, grandson of the count de Pontchartrain, who was minister under Louis
,
grandson of the count de Pontchartrain, who was minister
under Louis XIV. was born in 1701, anJ obtained an appointment of secretary at court so early as 1715. He was
superintendant of the king’s household in 1718, and of the
marine in 1723. In 1738 he was appointed minister of
state, and was in all situations full of genius, activity, and
sagacity. Being exiled to Bourges in 1749, by the intrigues of a lady very powerful at court, he made no secret
of the manner in which he felt that change. “The first
day,
” said he, “I was piqued, the second I was contented.
”
When he arrived at the place of his exile, he talked in a
lively manner of the dedications he should lose, and of the
disappointments of the authors who had wasted their fine
phrases upon him. He continued to amuse himself with
the pleasures of society, and enjoyed the invariable esteem
of many Valuable friends, and of the public. Being
recalled to the ministry in 1774, by Louis XVI. who treated
him with unbounded confidence, he disdained to revenge
any former neglect oy ill offices, and lived rather with the
ease of a rich private gentleman, than with the ostentation
of a minister. His views of objects were rapid, yet were
generally considered as profound; though in recommending the conduct which France pujsued with respect to
America, at the time of the revolt of that country, he certainly laid the foundation for the destruction of the French
monarchy. He was, however, a man of much public spirit,
and one who contributed not a little to the improvement of
the French marine. His correspondence was a model of
precision, expressing much meaning in very few words.
He died at the age of eighty, Nov. 21, 1781. He left
some curious “Memoirs,
” of which there are three editions,
published in