Jean-Baptiste Teste (20 October 1780, in

Bagnols-sur-Cèze Bagnols-sur-Cèze (, "Bagnols-on-Cèze"; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania Regions of France, region in Southern France. History A small regiona ...

Gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;Chaillot, now in Paris) was a French politician of the

July Monarchy The July Monarchy (), officially the ''Kingdom of France'' (), was a liberalism, liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 9 August 1830, after the revolutionary victory of the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 26 Februar ...

. He fell from grace in the Teste- Cubières scandal.

Life

Early life

The son of Antoine Teste, lawyer to the Parliament of Provence, and of his wife Élisabeth Boyer, Jean-Baptiste Teste studied under the Joséphites in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. He distinguished himself early in his education, according to Joseph Marie Portalis, in the " Demosthenic forms" of his oratorical debut (noted by others for his elocution difficulties).

Legal career

He was received as a lawyer in Paris and at first enrolled at the Paris bar, where he pleaded successfully several times, before returning to set up as a lawyer in

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Located between the Med ...

. Acquiring a great reputation in Nîmes, during the

Hundred Days The Hundred Days ( ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition (), marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII o ...

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

made him Lyon's police chief. He was elected on 17 May 1815 as deputy to the Hundred Days Chamber for

Gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;Second Restoration, he sought refuge in

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

, where he again practiced as a lawyer until being expelled and forbidden to return for 22 months after defending the anti-Russian and anti-Austrian journal ''Le Mercure surveillant''. During that time he tried to set up again in Paris, but failed since he was refused entry to the Paris bar, and thus after the 22 months stayed on practising in Liège until 1830, building up a large client base. King

William I of the Netherlands William I (Willem Frederik; 24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843) was King of the Netherlands and List of monarchs of Luxembourg, Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1815 until his abdication in 1840. Born as the son of William V, Prince of Orange, ...

charged him with managing the royal lands and estates. He also pleaded for the

house of Orléans The 4th House of Orléans (), sometimes called the House of Bourbon-Orléans () to distinguish it, is the fourth holder of a surname previously used by several branches of the House of France, Royal House of France, all descended in the legitimat ...

in a trial with the Rohans about the duchy of Bouillon, merged into the kingdom of the Netherlands in 1814. It was during that trial that he met André Dupin (''Dupin aîné''), lawyer to the house of Orléans. He was able to return to Paris and re-enrol at the Paris bar after the

July Revolution The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution (), Second French Revolution, or ("Three Glorious ays), was a second French Revolution after French Revolution, the first of 1789–99. It led to the overthrow of King Cha ...

, and soon came to reach the top jobs such as lawyer to the royal lands and to the treasury.

Political career

In the general elections of 5 July 1831, Jean-Baptiste Teste was elected député by the first electoral college of Gard ( Uzès) (217 votes out of 375 voters et 488 inscribed, as against 145 for M. Madier de Montjau). He sat with the liberal Tiers Party of his friend Dupin aîné, and from there hotly defended the new regime. With discretion and skill, he participated most especially in debates on legislation, commerce and public works. He was re-elected on 21 June 1834 (227 votes of 349 voters and 464 inscribed against 111 to M. de Dreux-Brézé) and was made Minister for

Commerce Commerce is the organized Complex system, system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions that directly or indirectly contribute to the smooth, unhindered large-scale exchange (distribution through Financial transaction, transactiona ...

and of

Public Works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and procured by a government body for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, ...

, all the while being the interim Minister for National Education and for Cults (i.e. Religion), in the temporary Maret government (10–18 November 1834). He was then elected vice-president of the Chambre des députés and won re-election on 13 December 1834 (243 votes out of 253 voters and 591 inscribed). He thus voted with the majority but entered into the coalition which, in 1839, led to the fall of Molé's first ministry. He was re-elected as a député on 2 March 1839 (256 of 418 votes) and was made minister for Justice and Cults in Soult's second ministry (12 Mary 1839 to 1 March 1840). He was re-elected as a député on 22 June 1839 (280 of 289 votes). During his time as minister, he formed a committee to look into ways of suppressing bribery in government ministries. Soult appreciated him and made him minister of public works in his third ministry of 29 October 1840. Teste voted for the "grande loi" of 1841 on expropriation for the cause of public use, the law of 1842 on roads, and the law of 1843 on industrial property. On 16 December 1843, Guizot removed Teste from the ministry but gave him major compensation, including making him a

peer of France The Peerage of France () was a hereditary distinction within the French nobility which appeared in 1180 during the Middle Ages. The prestigious title and position of Peer of France () was held by the greatest, highest-ranking members of the Fr ...

and head of the Cour de cassation. A member of the royal family even intervened in his favour by requesting the retiring president of the civil chamber to name Teste as his successor. Becoming a grand officer of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

in 1846, he had thus reached the highest honours.

The Teste-Cubières scandal

The Teste-Cubières scandal erupted in 1847. General Despans-Cubières, temporary Minister for War in 1839 and 1840, in need of money, speculated in various areas, particularly a mining operation. In 1843, to get the concession for a salt mine at Gouhenans renewed, he and his associates bribed Teste (as minister of public works) with 94,000 francs. The affair came out in May 1847 during a trial of Despans-Cubières's associates before the civil tribunal of the Seine. The company director, a certain Parmentier, produced in his defence several letters from general Despans-Cubières mentioning bribes. The affair received huge publicity and the scandal stuck. King

Louis-Philippe of France Louis Philippe I (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850), nicknamed the Citizen King, was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, the penultimate monarch of France, and the last French monarch to bear the title "King". He abdicated from his thron ...

decided to have the case tried before the

Chambre des pairs The Chamber of Peers () was the upper house of the French parliament from 1814 to 1848. History The Peerage of France was recreated by the Charter of 1814 at the same time as the Bourbon Restoration in France, Bourbon Restoration, albeit on a ...

, and on 8 July 1847, Teste, Despans-Cubières, Parmentier and a certain Pellapra (former receiver-general, who had acted as the general's intermediary to Teste) came before it on corruption charges. It is said the king criticised his chancellor, duc Pasquier, for imprisoning Teste, telling him "What? Haven't you already got enough of my ministers? He will need a second! Also, I've spent 17 years to resurrect France's power, and in one day, in one hour, you have let it fall back down."Cited by Guy Antonetti, ''Louis-Philippe'', Paris, Fayard, 1994, p. 888 Dismissed from all his offices the day before the trial began, Teste began by denying everything before later breaking down, beaten by the evidence brought before the court by Pellapra's ex-wife and by the testimony of the agent de change who had converted the funds into treasury bills. He attempted suicide on 12 July by shooting himself twice in the head and chest with a pistol brought to him by his son, but was only lightly wounded. The following day he refused to present himself before the court since, as he wrote to the chancellor, "the documents produced no longer leave any room for contradiction". On 17 July the Chambre des pairs condemned him to three years in prison, to return the 94,000 franc bribe and to pay a fine of the same amount to the Hospice de Paris. He was incarcerated in the prison du Luxembourg, which he had had built himself, and remained there until 13 August 1849. President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte then authorised him to spend the rest of his sentence in a nursing home at Chaillot and reduced the fine to be paid to 44,000 francs. He left the nursing home in July 1850 and died two months later.

Notes

Sources

* Adolphe Robert et Gaston Cougny, ''Dictionnaire des Parlementaires français'', Paris, Dourloton, 1889 {{DEFAULTSORT:Teste, Jean-Baptiste 1780 births 1852 deaths People from Bagnols-sur-Cèze Orléanists Ministers of commerce of France Ministers of national education of France Foreign ministers of France Ministers of justice of France Ministers of religious affairs of France Ministers of public works of France Members of the Chamber of Representatives (France) Members of the 2nd Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy Members of the 3rd Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy Members of the 4th Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy Members of the 5th Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy Members of the 6th Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy Members of Parliament for Gard Members of the Chamber of Peers of the July Monarchy Court of Cassation (France) judges 19th-century French judges 19th-century French lawyers Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery