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

Contacts between Schönbrunn and the Jardin du Roi 103 pursuit of trade expansion, an ambivalence characteristic of the transactions under study. Such is the genesis of the ill-fated voyage of ‘La Jardiniére’ III. In September 1791, Baudin back in Vienna, started petitioning Cobenzl who was reluctant to respond. Especially troubled by his unwillingness to take a decision about the debt contracted in Martinique, Baudin referred to the moral obligations which the Court had towards him: *... si tous les efforts que j’ai fait pour me rendre agréable ä S. M. et utile au Gouvernement, ne procurent les moyens de servir l’Etat avec plus de succés, et tout au moins les facilités nécessaires pour obtenir le remboursement de ce qui m’est dü, tant pour S. M. l’Empereur Joseph que pour 1’administration actuelle, pour le nouveau voyage que je dois faire . . .’ The proposals he had to make concerning this journey were that he would assume all expenses provided the Emperor guaranteed 40 000 florins for the freight (Scholl’s collections) and granted the passports and commissions necessary for the journey. In the private document sent to Cobenzl, it is stated that this sum was to be paid on the ship’s departure from Trieste. However in the official submission dated 29th December 1791 whereby he pledges ‘de fréter et noliser sa frégate “La Jardiniére” du port de 600 tonneaux pour le service auguste de S. M. Imperiale et Royale, ä l’effet de ramener ä Trieste le S. Scholl, jar- dinier de S. M., avec la collection de plantes et autres curiosités naturelles qu’il a ras- semblées et pourra rassembler dans l’intervalle au Cap de Bonne Espérance et ä l’Isle de France’, it is stipulated that this sum was to be paid on the return to Trieste47). Ap­parently Baudin needed this caution to clinch the negotiations which he had engaged with rich Geneose merchants attracted by his proposals of trade in the Eastern seas. In conformity with the reflections he had developed in his memorandum on the China trade, he asked for a commission giving him the rank of post cap­tain - equivalent to the grade of colonel in the army - and the privilege for him and his senior officers, seven in number, to wear the requisite uniform. A note, dated 4th January 1792, of the Hofkriegsrat rules that it was possible to grant such a privilege to a foreigner for the time his particular mission lasted. But for quite some time Baudin had been acting as a subject of the Emperor, and a previous note confirms the fact, describing him as a naturalized subject48). Baudin declared in a subsequent document49) that 47) Baudin to Cobenzl, 20th September 1791: ibid. fol. 60r-61v; Baudin’s proposals to the Emperor, November and December 1791: ibid. fol. 62r-65v, 68r; official sub­mission: ibid. fol. 70r—v. Memoir of Pietro Paolo Celesia of 30th August 1792: HHStA Wien Staatenabteilungen Spanien 154 fol. 135r-136r. 4S) Kriegsarchiv Wien Hofkriegsrat 1791-3-2377 of 23rd December and 30th De­cember 1791; 1792-35—4 and 9 of 4th January 1792. 49) Summary of an undated letter written by Baudin. In all probability this letter accompanied the documents he submitted to Truguet, Minister of Marine, in December 1795 and January 1796: Archives Nationales Vincennes Marine CC7 126 no 52.

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