Description
Book SynopsisThis book uncovers the complex interconnections between politics and finance in the midst of the French Revolution. Charting the trajectories of members of the financial elite between London, Paris and Amsterdam, this study reveals the ever-shifting relationship between market actors and the political world.
The French Revolution paved the way for bankers, especially those working in international finance, to occupy a new position within not only the economic framework of the time but also on the political stage. The profession of banker went through a series of transitions in its relationship with the political authorities. These changes affecting the social, economic and political status of bankers led to increasingly active interactions between politics and finance that have become a feature of our modern societies.
Using a transnational and interdisciplinary approach, this book highlights how during the Age of Revolution there emerged a dynamic which is still present today: the financial world and the sphere of politics became strongly intermixed while actors from both sides made efforts to overpower their counterparts. In this way, it provides an ideal perspective for bridging the gap that has long separated economic from cultural history in the study of the French Revolution.
Trade Review‘In this much needed transnational history of banking and finance in the age of revolutions, Valmori offers countless new insights into individual decisions, everyday practices, government policies, crises of credit, diplomatic intrigues, and not least the making of war and peace. The author’s aptly targeted studies of different kinds of archives and documents will provoke discussion for years to come.’ Lynn Hunt, author of History: Why It Matters
‘This wide-ranging and carefully written book shows how late eighteenth-century bankers in London, Amsterdam and Paris networked their way around wars and revolution to become the “embedded” partners of the modern imperial state. It also shows how states learned, sometimes the hard way, that financial markets require a certain degree of autonomy. Valmori’s illuminating account reminds us that the vexed yet interdependent relationship between financial capitalism and nation-states, so visible in recent times, has its origins in the age of democratic revolution.’ Charles Walton, co-editor of Social Rights and the Politics of Obligation in History
Table of ContentsACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER ONE
THE INVISIBLE HANDS: MERCHANTS AND BANKERS IN PARIS AND LONDON AT THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
1.1 Financial institutions and stock markets between Britain, France and The Netherlands
1.2 A fluid world: merchants and bankers in eighteenth-century Britain and France
1.3 ‘Improve your writing’: becoming a banker in the eighteenth century. The case of Alexander Baring and his traineeship at the Dutch bank Hope & Co.
1.4 The internal life of an eighteenth-century bank: clerks and partners at Hoare & Co.
CHAPTER TWO
THE POLITICISATION OF FINANCE: THE ENGLISH FINANCIAL WORLD IN THE MIDST OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WARS, 1796-1800
2.1 Fighting over the public debt: Thomas Paine’s The Decline and Fall of the English System of Finance
2.2 The engagement of bankers during war: Francis Baring and Robert Barclay at the end of the eighteenth century
CHAPTER THREE
A HISTORY OF UNCHALLENGED DISTRUST: FRENCH PUBLIC OPINION AND BANKERS, 1789-1799
3.1 The debate on the creation of a French national bank: old suspects and new fears in 1789
3.2 A new role for financial interests in France? Pierre-Louis Roederer and the ‘normalisation’ of finance within French society
CHAPTER FOUR
BETWEEN RISK AND COLLABORATION: FINANCIAL AND POLITICAL ELITES DURING REVOLUTION AND WAR, 1792-1805 160
4.1 When war changes the rules: the unfortunate trade of James Bourdieu with France
4.2 Unravelling relations: bankers and politicians during the 1797 credit crisis
4.3 Old commercial practices in revolutionary times: the bank Hogguer & Co. and the evaluation of counterparties’ risk
CHAPTER FIVE
INVESTING IN A NEW MARKET DURING THE AGE OF REVOLUTION: EUROPEAN BANKERS AND THE NEW WORLD, 1783-1803
5.1 Between expectations and failures: European investments in the US market in the last quarter of the eighteenth century
5.2 Bracing for the big leap: the houses of Baring and Hope at the eve of their investments in the United States of America
5.3 A fateful journey: Alexander Baring’s discovery of the United States of America
CHAPTER SIX
EXTENDING NETWORKS IN WAR AND PEACE: CREDIT AND TRUST IN UNCERTAIN TIMES, 1801–1813
6.1 Diamonds in Paris: global trade and international finance during the Amiens peace, 1802-1803
6.2 Brokering in times of war: the role of Hope and Baring in the Louisiana Purchase
6.3 Raising money in times of war: the case of Ouvrard under the Napoleonic Empire
CHAPTER SEVEN
INTERLOCKING INTERESTS: BANKERS AND POLITICIANS IN ENGLAND, 1789-1810
7.1 A history of collaborative relations: Sir Francis Baring and the British government
7.2 Private banking and politics in times of war: the dialogue of interest between bankers and the Pitt Cabinet
CHAPTER EIGHT
CONSTRAINT AND AUTONOMY: FINANCE AND POLITICS FROM THE NAPOLEONIC EMPIRE TO THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA, 1800-1815
8.1 The impossible autonomy: the thorny relationship between the Banque de France and Napoleon, 1800-1806
8.2 Beyond repression: understanding the Paris financial market through police reports
8.3 The Dutch connection: investing in the Parisian market during the Napoleonic period
CONCLUSION
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