Achille Fould

Achille Marcus Fould (17 November 18005 October 1867) was a French financier and politician who was four times minister of finance between 1849 and 1867. A major figure of the Second French Empire, his politics have been described as "conservative by instinct, liberal by reflection." In 1863, he had another holiday house erected in Vichy, later known as the chalet des roses.

Fould converted to Protestantism in 1858. Following his death in his Tarbes property,

In 1839, Fould entered politics and was elected a in the department of the Hautes-Pyrénées. In 1842, he was elected as a deputy of Hautes-Pyrénées. During subsequent years, he worked in the Chamber of Deputies on economic and fiscal matters. He re-entered the National Assembly on as deputy of the Seine Department. Despite his past associations with the Orleanists, he moved gradually closer politically to Louis Napoleon, who made him minister of finance on . During the second half of the 1850s, Fould's wife Henriette used the in Saint-Germain-en-Laye and had it remodeled.

Fould resigned again in November 1860 in protest against Napoleon III's policy announcements which entailed spending which he viewed as imprudent, and retired to his adoptive hometown of Tarbes. From there, he campaigned in favor of greater fiscal discipline. As France was losing the trust of financial markets, Napoleon III eventually reversed course and expressed approval of Fould's views. Fould thus could come back as finance minister on , succeeding his rival Pierre Magne whom he blamed for excessive laxity. The return of market confidence was crystallized in Napoleon III's visit to James de Rothschild at the latter's Château de Ferrières on , which Fould orchestrated. Fould then reduced the floating debt by negotiating a loan of 300 million francs (1863).

In view of the regime's sagging popularity at home and growing challenges abroad, the Emperor grew dissatisfied with Fould's fiscal straitjacket and clashed with his finance minister in late 1866. Eventually Napoleon III made Fould resign in January 1867; he was succeeded by stalwart politician Eugène Rouher. Fould spent a few months traveling then again retired to Tarbes, where he died unexpectedly on .

Honors

Achille Fould was made a chevalier in the Legion of Honour in 1848, officier in 1850, commandeur in late 1851, grand officier in 1854, and eventually grand croix, the highest rank, in 1856.

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