A World of Paper by John C. Rule & Ben S. Trotter

Author:John C. Rule & Ben S. Trotter [Rule, John C. & Trotter, Ben S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 3332754
Publisher: MQUP
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

JÉRÔME PONTCHARTRAIN, “MINISTER OF THE NAVY, COURT, AND PARIS”340

Rivalry between the Colberts and the Pontchartrains for the control of patronage began in Brittany in 1677 when Louis Pontchartrain was appointed premier president of Brittany’s parlement, reducing the near monopoly the Colberts had long enjoyed.341 When Jérôme Pontchartrain succeeded his father in 1699 as navy and household secretary of state, including responsibility for Paris, this rivalry intensified. The new secretary had a habit of interfering in the affairs of other departments, including those of his father’s chancellery.342 The elder Pontchartrain, however, had been more scrupulous about honouring departmental boundaries, even as chancellor.343 Nonetheless, Saint-Simon, who detested Jérôme, was likely correct in observing that the new secretary was extremely jealous of Torcy.344 Jérôme’s personality was shaped by his appearance – smallpox had heavily marked his face and cost him an eye whose weeping glass replacement was said to be alarming – and by being the only surviving son of parents who invested in him all the family hopes. While his mother fussed over his health and future plans, his father lectured him harshly to ensure his preparation for office, which made him behave as if he always had something to prove.345 Even as a fledgling secretary of state in 1699, he wrote fearlessly to more established and powerful colleagues in an abrupt and aggressive manner sure to irritate.346

Jérôme Pontchartrain’s efforts to increase the efficiency and productivity of his department through greater specialization in more clearly delineated bureaus were also intended to block any rival ministries from poaching its functions. Likewise, prior to officially relinquishing his secretaryship to his son, Louis Pontchartrain sought to discourage poachers by securing clearer interdepartmental boundaries.347 In a 1698 memoir to the king, Pontchartrain complained that questions over departmental boundaries dating back to the Lionne era had been ignored by Croissy and Torcy and yet the latter now wanted to appropriate naval functions by labeling them usurpations on the part of the naval administration.348 To spare the king such useless and fatiguing conflict,349 Pontchartrain pointed to Torcy’s already full plate of functions. These included tending to the Rome correspondence, sending certain matters to the Paris parlement, publishing the recent Treaty of Ryswick, drawing up marriage articles for Mademoiselle, and performing a thousand other similar functions, whereas he – he claimed disingenuously – only had to follow the fortunes of a vessel.350

In October 1698 the king issued a regulation resolving these conflicts.351 Although letters to ambassadors in the king’s name had to be countersigned by the foreign secretary, the navy secretary could write to them on his own behalf when he needed to inform them of the royal will concerning commerce and the navy. The only exception was that he could address direct instructions on commercial and naval matters to the ambassadors to Constantinople, Venice, Madrid, and Lisbon, which the foreign secretary would refer to in his general instructions. Negotiations with sovereign powers for commercial treaties had to pass through the Conseil and then be drafted or approved by the foreign secretary.

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