ANTOINE-LAURENT LAVOISIER AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION-I1 DENIS I. DUVEEN Duveen Historical Library, Long Island City, New York
S o m time ago an account appeared in this periodical of certain facets of Lavoisier's doings during the Revolutionary period and of some of the attacks to which he was then exposed.' In the course of that article mention was made of the fact that Lavoisier was the target of rather unexpectedly vicious censure from the extreme right as well as from the left. Criticism was leveled particularly against Lavoisier's action in refusing the salary of the commissioner of the treasury, a post which he had accepted.' A rare pamphlet2 has recently come into the present author's possession which expresses the views of the left on Lavoisier's attitude in this particular case, and which assails him on other grounds as well. Most of the attacks on Lavoisier to he found among the numerous libellous and vituperative pamphlets of the period content themselves with mentioning him in a derogatory fashion on the basis of his membership in the Ferme GBnBrale3 or the AcadBmie Royale des Sciences.' It is well known, however, that in addition to such calumnies of a general nature the notorious Marat singled him out for special attack.5,' But it is generally asserted that while many of the farmersgeneral could be accused of profligacy and extravagance, the only charge that could be brought up against Lavoisier was that of having a private box a t the theater.' The pamphlet by MittiB mentioned above2 raises other charges against the great chemist, and as these and their nature are not generally known, it seems to be justified to print them here i n extenso. The language is so flavorful and intemperate that i t has been DUYEEN, D. I., 3. CHEM.EDUC.,31,6045 (1954). Ddnoncktion ~ U jraneais, Z des prkvaricaMITTIO,STANISLAS, lions ministkielles de Claude Lessart, ministve de l'intkeuv, et des uolsfaits par leafemtiers gdnkaw sur la dgie des cha~bons;svivie des propositions tendantes d j a i ~ edigorger loules les sang-sues de l'Etat, Paris, Trasseux, An 11,avo, p. 16. "a chasse a m b$es pvantes el jhoces, Paris, Imprimerie de la Libert6, 1789, 8v0, pp. 32. See p. 28, where it is recommended that all the farmers-general should he sentenced to twenty yeam in prison and a diet of breed and water. Etrennes d la udritd, m Almanach des A~istoerates,A Spa IParis. 17901. avo. on. 80. In a list of denuties to the Commune he paris (p. 7 l ) , tho& for the district of ~ k nLouis t de la. Culture include specifically: "Ameilhon, de I'acad6mie des belles lettres, hibliathQmirede Is ville, aristocrate en qualit4 d'acad6micien. L a Voisier [sic]de I'acad6mie des sciences, comme le prQe6dent." L'Ami du peuple, 27 January 1791. ' MARAT,JEAN-PAUL, Les Charlatans modems, ou lettres sur le charlatanisme aeaddmioue.. . oubliees oar M . Marat. 1'Ami du peuple, Paris, 1891. ' GRIMAUX,En., Lavoisier, Pa&, 1888, p. 61.
thought desirable from all points of view to leave the quotations in the original French. Referring to action by Claude Delessart, minister of the interior, Mitti6 says: Pourquoi a-tA fait M. Lavoisier commissaire de la. tresorerie nationale? C'est pour le d6dommager des ,960 milk livres qu'il a. payees a son associQCromot du Bourg,nafind'obtenir la survivance du Turcaret Baudon,' C'est encore parce qu'il a dQori6 les assignats, d6prisE lea hiens mtionaux, en lea 6valuant que 16 cent millions, tsndis que des caleulatenrs accredit& les estiment, bien su-dela. de huil milliards; c'est enfin parce qu'il s'est eoalise avec V a l e I'hypoerite,l La Hante, rapeur de tabac, et autres maltotiers, qui ont inMress6 Calonne et Colonia pour faire adopter au conseil prQvaricateur son affreux prajet des grandes murailles de Paris, dont les mQmoires particuliers montent a 2?0 millions; ensorte que M . Lavoisier, fils d'un prooureur, aprQsavoir oontribue a la dissolution de I'Etat, reunit aujourd'hui d m 8 sa personne, par ses places honorifiques et lucratives, celle de I'acad6mie den Sciences, d'Agriculture, de fermier ghneral, de regissew des poudres et salpetres, de president de la caisse d'escompte, et, enfin de la trBsorerie nationale.'
'Lorsque M. Lwoisier se presents ohez Baudon, pour lui annoncer que le roi venoit de la nommer son adjoint, celui-oi qui savoit aussi hien jurer qne boire, s'6cria: c'est un tour de Cromot mon gendre, pui est un joutu copuin. Mais, ajouta-1-il, vous ne jouim de ma place p e le plus t a d pue je pouwai. Effectivement il lui a tenu parole. Cet srpagnon Btoit elerc d'un proeureur de Fontainehleau. Voyea chea Nyon, libraire, quai des quatre Nations, ma d&onciatim contre les ezactions soumises ouz barrihes de Paris, s m s les ovdres immddiats' de ce Vente, dant je rapporte la, lettre qui decde un monstre a. Qtouffer. M. Lavoisier a offert de remplir gratuitement cette fcnction, sans crainte de blesser ses canfrEres. Mais on ne sera oas suroris
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pour 6pargner, vend ses chevaux pendant la,chert6 des fourrages.O
In this fulmination against Lavoisier he seems to be charged with four separate offenses. In the first place, i t is suggested that his a ~ ~ o i n t m e nast commissioner of the tr;&ry was made onthe one hand to make up for a payment of 260,000 livres to Cromot du Bourg in Regarding Cromot du Bourg, MittiQ gives some details (ov.cit.. D. 4. note 1) of which those dealine with his whereabout8 Gay not be strictly accurate but are not without interest: "Ce Cromot du Bourg, apr& avoir Bt6 premier commie, du Contr6le des finances, redacteur du pacte de famine g&n&aIe,sign6 Lavedy, gauverneur d'Alencon sans rien dehourser, pensionne sur le lime rouge pour une multitude de farfaita; selgneur du Bourg, Blection d'Argentan; et enfin, intendant de la maison de Monsieur, il eat descendu dans l'empire des dBmons, pour y payer, co-e ses pareils, sur un lit de braise, les vols qu'il fit sur les bleds et les farines. Voyer le m6moire de M. le Pr6vot de Beaumont, prisonnier d'etat." op. ~ i l .p., 6. MmrO, STANISLAB,
JOURNAL O F CHEMICAL EDUCATION
connection with his succession to Baudon's share in the Ferme GBnBrale, and on the other hand as a reward for having spoken against the issuance of assign at^'^ and undervalued the national assets." Lavoisier was congenitally incapable of throwing away any piece of paper on which he had drafted or calculated anything. The mass of papers relating to his various contracts in the Ferme GknBrale, his tortuous financial dealings with the Baudon family, the loans made by him to purchase his share in the Ferme, the taxes of one sort and another paid on his investment, etc., is now in the possession of the present author, and there is no trace of any payment of 26,000 livres to Cromot du Bourg or any one else. Lavoisier kept exceptionally careful and accurate accounts, and it is quite inconceivable that such a sum would not show up. One can safely conclude that this charge is completely baseless. I n addition it is evident that however unpalatable to the proponents of the Revolution Lavoisier's financial calculations and conclusions may have been, they were, in fact, well founded and accurate. The charge that Lavoisier plotted with Ventelz and La Hante13 in the "friehtful" ~ l a of n the great walls of Paris requires a little explanation. One of the royal sources of revenue, which was administered by the Ferme GBn&ale, was a duty levied on all merchandise entering Paris. Lavoisier, among many other assignments in the Ferme, had to administrate the collection of this tax, which was unpopular and diicult to contr01.'~ Lavoisier concluded the only way of ensuring the full collection of this tax would be to surround Paris with a high wall, and eventually the minister C a l ~ n n e 'ordered ~ it to he built in 1784. Calonne entrusted the well-known architect Ledoux16with the task who designed a most ornate and expensive construction with each toll-house of differing design.",'8 Unfortunately Lavoisier's name became closely linked with this ill-starred and unpopular project, and he was publicly attacked on the subject.le Of course, there was some justification for criticizing Ledoux's extravagant design, which was characteristic of him, but other complaints such as that the walls prevented pure fresh air from reaching the citizens of Paris were frivolous. In any event, it seems to be stretching the imagination to say that it was as a measure of reward for this unpopular piece of work that Lavoisier was made commissioner of the treasury. The scornful reference to Lavoisier's refusal to accept the salary that went with this post should be compared with the same attitude adopted by the right-wing Actes des ApBtre~.~O The final attack relative to Lavoisier's meanness as exemplified by the fact that he sold his horses when feed prices became high seems very petty and hardly
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VOLUME 34, NO. 10, OCTOBER, 1957
worth specific denial. Whence this particular piece of spiteful tittle-tattle came is difficult to ascertain. What is certain is that there is ample evidence of Lavoisier's generosity and openhandedness. To mention a few examples: On his death a large sum of money was found to be owing to him as evinced by undischarged notes for loans;21 a t his country estate he established a free school for the local population and spent considerable money on agricultural researches whose principal object w a s the betterment of the peasants' condition^;^^ in a period of food shortages due to had harvests, he offered substantial loans to the town of Blois and village of Ramorantin free of all interest charges;23 numbers of impecunious students were aided financially by him,24 and the enormous amount of money he spent in the construction of the most accurate and advanced laboratory equipment and on his experiments is well k n o ~ n . ~ " In conclusion we may note that some hitherto generally ignored specific charges against Lavoisier have been brought to light. These illustrate the type of attack to which a man of Lavoisier's eminence was exposed during the French Revolution. However there is nothing evidenced to change the writer's previously expressed opinion, derived from a thorough study of the Farmers General's trial, that Lavoisier's trial, conviction, and execution were based solely on the fact of his membership in the hated tax gathering organization.
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MittiB is here referring to Lavoisier's Rkflen'ons sur les assignals el sur la liquidation de la dette ezigible ou ardrke, he8 a la SoeiLt6 de 1789, le W Aodt1790 (Paris, 1790). In this paper Lavoisier expressed his fears as to the results of issuing unlimited numbers of assignats and foresaw the runaway inflation that would be the consequence of doing this; his worst fears were realized by the even& " This figure of 1,500 million livres for the value of the national properties is taken from Lavoisier's work (note 10, p. 7) and comes much closer to the mark than the super-optimiritic figure of 8,000 million quoted by MittiB as having been computed by other experts. l2 FrancoisJem Vente (1725-1793), farmer-general. ' 8 Jacques Delahente (1717-1792), fanner-general. "Gn~kmx, ED.,op. cit., p. 77. Charles-AIBxandrede Calonne (1734-1802) ClaudeNicholas Ledoux (1736-1806). '7 GRIMAUX, ED.,op. cit., p. 80. '8 KAUFMANN, Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., 42, 498-9, (1953). The walls moused the fury of the inhabitants of Paris, and the extravagance of their construction finally farced the government to take the contract away from Ledour and rive it, in 1787, to Jacques-Denis Antoine. l o DULAURE, Rkclamations d'un eitogen cont~ela nowelle enceinte de Paris, klede par lesfermiers gkn&auz, Paris. 1787. DUVEEN, D. I., loc. cit. supra. GRIMAUX, ED., o p . cit., p. 54. GRIMAUX, ED.,op. cit., p. 60. GRIMAUX, ED.,op. cit., p. 54. BRAD, Hygide militai~e,Paris, 1815. GRIMAUX, ED.,op. cit.. pp. 47-48.
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