Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 35. (1982)
LY-TIO-FANE, Madeleine: Contacts between Schönbrunn and the Jardin du Roi at Isle de France (Mauritius) in the 18th Century. An Episode in the Career of Nicolas Thomas Baudin
102 Madeleine Ly-Tio-Fane m’ayant prévenu que la guerre qu’avoit Joseph II l’empéchoit de faire d’autres dé- penses ä ce sujet, de sorte que je ne sais pas ce qu’est devenu ce bon serviteur al- lemand et sa riche collection’4S). It was from St. Pierre, Martinique, that Baudin addressed to Cobenzl a plan (‘Mémoire’) designed to revive the prosperity of the Imperial Company for Asia and Africa. He may have had in St. Pierre the echoes of the decree abolishing the monopoly of the French East India Company in April 1790. Considering the debt which the Imperial Company owed the Co-Hong, he reflected that the Chinese had shown great tolerance, but that the merchants were running the risks of confiscation. In consequence, he advised that no passports should be issued until the ^Emperor had despatched to China commissioners invested with powers to effect a settlement. Such a mission would also provide an opportunity of showing the imperial flag in the Indian seas. The peoples of Asia were impressed by pomp and circumstance, and as a result greater respect would be shown to imperial ships in these regions. He naturally hoped that the mission would be entrusted to him with the command of a ship of the line and of a frigate. There were powers in Europe willing to cede the ships on advantageous conditions (Venice, by the way, was an excellent base for the expedition) and the Emperor would only have to provide funds for fitting out the ships for the journey, the expenses being estimated at 100 000 florins. It is to be noted that besides the staff and crew, two officers and 75 men of the infantry were to be on board. Once the mission had been accomplished, a return cargo could be loaded on the ships for Europe. This document and the covering letter allow us to follow the fortunes of Baudin from the close of his auspicious visit to Vienna in 1788. In Trieste he must have acquired ‘La Jardiniére’ I which was loaded with goods for a trip to China and beyond. In the course of 1789 he must have reached Macao where he learnt of the difficulties of the Imperial Company with the Hanist merchants. Leaving the ship to the command of his second captain, he went to Canton for more precise information. ‘La Jardiniere’ foundered on Asuncion Island in the Marianas late in 1789; the locality indicates that she was bound on a pioneering mercantile venture, as well as the magnitude of Baudin’s schemes. Returning to Isle de France from Canton, Baudin sold his estates to buy and fit out ‘La Jardiniére’ II to convey Scholl to Trieste; she was lost in the harbour in December 178946). It is fascinating to watch the transformation of the ‘grand design’, from the one sketched by Céré for Boos in March 1788 in the pursuit of natural history, to that of March 1791 in the 45) Céré to Macé, 15th September 1791: Collection of the Royal Society of Arts & Sciences of Mauritius, Céré’s file. Vide also Banks correspondence British Library London Add. mss. 8097 328-330, 413-414; 8098 64. 46) Baudin to Cobenzl and Baudin’s ‘Mémoire’ to Cobenzl, 16th March 1791: HHStA Wien Staatenabteilungen Ostindische Kompagnie 7, Konv. C fol. 12, 15r-18r, 21r.
