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Jacques-Claude-Marie Vincent, Seigneur de Gournay, 1712-1759.
French Enlightenment official and influential anti-Mercantilist free trade liberal.
Although Vincent de Gournay did not really write anything beyond translations and letters, his personal influence on Enlightenment economists in general -- and the Physiocrats in particular -- have secured him a place in the history of economics.
He was born Jacques-Claude Vincent in Saint-Malo, Brittany, son of a prominent local businessman. At the age of 17, his father sent him, on his own reconnaissance, to Cadiz, Spain to learn the art of commerce. The serious-minded boy applied himself conscientiously to his trade and, in his spare time, devoured contemporary tracts on political economy. He was particularly entranced by the works of the English Mercantilist Josiah Child (whom he later translated) and memoirs of the Dutch statesman, Jan de Witt. Gournay was also aware of Cantillon's as-yet-unpublished Essai.
In 1744, Gournay left Cadiz and took a trip across Europe, partly on business, but also to learn more about the the state of commerce and administrative practices of other countries. The great commercial nations - Hamburg, Holland, England - were all on his itinerary. While in France, he made the acquaintance of Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux (Count of Maurepas), the secretary of state for the Navy and the King's Household. For the remainder of his journey, Gournay reported back to the French minister his observations.
In 1746, a close friend and business partner Jamet de Villebarre, died and, having no family, left Jacques-Claude Vincent his entire estate. Included, in this unforeseen inheritance were lands in the region called "Gournay" in France (thus, after ennoblement, his surname would become "Vincent de Gournay"; note: Schelle points out his noble title was 'Marquis de Gournay', but Turgot reports it merely as Seigneur de Gournay). It was a nice region and the fortune was not insubstantial, so Vincent de Gournay decided to cut short his trip and settled down in France in 1748. However, not wishing to see such a talented man idle, the Count of Maurepas convinced him to enter public service. Vincent de Gournay became a counciller in the Grand Conseil (a type of arbitration court in Paris) in 1749 and married around the same time.
The Count of Maurepas fell in disgrace in 1749, after writing a frivolous epigram about the powerful Madame de Pompadour. But Gournay soon found a new patron in Machault d'Arnouville, his boss at the Grand Conseil, and contrôleur général (minister of finance). In 1751, with d'Arnouville's support, Vincent de Gournay secured appointment as royal intendant of commerce. This was a purchased office which has been estimated to have cost some 200,000 livres to acquire, and yielded an income of some 12,500 livres per year. Gournay had to pay for offices, staff and expenses out of his own pocket. Gournay took to his job zealously. An ardent free trader, Gournay railed against the internal and external restrictions on commerce in France, comparing them unfavorably with the more liberal regimes in England and Holland.
[Note: Machault d'Arnouville was a close friend of René de Voyer, Marquis d'Argenson, a free trade liberal, now retired from government. D'Argenson reports a meeting in 1755, characterizing Gournay as sharing his own views on the freedom of commerce "to the furthest extent" and "applying himself marvelously"]
In 1755-6, Gournay took the young Jacques Turgot with him on his official travels across France and impressed on him his views on commerce and economic policy and introduced him to the literature on political economy. There is no doubt that Gournay was the single most important influence upon Turgot -- and the future great economist would later write a beautiful eulogy to his fallen mentor.
In his campaign to press for the lifting of restrictions, Vicente de Gournay adopted the maxim "laissez-faire, laissez-passer" ("let do, let pass), to which the flourish "le monde va de lui-même", ("the world goes on by itself") is sometimes added. Turgot suggests Gournay adopted it from a story (originally told in print by d'Argenson in 1751, but probably already circulating beforehand) relating to a meeting c.1680 between the great French minister Colbert and a monsieur Le Gendre, the leader of a delegation of merchants. When Colbert asked what the French state could do for the great merchants, Le Gendre simply replied "laissez-nous faire" ("let us be"). Although it is almost certain d'Argenson originated the laissez-faire maxim, it was Gournay's adoption and use of it that gave it its vogue, and as such the slogan became inextricably associated with Gournay thereafter.
In 1758, Vincent de Gournay tendered his resignation as intendant, ostensibly to focus attention on his private businesses, which had been neglected during his bureaucratic period and had begun to flounder. It is also possible that he was a pressured to resign by his ministerial masters, as a result of his liberal agitation and attacks on economic privileges. Refusing offers of court positions, Gournay only requested permission to retain the title of honorary intendant, to allow him continued entry into the bureau of commerce. The Marquis de Silhouette, who became contrôleur-générale in 1759, knowing the measure of the man, invited Gournay to attend his weekly conferences with his intendants and tried to lure him into accepting an official position as a royal commissioner. But Vincent de Gournay fell ill in 1759 before he could take it up. He died after a prolonged illness around the age of 47, the date of which is sometimes unclear [the obituary in the Aug 1759 issue Mercure, clearly states the death date is 27 June 1759, but for some reason it is sometimes cited as 1760].
DuPont du Nemours (1767) regarded Gournay, jointly with Quesnay, as the "father" of French economics. However close their policy positions might have been, in truth, Gournay held none of the agrarian-centric views of Quesnay or his Physiocratic sect. Gournay's belief in laissez-faire came from the commercial point of view.
Dupont de Nemours (note in Ouevres of Turgot p.260) has offered up the following list of the members of Gournay's "school":
- (1) Chrétien Lamoignon de Malesherbes, prominent statesman, sponsor of Enlightenment philosophes, who later served alongside Turgot in the 1774-76 laissez-faire ministry,
- (2) Claude Jacques Herbert, writer of an influential 1753 tract on the grain trade;
- (3) Trudaine de Montigny, son and successor of the celebrated state civil engineer,
- (4) Maynon d'Ynvau (or d'Invault), briefly French finance minister (contrôleur général) in 1768-69 under Choiseul;
- (5) Raymond Cucé,de Boisgelin, archbishop of Aix and future cardinal, a leading liberal figure in the high clergy,
- (6) Champion de Cicé, archbishop of Bordeaux,
- (7) Plumart d'Anguel, author of a celebrated 1754 comparative study on English & French economic policy
and, finally, by remote connection,
To this list, Posselt adds:
More credibly, Schelle adds:
- (13) Butel-Dumont (Gournay's collaborator in the Child translation),
- (14) the great economist Jacques Turgot (Dupont claims Turgot own position was "in between" Gournay and the Physiocrats; but if Gournay ever had a true heir, Turgot would probably have been it);
- (15) the Abbé Morellet
- (16) the Abbé Roubaud
- (15) the Abbé Coyer (who endeavoured to dismantle noble prejudices against commerce),
- (16) Simon Clicquot-Bervache (a disciple proper, who wrote an essay or two at Gournay's direction, but abandoned his writing to take up the position of inspector of manufacturers - a position Gournay had tried to get abolished!),
- (17) Montaudan de la Touche (who assisted Gournay's early efforts in Brittany, and attacked the narrowness of the Physiocratic doctrines later).
We could add to this list (18) Pierre Louis Abeille, who collaborated with Gournay in setting up the Société d'Agriculture de Bretagne, and wrote a Corps d'observation on the state of the Breton economy under the direction of Gournay. However, Abeille would soon become an ardent disciple of Quesnay.
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Major Works of Vincent de Gournay There are no extant works of Gournay. Contemporaries report he left numerous letters and memoirs, but most have yet to surface. The following is all that is known (f. Schelle)
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Resources on Vincent de Gournay
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