DUPONT DE NEMOURS, Pierre Simnel, French economist: b. Paris, 14 Dec. 1739; d. Eleutherian Mills, near Wilmington, Del., 7 Aug., 1817. He was educated under his mother's tutelage and at an early age gained distinction in his studies, which included literature, medicine, engineering and military science,. etc. He lived almost tmovnt in Paris as a private man of letters till 1763, where he gained notoriety by his pamphlets which criticized a new scheme of taxation then under consideration. In 1768 he was appointed editor of Les Ethimirides du Citoyen, the organ of the economists, and to this and other papers he contributed many interesting articles and editorials advocating the liberty of the press, the abolition of slavery, the removal of all restrictions from commerce and labor, the suppression of the oppressive tax called tCor vie," and many other reforms. His efforts for reform fell under the displeasure of Abbe Ter ray, the Comptroller-General, and he was obliged to leave France. Several foreign princes offered him a reception and conferred honors upon him. In 1774 he was appointed of the Coun cil of Public Instruction by King Stanislaus Au gustus of Poland with a commission to organize a system of national education. He had been engaged on this work but a short time when, later in the same year, Turgot became comp troller-general and Dupont was formally re called to France and made inspector-general of commerce by Louis XVI. He now put into actual being many of the reforms which he had so long advocated, but was obliged to go into retirement when Turgot was succeeded by the Comte de Maurepas. In 1778 he was recalled to active duty by Necker, the successor of Maure pas. He now entered upon a long period of active service and came to be entrusted with important and delicate matters. Having always been an ardent advocate of the cause of American liberty, he was entrusted by the Count de Ver gennes with the delicate mission of conducting the secret negotiations with the English repre sentative, Dr. Hutton, which laid the basis for the peace treaty of 1783 by which Great Britain acknowledged the independence of the United States. Soon afterward Dupont was appointed a member of the Commission on Agriculture and in 1787-88 he was secretary-general of both assemblies of notables. At the beginning of the Revolution in France Dupont was a mem ber of the States-General from Nemours and later represented. that electorate in the Con
stituent Assembly, of which he was twice elected president. His chief work in the Assem bly was the formation of radical fiscal reforms. After the dissolution of the Assembly he was for a time editor of the Correspondence Patri otique and issued several pamphlets upholding the new constitution and demanding the enforce ment of the laws. Dupont and his son, Eleuthere Irenee, were among the defenders of the Tuileries on 10 Aug. 1792 when the populace attacked the palace clamoring for the overthrow of the king. He was now marked for destruction by the Jacobins, but managed to elude capture and finally retired to his home where he devoted himself to literary pursuits until his arrest on 20 June 1794. He was sen tenced to the guillotine, and was saved from this fate only by the death of Robespierre, and was released on 24 August. He again attacked the Jacobins, in 1795 was elected a member of the Council of the Ancients, becoming president in 1797. When the Council was overthrown by the Jacobins Dupont was again imprisoned and his property confiscated. On his release in 1799 he emigrated with his family to America where he was received with great distinction. He es tablished a banking house in New York which failed within a few years because of the refusal of the French government to reimburse the firm for funds advanced. In 1802 Dupont returned to France, but did not a•.that tune take any political office, notwithstanding the offers made him by Napoleon. He was, however, instru mental in promoting the treaty of 1803 by which the United States purchased Louisiana and he was appointed one of the commissioners to ar range the formal transfer.. Later he became secretary of the Paris Chamber of Commerce, and in 1807 was appointed sub-librarian at the Arsenal. After Napoleon's first downfall in 1814 he became secretary of the provisional gov ernment that prepared the return of Louis XVIII, and after the restoration of the Bour bons he was again named councillor of state. After Napoleon's return from Elba, Dupont was again forced to flee, settling in the United States where his two sons had already become citizens. Besides his political treatises he is likewise the author of a French translation of the first three cantos of the 'Orlando Furioso.'