By Howard Shakespeare
Copyright ã International
Bond & Share Society 2001
Sometimes we have seen shares of the Canal de
Richelieu en Provence et Dépendances, to give it its full name, offered in
auction with a completely incorrect description. One frequently seen states that
the Canal was built to link the Atlantic Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea.
There is indeed such a canal – the Canal du Midi – but it flows through
southwestern France, nowhere near Provence, which is in the southeast, and it
was built a century earlier. Happily, auctioneers have recently done their
research with more care, but, nonetheless, readers may welcome a description
which we believe is correct.
The shares are not rare, and are frequently
offered in European auctions. One has been offered, accompanied by a map of the
projected route of the Canal, then called the Canal de Provence, and a copy of
the document inviting subscriptions. The subscription notice states that the
alternative name was the Canal d’Aix et de Marseille (with no reference to
Richelieu), and this accurately describes the line of the canal. It was to be
built from the river Durance (which flows from the Alps into the Rhône near
Avignon) by a winding route, doubtless dictated by the mountainous terrain, to Aix-en-Provence,
and into the Mediterranean at Marseille.
The aim was to provide water for irrigation of
the Provence countryside, too often affected by drought. A secondary purpose
was flood control on the Durance, whose waters often caused havoc, especially
after the spring thaw of Alpine snows. The inspiration behind the project came
from J.A. Floquet. He first had the idea in 1730, but it was only in 1751, with
the support of King Louis XV, that a company could be formed and the project
started. The general belief has been that the company was named after Cardinal
Richelieu, statesman to Louis XIV, and, to a great extent, responsible for the
economic expansion of France in the 17th century. However, Jakob
Schmitz, in Aufbruch auf Aktien,
states that one of the shareholders, Marshal Richelieu, a great-nephew of the
Cardinal, had the company named after himself.
The costs of construction greatly exceeded expectations, and in 1752 the
company authorised further shares. The two issues of shares known are very
similar, except that the second issue shows a seal or medallion with the date
1752 and the text « Nilus Alter », Latin for « The Other
Nile », appropriate for a project intended to lead water through an arid
region. The first issue is dated 18 July 1752, the second 9 May 1753. The first
issue is less common, the second (with the medallion) more attractive. 9,600
shares were authorised in total, and Marshal Richelieu signed 1,000 of them.
Even after these issues, funds were still inadequate, and the company went into liquidation soon afterwards. Only 4 km of canal had been built, and the investors lost their money.
We have reead that the project was taken up in 1772 by a Netherlands company,
which also soon went bankrupt, but we have no further information on this.
Perhaps a reader can help us here ?
Copyright ã INTERNATIONAL BOND
& SHARE SOCIETY 2001
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