The Shareholders' Revolt at the Compagnie des Indes: Commerce and Political Culture in Old Regime France

During the 1760s a fierce political struggle developed betweenthe shareholders and the royal ministry over the administrationand continued operations of the Compagnie des Indes. Portrayingthemselves as members of a self-governing commercial republic,the shareholders insisted that ultimate authority rested withtheir assembly and accused the ministry of despotic interferencein company affairs. The ministry, concerned with the financialstability of the company, employed the abbé Morelletto shift the debate from the rights of the shareholders to theadvantages of commercial liberty over the company’s privilegedtrading monopoly. Although the ministry succeeded in endingthe commercial operations of the Compagnie des Indes, the affairhad taken place in the public sphere where the publicist Pidansatde Mairobert and the financier Jacques Necker, among others,extolled the patriotism of the shareholders, condemned the despotismof the ministry, and insisted upon the importance of the companyto France’s international presence. By including an accountof the shareholders’ meetings in his anti-Maupeou publicationsof the 1770s, Mairobert linked the affair to the infamous Maupeoureforms, thereby broadening the patriot attack on ministerialgovernment.