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| Portrait of Helvétius from Ickworth (N.T.) studio copy of the full length portrait by Van Loo exhibited in the salon of 1755. Claude-Adrien Helvétius (1715–1771) | Art UK |
Until relatively recently not much was known about Helvétius's career as a Farmer-General, beyond a few lines in contemporary notices and eulogies. However, in modern times two manuscript reports have come to light from Helvétius's tours of inspection as a Farmer, in the Ardennes and Franche-Comté. The new finds show the seriousness of his commitment to the Farm. According to the editors, Helvétius comes across as a conscientious and able financier, "a commis, serving the interests of his Company"[Desné, 1971] and "an inquiring mind, keen to improve the operation of the Farm, and eager to propose reforms" [Inguenaud, 1986].
Helvétius becomes a Farmer-General
Helvétius came from a distinguished medical family: his father was chief physician to Marie Leckzinska. and was credited with having saving the life of the seven-year old Louis XV in 1717. However, Helvétius's precocious scholastic achievement suggested a different direction: "His father, whose fortune was mediocre...destined him to finance, as an state which could enrich him and leave him the time to make use of his talents (Saint-Lambert, p.6) His father was not mistaken - Helvétius was to become almost obscenely rich; according to Bachaumont, on his death his estate was worth four million livres (Mémoires, 4th October 1772).
The young man was initially sent to work with his maternal uncle, M. d'Armancourt, directeur des fermes in Caen. The historical record from this time preserves only his literary pursuits; he wrote verses, even a tragedy, and, with the support of the Jesuit Yves-Marie André, gained admittance to the Academy in Caen. (Keim, p.15-17)
In 1738, when Helvétius was still only twenty-three, the Queen obtained for him a place as Fermier- Général. At first this was a titular position only, but, when another candidate dropped out, he gained full admittance to the Company. His parent borrowed the down-payment on his share in the Farm. According to Saint-Lambert two thirds of his revenue went into paying back this capital, an obligation which he fulfilled conscientiously. By the time he left the Farm in 1751, he had paid off all his debts. The records from his estate at Voré testify to his careful personal accounting. (Keim p.19)
The National Archives preserve a set of notes by the police inspector Jean-Baptiste Meusnier concerning the Farmers who were in office between 1720 and 1750. Here we read:
Monsieur Helvetius is a young man with a handsome and pleasant physiognomy. He is infinitely polite, honest, willingly does good when required. He is not at present one of the most able men as regards the business of the General-Farm, but he works very conscientiously and will soon have total command of his profession. (Cited Silber, p.428-9)
His Tours of Inspection
As a young Farmer-General, Helvétius was tasked with three consecutive tournées: to Champagne, Bourgogne and the Ardennes (1738-1741); to Lorraine, Franche-Comté, the Trois-Évêchés and Alsace (1742-1746) and to Bordeaux, Dax and Pau (1747-1749). Sometimes his friends accompanied him - the grammarian and Encyclopédiste Dumarsais is mentioned. In a letter of 8th March 1745 Mme de Graffigny informs us that Helvétius planned to revise the manuscript of De l'Esprit during his tour of inspection in Lorraine.
The first of the newly rediscovered manuscripts, published by Roland Desné in 1971, dates from 1738 and concerns the gabelle, tobacco taxes and customs duties in the Ardennes. It is described as a dense and conscientious work. The young Farmer (he was twenty-three years old) confined himself to reportage though, at least implicitly, he observed the "complexity of the fiscal system"[Desné, 1971]. According to the local historian Gérard Gayot, his analysis was consistent with a later reform agenda (uniformity of prices, suppression of personal privilege, abolition of internal customs barriers).
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| File:Bâtiment de graduation.jpg - Wikimedia Commons |
The Social world of a young Farmer-General
The dominant image presented in the massive biography of Helvétius by Albert Keim, published in 1907, is of a talented young man, who preferred the the pursuit of philosophy and the society of women, to the dry world of ledgers and officialdom. He was a "mondain" who learned to fence and shoot, and was such an accomplished dancer that he appeared on several occasions in the ballets of the Paris Opera. He was handsome, well-built, with fine features, according to Grimm, "an attractive figure" with every exterior advantage [Keim, p.23-24] It is a shame that there seems to be no portrait from this era: Keim mentions a Helvétius "at 30" by Drouais, but the only references I can find are to Drouais's portrait of his infant daughter.
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| At the salon of Mme Geoffrin in 1755 (central figure in black) |
Saint-Lambert writes that Helvétius had an air of embarrassment and boredom in society and did not seek out the high nobility. On the other hand, his position as Farmer-General furnished him with a ready entrée into Parisian literary life. In 1743 he made a first unsuccessful candidature for the Académie française (the abbé Bignon was preferred; he was later to be passed over for the comte de Clerment) His first involvement with Freemasonry dated from the late 1740s. In 1748 Marmontel was taken by the Farmer La Popelinière to the salon of Madame de Tencin, where he found Fontenelle, Marivaux, Mairan, the physician, and Astruc the doctor and "le jeune Helvétius" [Keim, p.34-5]. By the early 1750s Helvétius was a habitué at the salon of Mme Geoffrin.
Helvétius was also associated at this early period with Voltaire, who knew the family and corresponded with Helvétius's father. Their first exchange of letters dates between July 1738 and August 1740. Helvétius sent Voltaire his poems, and Voltaire offered his advice. [Letters from Voltaire, 25 February 1739 (whitman.edu)] Voltaire dedicated the fourth of his Discours en vers sur l'homme to the young man, and in 1738, on his appointment as a Farmer-General, composed a poem in his honour. He invited him to Cirey, describing him happily as "a Farmer-General with a passion for belles-lettres". Their last letter dated from August 1741. In later years, their friendship cooled as Helvétius gravitated towards d'Holbach and the materialists. but still had a soft spot for him. (Famously, in April 1783 Voltaire was to be admitted to Helvétius's former masonic lodge and wore his masonic apron before the bust of his "ami charmant".)
https://voltairefoundation.wordpress.com/2015/01/26/helvetius-and-voltaire/
Why did Helvétius leave the Farm?
Helvétius's friends say simply that he experienced "distaste" for his life as a Farmer-General, particularly his dealings with petty-minded subordinates and wished to devote himself full time to philosophy: Saint-Lambert (p.13-14) remarks that his father had made him a Farmer but could not make of him a "financier". The anecdotal evidence suggests that Helvétius had indeed wearied of the inefficiencies and abuses of the Farm, though his disapproval never crossed the line into principled criticism. He was not interested in continuing his career as a financier and had more than enough money to provide an exit route. In 1749 his father bought him the position of maître d'hôtel to the Queen and in that same year he purchased for 370,000 livres the noble fief of Voré in the Perche, which conferred upon him the title of vicomte de Rémarlard. His marriage to Anne-Catherine de Ligniville d'Autricourt, from a noble family of Lorraine and niece of Madame de Graffigny, completed his determination to pursue the life of a leisured man of letters.
Colle reported in June 1751 that for six months Helvétius was obliged to struggle as hard to withdraw from the Farm as others did to gain entry. His resignation astonished everyone: Machault, the Controller-General of Finance was said to have expressed his surprise that Helvétius was not "insatiable like the rest" (Colle, Journal et Mémoires, p.35)
His subsequent writings and correspondence are singularly devoid of references to matters fiscal.
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| The Château de Voré in an old postcard: the gate features Helvétius and his wife's initials ("H" and "A") |
Like other wealthy financiers, Helvétius had a reputation for generosity. Notes on his pensions etc. Bienfaisance: He paid a pension to Sabatier de Castres (Les trois siecles, Helvetius) - in 1765: a grant of 1,200 livres over two years. A pension of two thousand livres to Marivaux and another three thousand to Bernard-Joseph Saurin. Sixty thousand livres as capital on a rente on the occasion of his marriage. La Harpe. Ménage et Finances de Voltaire; avec une introduction sur les moeurs des co... - Google Books
Later forays into Finance
Helvetius's financial career had a curious postscript in 1765 when he was involved in the establishment of the famous Prussian Régie, Frederick the Great's French-run tax-farm. In April Frederick invited Helvétius, whom he had made an Associate member of the Royal Academy in Berlin, to visit Potsdam. In September 1765 Helvétius reported to Choiseul that the king of Prussia wanted Frenchmen to administer his Farms, and to the duc de Praslin, that "the company [of farmers-general] has been assembled and awaits only passports in order to leave". Helvétius's exact contribution is not certain but Mirabeau later stated that he recruited the five initial administrators, including their leader, De Launay, a sous-fermier from Languedoc. Despite bitter resentment, the Régie was duly set-up and staffed by some 350 French officials. Helvétius himself bowed out as soon as possible, and hurried back to his wife in France. See: Correspondance générale d'Helvétius, Volume III [Google Books]
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| Daniel Chodowiecki, Immigration of the French to set up the Directorate,Etching, 1771. Stadtmuseum Berlin. Sammlung Online (stadtmuseum.de) |
References
https://voltairefoundation.wordpress.com/2015/01/26/helvetius-and-voltaire/
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