LAFFITTE, JACQUES (1767-1844), French banker and politician, was born at Bayonne on Oct. 24, the son of a carpenter. He became clerk in the banking house of Perregaux in Paris, was made a partner in the business in 180o, and in 1804 succeeded Perregaux as head of the firm. The house of Perregaux, Laffitte et Cie. became one of the greatest in Europe, and Laffitte became regent (1809), then governor (1814) of the Bank of France and president of the Chamber of Commerce (1814). He raised large sums of money for the provisional government in 1814 and for Louis XVIII. during the Hundred Days, and it was with him that Napoleon deposited five million francs in gold before leav ing France for the last time. Rather than permit the govern ment to appropriate the money from the Bank, he supplied two million from his own pocket for the arrears of the imperial troops after Waterloo. He was returned by the department of the Seine to the chamber of deputies in 1816, and took his seat on the Left.
earliest partisans of Louis Philippe, his house in Paris became the headquarters of the revolutionary party. When Charles X. after retracting the hated ordinances, sent the comte d'Argout to Laffitte to negotiate a change of ministry, the banker replied, "It is too late. There is no longer a Charles X.," and it was he who secured the nomination of Louis Philippe as lieutenant-general of the kingdom. On Aug. 3, he became president of the Chamber of Deputies. On Nov. 15, accordingly, Laffitte became minister president of a government pledged to progress (mouvement), hold ing at the same time the portfolio of finance. But the difficulties proved insuperable, and Laffitte's government ended by being discredited with all parties. Laffitte left office politically and fi nancially a ruined man. He died in Paris on May 26, 1844 See P. Thureau-Dangin, La Monarchie de Juillet (1884).