Pierre-Paul Le Mercier de La Rivière

Ordre naturel et essentiel des sociétés politiques , 1767

Pierre-Paul Le Mercier de La Rivière de Saint-Médard (born March 10, 1719 (other information according to 1720) in Saumur , today's Maine-et-Loire department ; † November 27, 1801 in Grigny , Essonne ) was a French economist and Representatives of the Physiocracy . He advocated freedom of competition and the abolition of all restrictions on trade. He saw agriculture as one of the most important sources of social wealth.

Life

His parents were Paul-Philippe Le Mercier de la Rivière de Saint-Médard, Esquire, Treasurer of France ( trésorier de France ) and Director of Finance of Tours ( généralité de Tours ) and Marie-Claude Le Bigot de la Chouanière.

He began his career as an advisor to the Paris Parliament (1747–1758), parlement de Paris . Thanks to the patronage of Madame de Pompadour , he was appointed Intendant (Governor) of Martinique . During the tenure between 1759 and 1764 he had great success there and was able to develop the island's economy. From 1762 to 1763 Martinique was occupied by the British, he was seriously injured in the armed conflict and was taken prisoner by the British.

Vue de Fort-Royal, Martinique around 1750

Denis Diderot the French writer, philosopher and enlightener was a personal friend.

In 1767, Mercier de la Riviere published L'ordre naturel et Essentiel des politiques Sociétés , which became very well known shortly after its publication. He was invited to Russia by Catherine II in 1767 .

He stayed in St. Petersburg for only a few months, was charged with a scandal in court, released and returned to France. The reason for this was, among other things, a discrepancy with the Empress regarding his political and economic views and ambitions. Mercier de la Riviere said that within two years he would be able to completely reform the tsarist empire; for this he demanded a huge salary. Catherine II ridiculed his projects as unrealistic fantasies.

Works

• L'Ordre naturel et essentiel des sociétés politiques. 2 vols., London / Paris 1767.
• De l'instruction publique , Paris 1775
• L'intérêt général de l'Etat, ou la Liberté du commerce des blés. Amsterdam / Paris 1770
• Essais sur les maximes et loix fondamentales de la monarcbie française ou Canevas d'un Code constitutionel. Paris 1789.
• Palladium de la constitution politique, ou Régénération morale de la France. Paris [s. a.].

Web links

• Literature by and about Pierre-Paul Le Mercier de La Rivière in the SUDOC catalog (Association of French University Libraries)
• Biography (English)
• Olivier Collomb: Biography In: Encyclopædia Universalis France , 2012 (French)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Archives départementales du Maine-et-Loire, État-civil numérisé ( Memento of the original of March 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , ville de Saumur , paroisse Notre-Dame-de-Nantilly, 1711-1727, vue 331. 
2. ↑ Archives départementales de l'Essonne, État-civil numérisé ( Memento of the original dated November 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , commune de Grigny (Essonne) , NMD to V-to X, vue 6, acte du 7 frimaire to X. 
3. ↑ Olivier Collomb: Biography In: Encyclopædia Universalis France , 2012 (French)
4. ↑ Gustave Schelle: Le docteur Quesnay. Surgery, Médecin de Mme de Pompadour et de Louis XV, Physiocrate. ( DjVu ) Félix Alcan, éditeur. Paris 1907, p. 345 (sheet 357)
5. ↑ Florence Gauthier: Le Mercier de la Rivière et les colonies d'Amérique. In: Revue Française d'Histoire des Idées Politiques , 2/2004 (N ° 20), pp. 37–59.