Augustin Monneron

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Joseph-François-Augustin Monneron (born December 24, 1756 in Annonay , Ardèche , † August 3, 1824 in Barataria, near New Orleans ) was an entrepreneur, politician and banker at the time of the French Revolution .

During his time as a member of the Legislative National Assembly , he and his brothers minted a copper coin, the " Monneron " that circulated between 1791 and 1793 . Appointed general director of the “Caisse des comptes courants” in 1796, he embezzled 2.5 million francs, was brought to court in 1798, but was released again - presumably on the initiative of Barras - and spent the last years of his life overseas.

Life

Origin and first entrepreneurial activity

Augustin Monneron was the youngest of six sons from a Huguenot legal family. His father Antoine Monneron (1693–1791) was a lawyer by profession and initially acted as "contrôleur des fermes" in Antibes before becoming the tax leaseholder of Gabelle in Annonay. About his mother Barbe-Catherine, b. Arnaud Monneron was related to Joseph François Dupleix , the governor-general of the French branches in India .

In 1777 Monneron settled down as a merchant in Asnières near Paris before becoming director of the tobacco factory located there. In the same year he also joined the merchant's box of the "Amis Réunis". In 1791 he founded the trading house "Monneron frères" in Paris together with his brother Pierre-Antoine (1747–1801), who had been a member of the Constituent Assembly until then .

Member of the National Legislative Assembly; Embossing of the "Monneron"

On September 28, 1791, 414 of a total of 710 electors in the Paris department elected him to the Legislative National Assembly , the first parliament in France to act as a legislature. During his tenure, Monneron campaigned for the creation of elementary schools and argued for a tough line against oath-taking priests.

In 1791 “Monneron frères” were given the right to mint their own coins, for which the term “ Monneron ” later became naturalized. These were copper coins of 2 and 5 sols , which were produced in large numbers in Birmingham , England , between the end of 1791 and March 1792 on behalf of the Monneron brothers and using a steam engine . Due to their inscription "Médaille de confiance", the coins that could be repaid in assignats became known under the name "monnaie de confiance" (German: "trust money") and were in circulation until the end of 1793.

The coins put into circulation by the Monneron brothers were the victims of numerous re-mintings and quickly lost their value. The "Monneron frères" company went bankrupt in March 1792, Pierre-Antoine fled and Augustin resigned from his post as a member of parliament on April 1st. The production of the "monnaie de confiance" was forbidden by a law of May 3, 1792 and Monneron was given the opportunity to pay off his debtors over the course of the following three years. His older brother Janvier, owner of a trading company on the Île de France , took on a guarantee for him.

Second career and another fall

Between 1792 and 1794 Monneron was imprisoned several times, but from 1794 he assumed a leading role in the management of French foreign trade as an “agent des relations commerciales”. During the reign of the board of directors he was finally appointed on June 29, 1796 as the first general director of the newly created "Caisse des comptes courants". Only two years later it sparked a major public scandal when he suddenly disappeared on November 17, 1798, leaving a note in which he admitted that he had embezzled around 2.5 million francs .

After his arrest, he was tried in a criminal tribunal on April 10, 1799, but was released in May - presumably through the mediation of his friend Barras , who dominated the Directory at the time - and disappeared to the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe . After returning to France in February 1802, he was arrested again, then released and finally fled to America, where he spent his final years.

literature

  • Michel Bruguière: Gestionnaires et profiteurs de la révolution: l'administration des finances françaises de Louis XVI à Bonaparte , Paris 1986, ISBN 2-85565-332-0 - The section “Notices biographiques” contains no. 204 for a brief biographical outline with the title "Monneron (Augustin-Joseph-François)" (pp. 275f.)
  • Alain Le Bihan (ed.): Francs-Maçons parisiens du Grand Orient de France: Fin du 18 siècle , Paris 1966, p. 362

Web links

Remarks

  1. Alain Le Bihan (ed.): Francs-Maçons parisiens du Grand Orient de France: Fin du 18 siècle , Paris 1966, p. 362 and Monneron (Joseph, François, Augustin de) , in: Michel Gaudart de Soulages / Hubert Lamant , Dictionnaire des Francs-Maçons Français, Paris 1981, p. 408.