Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Imfreville-Baudry, Louis, Comte d'

IMFREVILLE-BAUDRY, Louis, Comte d' (am-fray-veel'), French administrator, b. in Fort Royal, Martinique, in 1731 ; d. there in 1780. He entered the colonial administration in 1750, held several offices in Santo Domingo, Guadeloupe, and Martinique, and in 1762 was appointed lieutenant of the king at Fort Royal. After the treaty of Paris in 1763. the French government resolved to compensate the loss of Canada by improving the colonies of Guiana and the West Indies. Count d'Imfreville was asked to report on the best means to promote emigration from France to those countries, and was appointed commissioner and charged with the establishment in Guiana of 7,000 colonists, principally from Alsace. But the scheme of the colonial administration was not a practica- ble one, and the commissioner demanded permis- sion to deal with the emigrants as he thought fit. This was denied, and he resigned, returning to Fort de France to resume his old office in 1764. The new " France equinoxiale " in Cayenne proved a failure, the greater part of the emigrants re- turned home, but a few went to Martinique under the direction of Count d'Imfreville, where they settled and contributed to the prosperity of the colony. Imfreville built a magnificent court-house in Fort de France, and devoted his great wealth to the benefit of the people, establishing, at his own expense, a botanical garden and founding a hospi- tal for disabled sailors. He published many works on agriculture and history, including " Memoire k sa majeste tres Chretienne sur la colonisation de la Guyane " (1763) ; " Du regime interieur des es- claves aux Antilles francaises " (Fort de France, 1767); "Statistique historique de la Martinique" (3 vols., 1769) ; and " De la fabrication du sucre aux colonies" (1776), which is yet a guide of the agri- culturist in French West Indies.