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MARC RENE DE VOYER

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 458 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MARC RENE DE VOYER , See also:

marquis de Paulmy and marquis d'See also:Argenson' (1652-1721), son of the preceding, was See also:born at See also:Venice on the 4th of See also:November 1652. He became avocat in 1669, and See also:lieutenant-See also:general in the senechaussee of See also:Angouleme (1679). After the See also:death of See also:Colbert, who disliked his See also:family, he went to See also:Paris and married See also:Marguerite Lefevre de Caumartin, a kinswoman of the See also:comptroller-general Pontchartrain. This was the beginning of his fortunes. He became successively maitre See also:des requites (1694), member of the conseil des prises (See also:prize See also:court) (1695), procureur-general of the See also:commission of See also:inquest into false titles of See also:nobility (1696), and finally lieutenant-general of See also:police (1697). This last See also:office, whith had previously been filled by N. G. de la Reynie, was very important. It not only gave him the See also:control of the police, but also the supervision of the corporations, See also:printing See also:press, and provisioning of Paris. All contraventions of the police regulations came under his See also:jurisdiction, and his authority was arbitrary and See also:absolute. Fortunately, he had, in See also:Saint-See also:Simon's phrase, "a See also:nice discernment as to the degree of rigour or leniency required for every See also:case that came before him, being ever inclined to the mildest See also:measures, but possessed of the See also:faculty of making the most See also:innocent tremble before him; courageous, bold, audacious in quelling emeutes, and consequently the See also:master of the See also:people." During the twenty-one years that he exercised this office he was a party to every private and See also:state See also:secret; in fact, he had a See also:share in every event of any importance in the See also:history of Paris. He was the See also:familiar friend of the See also:king, who delighted in scandalous police reports; he was patronized by the See also:duke of See also:Orleans; he was supported by the See also:Jesuits at court; and he was feared by all. He organized the See also:supply of See also:food in Paris during the severe See also:winter of 1709, and endeavoured, but with little success, to run to See also:earth the libellers of the See also:government.

He directed the destruction of the Jansenist monastery of See also:

Port Royal (1709), a proceeding which provoked many protests and See also:pamphlets. Under the regency, the Chambre de See also:Justice, assembled to inquire into the malpractices of the financiers, suspected d'Argenson and arrested his clerks, but dared not See also:lay the blame on him. On the 28th of See also:January 1718 he voluntarily resigned the office of lieutenant-general of police for those of keeper of the See also:seals—in the See also:place of the See also:chancellor d'See also:Aguesseau—and See also:president of the See also:council of See also:finance. He was appointed by the See also:regent to suppress the resistance of the parlements and to reorganize the finances, and was in See also:great measure responsible for permitting See also:John See also:Law to apply his See also:financial See also:system, though he soon quarrelledwith Law and intrigued to bring about his downfall. The regent threw the blame for the outcome of Law's schemes on d'Argenson, who was forced to resign his position in the council of finance (January 1720). By way of See also:compensation he was created inspector-general of the police of the whole See also:kingdom, but had to resign his office of keeper of the seals (See also:June 1720). He died on the 8th of May 1721, the people of Paris throwing taunts and stones at his See also:coffin and accusing him of having ruined the kingdom. In 1716 he had been created an honorary member of theAcademie des Sciences and, in 1718, a member of the See also:French See also:Academy. See the contemporary See also:memoirs, especially those of Saint-Simon (de Boislisle's ed.), Dangeau and Math. Marais; See also:Barbier's See also:Journal; "Correspondance administrative sous See also:Louis XIV." in See also:Coll. des doc. fined. sur l'histoire de See also:France, edited by G. B. Depping (1850–1855); Correspondance des controleurs-generaux des finances, pub. by de Bois-See also:lisle (1893–1900) ; Correspondance de M. de Marville avec M. de See also:Maurepas (1896–1897); Rapporls de police de Rene d'Argenson, pub. by P.

See also:

Cottin (Paris, undated) ; P. See also:Clement, La police sous Louis XIV. (1873).

End of Article: MARC RENE DE VOYER

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