France. Ministère des affaires étrangères

On January 30, 1785 Pierre Samuel du Pont (1739-1817) was appointed by King Louis XVI to be one of France's two Commissaires Généraux for the Ministère du Commerce Extérieur. In this capacity he reported to Finance Minister Vergennes. Du Pont sought to implement a program which included reforming the monetary and guild system and laying the foundations for a constitutional monarchy. He attempted to move toward free trade by reducing both internal customs and export duties. He aided the domestic textile industry and encouraged the importation of British machinery. He also negotiated a commercial treaty with Russia and laid the ground work for the 1786 Anglo-French commercial treaty. Du Pont de Nemours resigned his position in 1788.

In 1796 Victor du Pont, Pierre Samuel's eldest son, was appointed by Minister Talleyrand as consul to the Ministère des Affairs Exterieur. He was assigned to a post at Charleston, South Carolina, where he entered into discussions with American diplomats about the debt that South Carolina owed to France. On June 9, 1798, with Franco-American tensions mounting, President John Adams refused to recognize Victor du Pont's credentials. Victor du Pont then returned to Paris, where he took up the defense of American merchant seamen who had been seized by the French Navy.

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