Pierre Victor, baron Malouet (11 February 1740 – 7 September 1814), a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 publicist and politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

, was born at Riom

Riom

Riom is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-History:Until the French Revolution, Riom was the capital of the province of Auvergne, and the seat of the dukes of Auvergne. The city was of Gaulish origin, the Roman Ricomagus...

 (Puy-de-Dôme

Puy-de-Dôme

Puy-de-Dôme is a department in the centre of France named after the famous dormant volcano, the Puy-de-Dôme.Inhabitants were called Puydedomois until December 2005...

).

Life

The son of a lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

, he entered the civil service and was employed successively at the French embassy in Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

, in the administrative department of the duc de Broglie's army, as commissary in San Domingo

Haiti

Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...

 from 1767 to 1774, and, after his return to France, as commissary-general of the marine. In 1776 he was entrusted to carry out plans of colonization in French Guiana

French Guiana

French Guiana is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west...

, but was superseded in 1779.

On his return to France he was well received at court, and the execution of his plans in Guiana was assured. He became intendant of the port of Toulon

Toulon

Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....

, and in 1789 was returned to the Estates General, where he soon became well known as a defender of the monarchical principle. He emigrated to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in September, 1792, but shortly afterwards sought in vain permission to return to assist in the defense of Louis XVI

Louis XVI of France

Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....

.

His name was erased from the list of emigres in 1801 by Napoleon; upon his return in 1803, he was sent to Antwerp as commissioner-general and maritime prefect to supervise the erection of defence works, and the creation of a fleet. He entered the council of state for the navy in 1810. Having offended the emperor by his criticism of the campaign in Russia, he was disgraced and left office in 1812. At the Restoration, Louis XVIII

Louis XVIII of France

Louis XVIII , known as "the Unavoidable", was King of France and of Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815...

made him minister of the navy.

Works

• Collection de ses opinions à l'Assemblée Nationale (3 vols., 1791-1792)
• Collection de mémoires et correspondences officielles sur l'administration des colonies et notamment sur la Guerre française et hollandaise (5 vols. 1802)
• Mémoire sur l'esclavage des negres dans les possessions françaises (Paris, 1788)
• Examen de cette question: Quel sera pour les colonies de l'Amerique le resultat de la revolution française? (London, 1797).