Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Malouet, Pierre Victor, Baron

MALOUET, Pierre Victor, Baron (mal-way), French statesman, b. in Riom, France, in 1740; d. in Paris, 7 Sept., 1814. After holding various diplomatic appointments, he was sent to Rochefort in 1763, where he took an active part in the scheme for establishing colonies in Guiana. In 1767 he was named sub-commissioner of St. Domingo, and he became commissioner in 1769. During the subsequent five years, while he remained in the island, he collected the materials for the memoirs that he afterward published on the administration of the French colonies in America. Shortly after his return to France, in 1776, he was sent to Cayenne as governor-general, and took steps to reform the administration there and increase the number of colonists. He did not remain long enough to give full effect to his plans, yet the colony prospered greatly under his rule, and he is still considered as one of its chief benefactors. He returned to France in 1779, and was afterward a supporter of the liberal Royalist party. Among his works are “Mémoire sur l'esclavage des negres dans les possessions françaises” (Paris, 1788); “Examen de cette question: Quel sera pour les colonies de l'Amerique le resultat de la revolution française?” (London, 1797); “Mémoires et correspondances officielles sur l'administration des colonies, et notamment sur la Guyane” (5 vols., Paris, 1802).