Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/365

 DU PONT

DU PONT

dismissed from the public service and the publi- cation of the " Ephemerides " was prohibited. Though persecuted at home, Du Pont's abilities found recognition abroad in the shape of unsolic- ited honors from tlie kings of Poland and Sweden and the margrave of Baden. In 1774 Du Pont was called to Poland by King Stanislaus Augustus to devise and carry out comprehensive plans for national education, but later in the year when Turgot became comptroller-general of finances, he was appointed inspector-general of commerce and recalled to France. In this position he was known as " the right arm of Turgot," being active in all the reforms established by the latter. The much- talked-of ' " Report on Municipalities, ' ' reaUy a plan for a liberal constitution, was the work of Du Pont. Turgot's successor, Maurepas, put Du Pont upon the retired list in 1776, whence he was recalled by Necker in 1778. Du Pont, who had always sided strongly with the Americans during their struggle for liberty, was placed in charge by Vergennes of the secret negotiations which resulted in the treaty of 1783, by which the independence of the United States was formally recognized by Great Britain, and, in 1786, of the negotiation of the conimercial treaty between France and England, being made councillor of state in acknowledgment of these services. Later, when Tliomas Jefferson was United States min- ister to France, Du Pont, as inspector-general of commerce, amicably settled with him the com- mercial difficulties between the two countries, prominent among them being the annoyances and wrongs to which American commerce was sub- jected from the French custom-houses and from the management of the Royal tobacco monopoly. He was secretary-general of the assemblies of notables of 1787 and 1788 and formulated most of the reforms there proposed, thereby bringing upon himself the hatred of the clergy, the personal in- terference of Louis XVI. alone saving him from being disgraced anew and banished from Paris upon the accession of Archbishop Brienne to the ministry. He was a member of the States-gen- eral from Nemours at the beginning of the revo- lution, and was twice president of the constituent assembly, where he favored a constitutional mon- archy and Avas the author of the thorough fiscal reforms adopted. At the dissolution of the as- sembly he edited the " Correspondence Patri- otique " and published a number of pamphlets upholding the constitution and demanding the enforcement of the laws; prominent among these were the letters denouncing Petion, the mayor of Paris. Du Pont, with his son, was at the Tuile- ries among the defenders of Louis XVI., Aug. 10, 1793. Marked for death in consequence, he was secreted by the astronomer Lalande and his assist- ant, Harmand, in the dome of the observatorv of

Paris until September 2. Avhen he made his way to Cormeilles, where he spent a month in disguise, not reaching home, Bois-des-Fosses, until Novem- ber 9, and then only after an arduous and danger- ous journey. He wrote the " Philosophie de rUnivers " while hidden there but was cast into prison, July 20, 1794, and had it not been for Robespierre's death (July 28) he would have been guillotined. Upon his release he renewed his opposition to the Jacobins, publishing the " Plai- doyer de Lycias," in which the horrors of the times were compared with a passage in Greek history, the " Constitution pour la republique Fran^aise " (1795), etc. He also founded the His- torien, a political journal. He was a member, and later president, of the Council of the ancients in 1797, was again imprisoned by the Jacobins, who destroyed his property and came near transiJorting him to Cayenne. In 1799 he emigrated with his family to the United States, where he was honor- ably received. At Jefferson's request he wrote a work on National education in the United States, the plans therein proposed, though never adopted in this country, having been partially carried out in France. In 1802 he returned to France, and was there instrumental in bringing about the sale of Louisiana to the United States (1803). He declined office under Napoleon but was president of the Paris chamber of commerce, rendered much service to various charitable institutions and was an active member of the French institute. In 1814 he was secretary of the provisional government, but on Napoleon's escape from Elba came back to America, joining his sons at Eleutherean Mills, near Wilmington, Del. He married, Jan. 26, 1766, Nicole-Charlotte-Marie-Louise Le Dee de Ren- court (died 1784). His second wife, who survived him, was Fran^;oise Robin, widow of, the cele- brated Poivre. Among his later works were : aS*?*)- le droit de Marque des cuirs (1804) ; Sur la Banque de France (1806), seized by the French police and republished in London (1811) ; Memoires sur differens sitjets d'JIistoire NaturcUe (1807) ; Examen de Malthus et lettre a Say (1817), his last work. He died at Eleutherean Mills, Del., Aug. 7, 1817. DU PONT, Samuel Francis, naval officer, was born at Bergen Point, N.J., Sept. 27, 1803; son of Victor I\Iarie Du Pont de Nemours and Gabrieile Josephine (de la Fife de Pelleport) Du Pont. He was appointed from Delaware a midshipman in the U.S. navy, Dec. 19, 1815, and was commis- sioned lieutenant, Ajjril 28, 1826, commander, Oct. 28, 1842, captain, Sept. 14, 1855, rear-admiral, July 16, 1862. His first shij) was the FranlUn in the European squadron, 1817, from which he was transferred to the Erie. In 1821 he was in the Mediterranean on the Constitution, was ordered home for examination, 1822, and went afterward to the West Indies and the coast of Brazil on the