The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-03 00:00:00

THE LATE M. LAFFITTE.

The following biographical sketch of this excellent
man is drawn by one who knew him well, M. Odilon
Barrot

" The good actions of M. Laffitte, as a citizen and
man, are universally known in France. No person ever
showed more devotedness, or did more than he did for
' his country and for humanity. No man ever displayed
more firmness or more charity, or was m•bre prompt at
H useful and benevolent sacrifices. In 1815, when
the capital was invaded by foreign armies, Blucher,
with his Prussians, occupied the Hotel de Vile,
and, threatened to destroy the public buildings,
I if he did not on the instant receive a war contribution of
1300,000 f. The Municipal Council assembled, but there
Iwas no money in the public treasury. A subscription was
. opened by the authorities, who were present, but the
amount subscribed was much below that demanded by
Blucher. The embarrassment was great and urgent. M.
Laffitte having arrived at the Hotel de Vile, tore up
the subscription list, and wrote a cheque for the
' 300,000 E, which he paid from his own funds. In the
following year there was a cruel scarcity of provisions in
France, and it was nece.;sary to find relief for the poor of
Paris. Louis XVIIL, who had a civil list of 28,000,0001.
a year, subscribed for 20,000 f. ; M. .Laffitte gave
100,000 E At the same period, in a critical circumstance,
considering only his country, which he loved, and not
the Government, against which he was contending,
as one of the chiefs of the Opposition, he
came to the aid of the Minister of Finances,
I and sustained alone the public credit, although he ex-
posed himself to considerable loss. For twenty years
there was not a useful enterprise which M. affitte
did- not support with his purse, or a political under-
taking which he did wst sr.•.conA by his credit and
his means ; and yet his private charities were daily
and extensive. There was not an officer of., the old
army deprived of his pay, a trader embarrassed by the
difficulties of the times, a literary man waiting for the
fruits of his labours, nor even a political adversary,
who, if he addressed himself to M. Laffitte, or bad his
wants revealed by others, fitiled to receive the needed
support. Amongst the numerous persons whom he
served, the most celebrated names were -mingled
with the most obschre, who had no other recom-
mendation than their wants. Independently of the
large sums which M. Laffitte lent without interest in aid
of enterprises of industry, he also gave during the period
of the Restoration more than three millions. We state
this on the authority of the person who had no other
function in his bureaux than that of assisting him in the
immense work of benevolence which he had imposed
upon himself. It was by constantly renewed benefits,
by continual succour given with rare generosity and ex-
quisite delicacy, and by still more important sacrifices in
tine cause of liberty, that M. Laffitte expended a portion
of the fortune which he had so laboriously obtained.
Laffitte possessed in the highest degree all the virtues of
the private man. He was eminently just and upright—a
slave to his word—a sincere and devoted friend. He
took enjoyment in the soft affections and the tranquil
happiness of the family circle. There was in him a won-
derful mixture of simplicity and kindness of heart, with
grandeur of sentiments and ideas. As a man he was
affable, good, indulgent, and peaceable—as a citizen he
naturally rose in mind to the highest exigencies of
political life, proceeding with resolution in the most
difficult paths, and showing himself to be severe, courage-
ous, and inflexible in all things which he considered
to be required of him by the interests of his country and
of his public duties. As soon as seen he was found to
be agreeable, and, when more intimately known, was
beloved. His house was kept open for fifteen years with
all the eclat of luxury. He did honour to his fortune
in a noble and magnificent style, but never did these
enjoyments of his wealth change the inborn goodness
of his nature, or disturb his equanimity by vanity.
lie received with equal politeness personages of the
highest station and the humblest electors who
were in communion with his patriotic hopes.
Sprung from the working class, he never desired to
'separate from the people. In his fundamental and
never-varying principle, which was to be recognised
in the employment of his riches, as in every act
of his life without exception, was • to be discerned
his devoted love for his country, and his sympathy
with everything that was noble and grand.
At the time when his fortune was colossal, M.
Laffitte bad his daughter, his only- child, to marry.
She was sought by the richest capitalists and by the
greatest names in the circle of Court favour, but M.
Laffitte gave her to the son of the most illustrious
martyr of the restoration. The heroic conduct of M.
Laffitte in 1830 is well known. After having struggled
during fifteen years against tho excesses of the
Restoration, he was the most active and energetic
artisan of the Revolution of July. It was no exaggera-
tion when his hotel was called the head-quarters of the
Revolution. There, in fact, was decided under his imme-
diate and all-powerful influence the destinies of the
country. Thence issued the first movement towards a
re-organisation of government, after the
_popular victory
and the constitution of the new dynasty."
(From the Journal des Debats.)
M. Laffitte was born at Bayonne, in 1767. In 1788,
he entered the firm of M. Perragaux, banker, at Paris.
In 1804, 3L Perregaux chose him as his partner, his
successor, and testamentary executor. In .1809, M.
Laffitte was named Regent of the Bank of France, and
succeeded M. Dupont de Nemours as President of the
Chamber of Commerce at Paris. In 1813, he was
appointed a Judge of the Tribunal of Commerce of the
Seine, and in 1814 he replaced Count Jaubert as Gover-
nor of the Bank of France. Called, with MM. Delessert,
Hottinguer and Chaptal to the Chamber of Representa-
tives, as deputy of the commercial body, he never ap-
peared in the tribune. In 1816, M. Lafitte was electe I
deputy by the department of the Seine. In 1817 he was
re elected. He was again so in 1822, and up to 1830 he
always formed part of the Chamber. After the Revolu-
tion of July he successively filled the high functions of
President of the Chamber of Deputies, President of the
Council, and Minister of Finance. M. Laffitte was deputy
for Rotten."

THE FUNERAL OF M. LAFFITTE.
The funeral of M. Laffitte, which took place on Thursday,
brought together, as might be expected, an immense as-
semblage of the population of Paris. There were previously
several sinister rumours as to the intentions of the populace,
and such precautions were taken as made it almost impos-
sible that there could be any serious outbreak. The whole
of the National Guards, the immense garrison of Paris, and
the municipal guards, were all under arms ; and the num-
ber of troops on duty could not have amounted to less than
fifty thousand men, but all these precautions seemed unne-
cessary. Nothing appeared to be thought of, as far as ap-
pearances went, but the solemn ceremony which had drawn
so many people together, and the gratification of curiosity.
There was not the slightest disturbance or demonstration of
political feeling of any kind. Among those who formed part
of the procession there was an immense procession of the
mechanics of Paris, a deputation from the schools of law and
medicine, and a deputation of M. Laffitte's constituents at
Rouen. At ten o'clock the troops which were to form the
escort assembled in the Rue Laffitte and the neighbour-
ing boulevards, but it was past twelve o'clock before
the funeral procession left for the Church of St. Roch.
The procession was preceded by two squadrons of the cavalry
of the Municipal Guard, and by the 6th Regiment of Dra-
goons. After these came the 2d and 23d Regiments of In-
fantry, and the 2d Legion of the National Guards. The
hearse, drawn by four black horses, was guarded by two
companies of the Grenadiers of the National Guard. Imme-
diately after the hearse, the deputation of the Chamber of
Deputies, the Prince of Moskowa and the other members of
the family, and almost all the Members both of the Cham-
bers of Peers and Deputies, all on foot ; and these again
were followed by the deputation of the electors of Rouen, of
the schools of medicine and law, and of the mechanics, in
uniform. Then followed the friends of the deceased to the
number of thousands, the procession on foot alone extending
for more than a mile. The carriages followed. Three of the
King's carriages and the carriages of the Duchess of Orleans
and Duke of Nemours attended, besides twenty-four mourn-
ing carriages, and between three and four hundred private
carriages. The carriages of the Royal Family were escorted
by a squadron of the Municipal Guard and the 70th and 71st
Regiments of the Line. The whole of this immense proces-
sion was closed by a battalion of infantry, two battalions of
the National Guards, and a regiment of Hussars.
The procession passed along the boulevards, through the
Rue de la Paix, to the church of St. Roch, and then pro-
ceeded, after the religious ceremony, along the Rue St.
Honore, and through the Rue Richelieu back to the boule-
vards, and thence along the Boulevard Montmartre, &c., to
the cemetery of Pere la Chaise. Throughout the whole dis-
tance through which the procession passed, an immense as-
semblage was assembled, and all the shops were closed.
The religious ceremony at the church of St. Roch wasper-
formed by the Archbishop of Paris, and a funeral hymn
was sung by a choir composed of the principal musicians in
Paris, including all the performers of the Academie Royale
de Musique.

It was half-past two when the procession left the church
of St. Rod' for the cemetery of Pere la Chaise, the burying-
ground of the family, and it was near five when it reached
the burying-ground. The ceremony was not over when our
express left Paris, but it was understood that, according to
the usual custom in France, several speeches would be made
over the grave. M. Arago and M. Thiers were spoken of as
likely to be among the speakers. It was calculated that be-
tween those who took part in the procession, and the specta-
tors, there could not have been much less than half a million
of persons assembled. The weather was beautiful, and the
whole ceremony passed off without any disturbance or con-
fusion, beyond what must necessarily take place when the
whole population of a great capital assemble.
There is a national subscription to be opened immediately
to raise a monument to the memory of M. Laffitte.

CAUTION.— ouaeotn
a-
mercial gentleman
tmheee2tOtthileofeyl‘el of
passed ay,
forged cheque at an hotel in Liverpool, it is requested
CAUTION.--Should
who,this
on
that he will immediately return the money ; or the name,
with a description of his person, will be forthwith pub-
lished in the Hue and Cry.
CALEDONIAN ASYLUM.,On Friday the friends of
the Caledonian Asylum (the Hon. Sir George Rose in
the chair) presented the Rev. John Lees, M.A., with a
purse of a hundred sovereigns, and a piece of plate,
value one hundred guineas, bearing the following in-
scription :—" Presented to the Rev. John Lees, M.A.,
in pursuance of a resolution unanimously passed by a
public meeting of the guardians and friends of the Cale-
donian Asylum, held at the Freemason's Tavern, Lon-
don, on the 14th of April, 1844, as a lasting testimonial
of their respect for his character, and of their gratitude
for the paternal and unremitting kindness and zeal with
which, for a period of twenty-one years, he discharged
the duties of Superintendent and Secretary of that In-
stitution." Among the subscribers to this well-merited
testimonial were his Royal Highness the Duke of Cam-
bridge, Sir Augustus Frederick D'Este, his Grace the
Duke of Sutherland, his Grace the Duke of Richmond,
the Duke of Roxburgh, the Marquis of Bute, the Mar-
quis of Breadalbane, Lord James Stuart, M.P.-; Lochiel;
Chisholm ; Sir Charles Forbes, Bart. ; P. M. Stewart,
Esq., M.P. ; Colonel Hugh Baillie, M.P.,"James Ma-
theson, Esq., of Achany, &c.
THE LIBRARY OF THE LATE DU/LE. OF SUSSEX.
—lt is at length definitivelY arranged bytlie imecutors
of his late Royal Highness, that the collection of books
contained in the late Duke's library shall be submitted
to public competition. The sale will commence early in
June.