MARC PIERRE DE VOYER DE PAULMY

This article appears in Volume V02, Page 459 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: MAL-MAR

MARC PIERRE DE VOYER DE PAULMY , Comte d'Argenson (1696-1764), younger brother of the preceding, was born on the 16th of August 1696. Following the family tradition he studied law and was councillor at the parlement of Paris. He succeeded his father as lieutenant-general of police in Paris, but held the post only five months (January 26 to June 30, 1720). He then received the office of intendant of Tours, and resumed the lieutenancy of police in 1722. On the 2nd of January 1724 he was appointed councillor of state. He gained the confidence of the regent Orleans, administering his fortune and living with his son till 1737. During this period he opened his salon to the philosophers

Chaulieu

CHAULIEU, GUILLAUME AMFRYE DE (1639-1720)

, la Fare and Voltaire, and collaborated in the legislative labours of the chancellor d'Aguesseau. In March 1737 d'Argenson was appointed director of the censorship of books, in which post he showed sufficiently liberal views to gain the approval of writersa rare thing in the reign of Louis XV. He only retained this post for a year. He became president of the grand council (November 1738), intendant of the generalite of Paris (August 1740), was admitted to the king's council (August 1742), and in January 1743 was appointed secretary of state for war in succession to the baron de Breteuil. As minister for war he had a heavy task; the French armies engaged in the War of the Austrian Succession were disorganized, and the retreat from Prague had produced a disastrous effect. After consulting with Marshal Saxe, he began the reform of the new armies. To assist recruiting, he revived the old institution of local militias, which, however, did not come up to his expectation. In the

spring

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger. springer, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

of 1744 three armies were able to resume the offensive in the Netherlands, Germany and Italy, and in the following year France won the battle of Fontenoy, at which d'Argenson was present. After the peace in 1748 he occupied himself with the important work of recasting the French army on the model of the Prussian. He unified the types of cannon, grouped the grenadiers into separate regiments, and founded the I cote Militaire for the training of officers (1751). An edict of the 1st of November 1751 granted patents of

nobility

NOBILITY

to all who had the rank of general officer. In addition to his duties as minister of war he had the supervision of the printing, postal administration and general administration of Paris. He was responsible for the arrangement of the

promenade

PROMENADE

of the Champs tlysees and for the plan of the present Place de la Concorde. He was exceedingly popular, and, although the court favourites hated him, he had the support of the king. Nevertheless, after the attempt of R. F. Damiens to assassinate the king, Louis abandoned d'Argenson to the machinations of the court favourites and dismissed both him and his colleague, J. B. de Machault d'Arnouville (February 1757). D'Argenson was exiled to his estates at Les Ormes near Saumur, but he had previously found posts for his brother, the marquis d'Argenson, as minister of foreign affairs, for his son Marc Rene as master of the horse, and for his nephew Marc Antoine Rene as commissary of war. From the time of his

exile

EXILE (Lat. exsilium or exilium, from exsul or exul, which is derived from ex, out of, and the root sal, to go, seen in salire, to leap,
consul
- CONSUL
- CONSUL (in Gr. generally ihraros,ashortened form of errpavgybs 8hraeos, i.e. praetor maximus)
, &c.; the connexion with solum, soil, country is now generally considered wrong)

he lived in the society of savants and philosophers. He had been elected member of the Academic des

Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS (from Lat. inscribere, to write upon)

in 1749. Diderot and d'Alembert .iedicat ed the Encyclopedie to him, and Voltaire, C. J. F. Henault, and J. F.

Marmontel

MARMONTEL, JEAN FRANCOIS (1723-1799)

openly visited him in his

exile

EXILE (Lat. exsilium or exilium, from exsul or exul, which is derived from ex, out of, and the root sal, to go, seen in salire, to leap,
consul
- CONSUL
- CONSUL (in Gr. generally ihraros,ashortened form of errpavgybs 8hraeos, i.e. praetor maximus)
, &c.; the connexion with solum, soil, country is now generally considered wrong)

. After thedeath of Madame de Pompadour he obtained permission to return to Paris, and died a few days after his return, on the 22nd of August 1764.

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