Antoine Roy

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Antoine, Comte Roy

Antoine, comte Roy (born March 5, 1764 in Savigny ( Haute-Marne ), † April 3, 1847 in Paris ) was a French lawyer, politician and peer . In the era of the Restoration , he served three times as Minister of Finance .

Early life

Antoine Roy was the son of the farmer Charles Roy and Claudette Grisot. His father let him attend a humanistic high school in Langres . He then studied law in Paris and in 1785 appeared as a lawyer at the parliament in Paris. As a supporter of the monarchy, he was averse to the French Revolution and defended political accused, so in 1792 - albeit unsuccessfully - the journalist Barnabé Farmian Durosoy and three years later some people who were involved in the royalist coup of the 13th Vendémiaire of the year 4 of the French revolutionary calendar (5 October 1795) and were saved by him from the death penalty by the guillotine . But then he gave up his legal career.

On April 17, 1793, Roy married Adélaïde-Sophie Barré (* 1775, † 1812), daughter of the architect Jean-Benoît-Vincent Barré and Marie-Félicité Germain. They had two daughters, Marie-Élisa (born January 22, 1794, † December 27, 1851), who married the military and politician Honoré-Charles Baston de La Riboisière in 1814 , and Alexandrine-Sophie-Laure (born April 28, 1799; † August 8, 1854), who in 1817 became the wife of general and statesman Auguste-Frédéric de Talhouët .

Roy teamed up with Claude Caroillon Destillières to exploit forests and run large iron works. During the revolution and the empire Roy was one of the main suppliers to the war and naval ministries and therefore had no major problems apart from one legal dispute (see below) despite his royalist sentiments.

Because of his fondness for the monarchy Roy in 1798 received the General lease of goods of the Duke of Bouillon , namely the lands around the near Evreux Situated Castle of Navarra and the administration of the associated forest. In addition, he made great speculations with national goods and soon became one of the richest private men in France. He then acquired most of the estate of the Duke of Bouillon, who was in severe financial difficulties, for an annual payment of 300,000 francs. A few months later the Duke died in February 1802. His former estates have now been declared state property and their previous management by Roy investigated on the orders of Napoleon . Defermon presented the result of this revision in a report, whereupon Roy was sentenced to the State Treasury to pay compensation of about 2 million francs, which he was alleged to have unjustifiably seized . Roy did not want to give up his claims to the forest near Évreux, but lost two lawsuits in this regard in 1802 and 1813. So the castle of Navarre and the associated lands went first to the prince of Asturias in 1808 , then in 1810 to the empress Joséphine with the right transferability to Prince Eugène de Beauharnais and his sons. Napoleon also refused Roy to exercise public office and opposed the marriage of one of Roy's daughters to the son of Régniers , Duke of Massa.

Despite his royalist leanings, Roy did not make a political career during the first Restoration of the Bourbons (1814). During Napoleon's subsequent reign of the Hundred Days , he was able to take revenge on that one. He entered the Chamber of Deputies for the Seine department on May 7, 1815, and on June 6 opposed the proposal to swear allegiance to Napoleon. On June 16, 1815, he spoke out in favor of setting up a separate committee to investigate whether the war was necessary. During the discussion of the finance law, he tried in all possible ways to reduce funds for the army.

Career during the Bourbon restoration

After the second restoration of the Bourbons, Roy was presented to their court and recognized there as a victim of Napoleon's despotism, albeit not a poor one. King Louis XVIII appointed him President of the Electoral College at Sceaux ; at the same time, the department of Seine re-elected him on August 22, 1815 to the Chamber - titled as Chambre introuvable . Roy initially defended ministerial policy; soon, however, he went over to the doctrinalists and launched a violent struggle against the ultra-royalists, who were then the parliamentary majority . As the owner of national goods, he was particularly keen to reject all proposals by the Ultras aimed at the restitution of these goods. He also advocated a partial annual renewal of the chamber through elections and, in a speech in this regard, used language that the Ultras perceived as offensive, so that he was called to order. On October 4, 1816 and September 20, 1817 he was re-elected as deputy. In 1817 and 1818 he caused a sensation for his thorough and frank accounts of the budget. He spoke out against the great burdens imposed on the people, recommended savings of 21.5 million francs in the report on the finance law on March 21, 1818, and demanded that the ministers present an account of their previous year's activities at the beginning of each session.

On December 7, 1818, Roy received the portfolio of finances from the king, succeeding Corvetto in this office , but resigned after 22 days because of the dissolution of the ministry with Richelieu , Molé , Lainé and Pasquier . The new finance minister was Baron Joseph-Dominique Louis . In return, Roy received the offer to take over the management of the Ministry of the Navy, which he declined because he did not feel familiar enough with the tasks to be mastered. Instead, he became Minister of State , a member of the Privy Council and Commissioner of the Amortization and Deposit Fund . He returned to the Chamber of Deputies and had to investigate the arrears in the financial reports for the years 1815-1818. In the report on the budget for 1819, Roy again proposed and implemented significant tax cuts of 20 million francs.

On November 19, 1819, Roy took over the leadership of the Treasury for the second time as the successor to Baron Louis. He initiated several reforms that significantly improved France's financial situation, and on January 4, 1820, introduced a bill for the definitive exemption of buyers of national goods. On January 16, 1821, he implemented a reduction in property taxes of almost 25 million francs and still saved another 30 million francs for this year. In addition, after the Allies withdrew, he put the departments' debts in order and granted them compensation. He also obtained an annual grant of 3.4 million francs to endow the Legion of Honor .

On December 14, 1821, Roy had to resign his post as Finance Minister to Villèle . He resigned with all the ministers, leaving the finances in excellent condition and over 50 million francs in the royal treasure. Therefore, he was appointed Count and Peer of France in December 1821. In the chamber of peers, too, he was busy negotiating the finances, and his speeches were always given great respect. He followed the measures of his successor very critically and in 1824 fought against the pension reduction planned by Villèle, but his amendment to this law was rejected. Nonetheless, he was at the height of his popularity and was considered by the Liberal Party to be one of their most capable speakers and businessmen.

When the success of the opposition in the elections of November 1827 caused Villèle to resign and Martignac took over the government on January 5, 1828, Roy became finance minister for the third time. His proposals on financial matters often met with resistance from the parliamentary majority and from King Charles X. On April 14, 1828, he introduced a bill to borrow 80 million francs to give the government sufficient financial resources for military and diplomatic intervention in the Greco-Turkish conflict . The proceeds from four million five percent annuity papers were supposed to cover extraordinary diplomatic-military costs in 1828. After lively debates, the draft was approved by 287 votes to 65. The legislative initiatives for the final accounting for 1826 and for the extra credits for 1827 also led to heated discussions in which Roy demonstrated his usual sharpness of mind.

In the 1829 session, Roy encountered new obstacles. The party struggles caused severe irritation, and the debates on financial laws led to general political discussions. The provisional budget for 1830 was finally accepted and the Chamber's session on July 31, 1829 was closed. Charles X soon installed a very reactionary cabinet under the leadership of Jules de Polignac and asked Roy to keep his portfolio. However, the finance minister did not want to accept the conditions imposed on him and therefore made way for Count Chabrol on August 8, 1829 . On February 21, 1830 he received the badges of the Order of the Holy Spirit and the Order of Michael . Since then, Roy's public activity has been limited to negotiations in the chamber of peers.

Life after the July Revolution of 1830 and death

After the July Revolution of 1830 , Roy proved to be a loyal supporter of the Orléans dynasty and immediately accepted the government of Louis-Philippe I. He then brought his many years of experience in financial matters to the chamber of peers. In 1831 he wrote reports for the commission entrusted with the review of the amortization law, on the planned sale of state forests and on the special taxes. In the next year he also prepared several reports, in particular on the final budget of 1829. In 1833 he took part in the debates on the final settlement of the budget of 1830 and on the bill for the distribution of the funds of the repayment fund. In 1834 he wrote the report for the commission appointed to draw up the provisional spending budget for 1835. In the following session in 1835 he published a report on the Savings Bank Act. Then the laws on municipal roads and customs tariffs (1836), the required loans for public construction work (1837) and the drafts for the redemption of five percent annuity papers (1839/40) were subjects of his reports. He also became President of the General Council in the Navy Department and, in 1841, of the Commission for the Control of the Amortization Fund.

In the last years of his life, Roy interfered less and less in parliamentary work, although he continued to comment on financial issues. After a stroke , he died on April 3, 1847 in Paris at the age of 83. The enormous fortune which he bequeathed to his two daughters amounted to some 40 million francs. He was also the bearer of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Roy, Antoine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Roy, Antoine, comte (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French lawyer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH March 5, 1764
PLACE OF BIRTH Savigny ( Haute-Marne )
DATE OF DEATH April 3, 1847
Place of death Paris