Abstract
The “Talhouët Affair” was the most serious corruption scandal of early eighteenth century France. It arose in the context of a major restructuring of the public debt (the “Visa” of 1721–1723) and was handled by a special court which meted out exemplary punishment. Both the Affair and its context (the Visa of 1721) are known, but have not been studied in detail. I summarize the Visa operation and then recount the Affair, which sheds unexpected light on the primacy of State interests over the power of personal connections.
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Notes
- 1.
The comte d’Argenson, who was the investigating magistrate, kept considerable material on the affair (Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, mss 2848–2849; see also the diary of the court in Bibliothèque du Sénat, mss 139–140).
- 2.
When Louis XV came of age in February 1722 the duc d’Orléans ceased to be Regent but his right-hand man the cardinal Dubois became prime minister.
- 3.
The Company had been placed in receivership in April 1721. It emerged again as a free-standing Company in 1725 and continued to operate until 1769.
- 4.
Their initial arrest on 30 April was by lettre de cachet; the king could detain them at his pleasure, but a writ was necessary to initiate criminal proceedings.
- 5.
From late July d’Argenson handed over the interrogations to two maîtres des requêtes seconded to him: François de Baussa n and Pierre Pajot de Nozea u.
- 6.
Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, mss 2849, fol. 620–630.
- 7.
Daudé had not signed any document, but he had conspired with the others, come up with the scheme to forge claims under fictitious names, and generally betrayed his duties as comptroller.
- 8.
A total of 935 shares was identified. At market value of March 1723 this was around 1.5 million livres.
- 9.
Vatan was not exaggerating. The shares, which were below 1000 until October 1722, had peaked at 1600 in late March 1723, and fallen to 830 on 9 July. On 23 August they were at 890; three days after the verdict they reached 1300 and stayed at that level for the rest of the year.
- 10.
“Bâtir sa maison” could be litteral or figurative, in the sense of establishing his house or family.
- 11.
Presumably the market value of those shares would be seized from the estate and used to buy an equal amount on the market and cancel them.
References
Barbier, E.J.F. 1866. Chronique de la Régence et du règne de Louis XV (1718–63), vol. 1. Paris: Charpentier.
Combeau, Y. 1999. Le comte d’Argenson, 1696–1764: Ministre de Louis XV. Paris: École des Chartes.
Deschamps, F.-M.-C. 2015. Lettres sur le Visa des dettes de l’État, ordonné en 1721. Edition critique by F. Classiques Garnier: Velde.
Marais, M. 2004. Journal de Paris, ed. H. Duranton and R. Grande-Route. Saint-Étienne: Publications de l’université de Saint-Étienne.
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Velde, F.R. (2018). The Talhouët Affair: Graft and Punishment in 1723 France. In: Félix, J., Dubet, A. (eds) The War Within . Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98050-8_6
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