D'Argenson

D'Argenson, MARC PIERRE, COMTE, a celebrated French statesman, was born in 1696, the younger son of the Marquis d'Argenson (1652-1721) who created the secret police and established the lettres de cachet. After holding a number of inferior offices, he became war minister in 1743, at a time when the very political existence of France was imperilled, and by his vigour and lucky choice of generals changed the fortunes of the war in the course of a single year. After the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), he devoted himself to the improvement of the military system, and in 1751 established the École Militaire. He was an illustrious patron of literature. Diderot and D'Alembert dedicated to him their great Encyclopédie; and to Voltaire, whose fellow-student he had been, he furnished materials for his Siècle de Louis XIV. In 1757 he was banished to his estate by the machinations of Madame Pompadour; but on her death he returned to Paris, where he died in 1764.