Third Consul in charge of finance and Arch-Treasurer of the Empire
Born in Normandy in 1739, he became a lawyer in Paris in 1762 and, as a chief adviser of Chancellor Maupeou against the parlements, shared his fall in 1774. In the Constituent Assembly of 1789 he sat for the Third Estate as a liberal and remained a partisan of constitutional monarchy even after Varennes, drawing the suspicion of the Jacobin Club. Twice arrested during the Terror, he survived thanks to the Thermidorian Reaction and in 1795 became a member of the Council of Ancients. After 18 Brumaire he became Third Consul, in charge of reorganising finances and departmental administration; in 1804 he became Arch-Treasurer of the Empire, and he served as governor-general of Liguria and of part of the Netherlands. Made a peer after the Restoration, he lost his seat for serving Napoleon during the Hundred Days, was recalled in 1819 and died in 1824.
Also known as: Duke of Plaisance
Activities and affiliations
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1799–1804
Consulate and First Empire state institutionsThird ConsulHeads of state and government of FranceMain
Government and administration -
1804–
Consulate and First Empire state institutionsArch-Treasurer of the Empire
Economy, finance and planning -
1805–1806
Consulate and First Empire state institutionsGovernor-general of Liguria
Government and administration -
1811–1813
Consulate and First Empire state institutionsGovernor-general in the Netherlands
Government and administration
Career Timeline
- 1762Began practice as a lawyer in Paris
- 1774Fell from office with Chancellor Maupeou
- 1789–1791Third Estate deputy in the Constituent Assembly
- 1795–1799Member of the Council of Ancients
- 1799.12.25–1804.05.18Third Consul
- 1804Arch-Treasurer of the Empire
- 1805–1806Governor-general of Liguria
- 1811–1813Governor-general in the Netherlands
- 1815Grand master of the University in the Hundred Days; suspended from the peerage