller-General of Finances () was the name of the minister in charge of finances in France from 1661 to 1791. It replaced the former position of Superintendent of Finances (''Surintendant des finances''), which was ab ...

, replacing

Jean-Baptiste de Machault d'Arnouville Jean-Baptiste de Machault, comte d'Arnouville, seigneur de Garge et de Gonesse (Paris, 13 December 1701 – Paris, 12 July 1794), was a French statesman, son of Louis Charles Machault d'Arnouville and lieutenant of police. In 1721, he was counse ...

on 20 July 1754. He served this function until 24 April 1756. He pursued a daring economic policy, bordering

liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...

, while trying to straighten out the royal finances. Having the king's confidence as the

minister of state Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

in 1755, he was consulted about the reversal of alliances from

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. After suffering a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

in March 1756, his son-in-law

François Marie Peyrenc de Moras François Marie Peyrenc de Moras (11 August 1718 – 3 May 1771) was a senior French politician. In a family from the Cévennes, he was the son of Abraham Peyrenc de Moras (1686–1732), son of barber enriched in the system of Law, who built the ...

was designated by

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 ...

to replace him. He was made 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 ...

on 14 July 1755, its vice-president in 1756, and its president in 1757. In 1710, he bought the land of

Cuvilly Cuvilly () is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. See also *Communes of the Oise department The following is a list of the 680 Communes of France, communes of the Oise Departments of France, department of France. The commu ...

Oise Oise ( ; ; ) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 in 2019.< ...

, which had belonged to the lords of Séchelles. There he constructed a modern château in place of the feudal castle. He was consequently called "Moreau de Séchelles." The

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (; Seychellois Creole: ), is an island country and archipelagic state consisting of 155 islands (as per the Constitution) in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, Victoria, ...

islands, ceded to the

French East India Company Compagnie des Indes () may refer to several French chartered companies involved in long-distance trading: * First French East Indies Company, in existence from 1604 to 1614 * French West India Company, active in the Western Hemisphere from 1664 t ...

in 1756, were named in his honor. His daughter Marie Hélène Moreau de Séchelles (1715-1798) married

René Hérault René Hérault, Seigneur de Fontaine-l'Abbé et de Vaucresson (23 April 1691 – 2 August 1740), simply known as René Hérault, and sometimes as René Hérault de Vaucresson, was a French magistrate and administrator who served as Lieuten ...

, the lieutenant general of police of Paris. From this marriage came

Jean-Baptiste Martin Hérault de Séchelles Jean-Baptiste () is a male French language, French name, originating with Saint John the Baptist, and sometimes shortened to Baptiste (name), Baptiste. The name may refer to any of the following: Persons * Charles XIV John of Sweden, born Jean-B ...

, childhood friend of Louis-Antoine de Bougainville and father of the politician

Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles (, 20 September 1759 – 5 April 1794) was a French judge, freemason and politician who took part in the French Revolution. Origins and early career Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles was born in Paris in ...

References

* Lucien Bély, "Un intendant en pays occupé : Moreau de Séchelles dans les Pays-Bas pendant la guerre de Succession d'Autriche", in : ''Études sur l'Ancienne France offertes à Michel Antoine''. Text arranged by Bernard Barbiche and

Yves-Marie Bercé Yves-Marie Bercé (30 August 1936, Mesterrieux, Gironde), is a French historian known for his work on popular revolts of the modern era. He is a member of the Institut de France. Biography A student at the École Nationale des Chartes and form ...

. Memoires and documents from l'École des Chartes, n° 69, Paris.

École des Chartes École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

, February 2003, pp. 47–60 – * Cédric Glineur, ''Genèse d'un droit administratif sous le règne de Louis XV. Les pratiques de l'intendant dans les provinces du Nord (1726-1754)''. Orléans, Presses Universitaires d'Orléans, 2005, pp. 19–32 - * Cédric Glineur, "Entre libéralisme et protectionnisme : la politique pré-libérale du contrôleur général Moreau de Séchelles", in ''La Revue administrative'', n° 345 (mai 2005), pp. 290–302 - {{DEFAULTSORT:Moreau de Sechelles, Jean 1690 births 1760 deaths Officers of the French Academy of Sciences Finance ministers of France