Jacques Claude, comte de Beugnot
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Jacques Claude, comte de Beugnot (1761-June 24, 1835) was a French politician before, during, and after the French Revolution.
Born at Bar-sur-Aube, he served as a magistrate under the ancien régime, and was elected deputy to the Legislative Assembly (1791), then to the Convention. A Feuillant and later a Girondist, he was proscribed along with the Girondists and imprisoned until the coup of 9 Thermidor. He next entered into relations with the family of Bonaparte, and in 1799, after the coup of 18 Brumaire, again entered politics, becoming successively prefect of the lower Seine, councillor of state, and finance minister to Jerome Bonaparte, king of Westphalia.
In 1808 Beugnot, who had meanwhile been appointed administrator of the duchy of Berg-Cleves, received the cross of an officer of the Légion d'honneur with the title of count. He returned to France in 1813, after the battle of Leipzig, and was made prefect of the department of Nord. In 1814 he was a member of the provisional government as minister of the interior; Louis XVIII named him director-general of police and afterwards minister of marine. He followed Louis to Ghent during the Hundred Days, and became one of his confidants. He contributed to draw up Louis's charter, and in his memoirs boasted of having furnished the text of the proclamation addressed by the king to the French people before his return to France; but it is known now that it was another text that was adopted.
Lacking the support of the ultra-royalists, he was given the title of minister of state without portfolio, which was equivalent to a retirement. Elected deputy, he attached himself to the moderate party, and defended the liberty of the press. In 1831 Louis Philippe made him a peer of France and director-general of manufactures and commerce. He died on June 24, 1835.
His son Auguste Arthur Beugnot was an historian and scholar.