Editing Pierre Louis Roederer (section)

==Biography==

===Early activities===
Born in [[Metz]], the son of a magistrate, he studied law at the [[University of Strasbourg]], and, at the age of twenty-five, became councillor at the ''[[parlement]]'' of Metz (in exchange for 32,000 ''[[French livre|livres]]''), and was commissioned in 1787 to draw up a list of remonstrances. During the period, he became an admirer of the economist [[Adam Smith]], and helped make his works known in France. His 1787 work ''Suppression des douanes intérieures'' advocated the suppression of [[Duty (economics)|internal customs houses]]; the 1911 ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' describes it as "an elaborate treatise on the laws of commerce and on the theory of customs imposts".

On the proposition of Roederer, in 1787, the Royal Society of Science and Arts of Metz offered a prize for the best essay in answer to the question: "What are the best means to make the Jews happier and more useful in France?". [[Abbé Gregoire]] was one of three laureates with his Essay on the physical, moral and political regeneration of the Jews. It was the first step towards their emancipation, which was always defended by Roederer.

In 1788 he published the boldly [[Liberalism|liberal]] [[pamphlet]] ''Députation aux États généraux'' ("Deputation to the [[Estates-General of 1789|Estates-General]]"). Partly on the strength of this he was elected deputy to the Estates-General by the [[Estates of the realm|Third Estate]] of the [[bailliage]] of Metz. Although not present at the event of June 1789, Roederer was sketched by [[Jacques-Louis David]] into his drawing of the ''[[Tennis Court Oath]]''.

In the [[National Constituent Assembly (France)|National Constituent Assembly]], Roederer was a member of the committee of [[tax]]es (''comité des contributions''), prepared a scheme for a new system of taxation, drew up a law on [[patent]]s, occupied himself with the laws relating to [[revenue stamp]]s and ''[[assignat]]s'', and was successful in opposing the introduction of an [[income tax]].

===Paris Directory and hiding===
After the close of the Constituent Assembly, he was elected, on 11 November 1791, ''[[Syndic|procureur général syndic]]'' of the ''[[Department in France|département]]'' of [[Paris]]. The directory of the ''département'', of which the [[Louis Alexandre de La Rochefoucauld d'Enville|Duc de la Rochefoucauld d'Enville]] was president, was at this time in pronounced opposition to the radical views that dominated the [[Legislative Assembly (France)|Legislative Assembly]] and the [[Jacobin Club]], and Roederer was not altogether in touch with his colleagues. For example, he took no share in signing their protest against the law against the [[Civil Constitution of the Clergy|non-juring]] clergy as a violation of religious liberty.

But the directory did not long survive: with the growing revolutionary opposition in the capital, many of its members resigned and fled, and their places could not be filled. Roederer himself left in his ''Chronique des cinquante jours'' ("Chronicle of fifty days", 1832) an account of the pitiable part played by the directory of the ''département'' in the critical period between the failed insurrection of 20 June 1792 and the [[10th of August (French Revolution)|successful insurrection of 10 August]].

Seeing the perilous drift of things, he had tried to get into touch with [[List of French monarchs|King]] [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]], and it was on his advice that the latter took refuge in the Assembly on the same 10 August. Roederer himself fell under suspicion and went into hiding during the [[Reign of Terror]], emerging again only after the fall of [[Maximilien Robespierre]] and the start of the [[Thermidorian Reaction]].

===Consulate, Empire, and later life===
[[Image:Armoiries Roederer.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Arms of Roederer]]
In 1796, he was made a member of the [[Académie française]], was appointed to a professorship of [[political economy]], and founded the ''Journal d'économie publique, de morale et de legislation''. Having escaped deportation at the time of the ''[[coup d'état]]'' of [[French Directory#Rise of the royalists and coup d'état (1797)|18 Fructidor]], he took part in organizing [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon Bonaparte]]'s [[18 Brumaire|18 Brumaire Coup]]—alongside [[Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès]], [[Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord|Charles Maurice de Talleyrand]], [[Michel-Louis-Étienne Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angély|Saint-Jean d'Angély]], and [[Constantin-François de Chassebœuf, Comte de Volney|Count Volnay]]—and wrote the ''Adresse aux Parisiens'' (Napoleon's speech to the people of Paris, given immediately after the coup).

He was appointed by Napoleon member of the [[Council of State (France)|council of state]] and [[French Senate|senator]]. Roederer and Talleyrand contributed to [[Charles-François Lebrun, duc de Plaisance|Charles-François Lebrun]]'s rise past Sieyès, and the former's appointment as [[French Consulate|Consul]]. In 1800, Roederer was [[Diplomatic rank|Minister Plenipotentiary]] to the [[Batavian Republic|Batavian]] and [[Helvetic Republic]]s. He received the [[Legion of Honor]] in 1803, and was made a ''Grand Officier'' in December 1807.

Under the [[First French Empire|Empire]], Roederer, whose public influence was very considerable, was [[Joseph Bonaparte]]'s minister of finance in the [[Kingdom of Naples]] (1806), assistant of Joseph in [[Spain]] (1809), administrator of the [[Grand Duchy of Berg]] (1810), and imperial commissary in the south of France. During the [[Hundred Days]] he was created a [[Peerage of France|Peer of France]].

The [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon Restoration]] government stripped him of his offices and dignities, and he became mayor of [[La Ferté-sous-Jouarre]] in April 1816. He recovered the title of Peer in 1832, following the [[July Revolution]] of 1830. He died in [[Bursard]], [[Orne]].