‎MORELLET, A.‎
‎Mémoire sur la situation actuelle de la Compagnie des Indes; par M. l'Abbé Morellet. Seconde édition. Se trouve à Paris, chez Desaint, 1769. With 1 engraved folding table. - (Followed by:) (NECKER, J.) Réponse au Mémoire de M. l'Abbé Morellet, sur la Compagnie des Indes, Imprimèe en exécution de la Délibération de M.rs les Actionnaires, prise dans l'Assemblée générale du 8 Août 1769. A Paris, De l'Imprimerie Royale, 1769. - (Followed by:) (MORELLET, A.) Examen de la réponse de M. N** au mémoire de M. l'Abbé Morellet, sur la Compagnie des Indes; par l'Auteur du Mémoire. Septembre 1769.‎

‎Se trouve à Paris, Chez Desaint, 1769. Three volumes. [2], 260, xxvi, [2] pp.; [2], 50 pp.; [4], 151, [1] pp. 4to. Contemporary marbled paper covers, a bit worn, an uncut copy. First work: Kress 6662; Einaudi 4023; Higgs 4700n; INED 3306; Goldsmiths' 10546; Sabin 50596. Second, enlarged and best edition of the work, first published in the same year. "This controversy took place when the affairs of the French East India Company were in the most disordered state possible. Morellet, who contended for the abolition of the Company and the opening of the trade, had a decided advantage over his oponent (Necker), who appeared as the defender of the Company. The controversy was terminated by government adopting the suggestions of Morellet. The latter, indeed, had been invited to write his first Mémoire by M. d'Invaux, then Comptroller-general; and on the accession of Turgot to the ministry, he received a pension of 2000 livres a year for his services on this occasion" (McCulloch, p. 114-115).Morellet, by conviction a persistent supporter of free trade, here gives a succint history of the Compagnie des Indes and shows how the directors were benefitting to the detriment of the state. The privileges of the Compagnie des Indes were suspended on August 13, 1769.The supplementary xxvi pages at the end contain various texts further documenting Morellet's arguments, among which a text by Gournay, covering the pages x-xxvi and which is entitled: "Observations sur le rapport fait à M. le Contrôleur-Général, par M. de S*** le 26 juin 1755, sur l'état de le Compagnie des Indes; par feu M. de Gournay, Intendant du Commerce."Second work: Kress 6665; INED 3370; Higgs 4701; Sabin 52216; McCulloch, p. 114-115; not in Einaudi; not in Goldsmiths'.First edition.Necker replied to Morellet's Mémoire with the present work in August 1769 pointing out that the Compagnie was an institution created by the state, for state interests rather than for the interests of the stockholders. The state, after the reorganization of 1725, completely dominated its operations. Funds granted by the king to the company were neither controlled by the stockholders nor granted for their particular interest. These funds were used for the goals of the state, either for warfare or for expenditures that were properly those of the sovereign, not of a commercial company. Necker furthermore argued that the company's commerce in the Indies had always been profitable except during the Seven Years' War.Third work: Kress 6660; Einaudi 4021; Higgs 4702; INED 3300; Goldsmiths' 10543; Sabin 50595.First edition.Morellet's response to Necker. Morellet was in no doubt employed to make out a particular case (see the note to the first text), but in none of the contemporary replies to his pamphlet is any serious argument found to discredit his chief facts: that a commercial company which is not self-supporting ought to be abandoned and that there are more important uses to which the public revenue can be put than in maintaining a company which is bankrupt if left to itself (see: Cambridge Modern History, vol. vi, pp. 549-550).Loosely added to these three volumes:ARRET du Conseil d'État du Roi, Concernant le Commerce de l'Inde. Du 13 août 1769. Paris, De l'Imprimerie Royale, 1769. 4 pp. 4to. Disbound.This is the original edition of the important royal edict terminating the activities of the Compagnie des Indes (see note to the first work)EXAMEN des décisions de M. l'Abbé Morelet (sic), sur les trois Questions importantes qui sont le sujet de son Mémoire. No place, no date. 40 pp. 4to. Side-stitched, uncut.Conlon 69:224.Anonymous text strongly refuting the opinions of Morellet.Very nice and good volumes, rather large with ample margins (270 x 220 mm.) ‎

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