CACAULT, FRANÇOIS

CACAULT, FRANÇOIS. — French diplomat, born in Nantes on 10 February 1743, died in Clisson on 5 October 1805. A professor at the military school of Paris, he was forced into exile for having killed his opponent in a duel (1769). After spending in Italy several decisive years for his spiritual formation, he returned to France (1775) and entered the diplomatic service; he became embassy secretary in Naples and then chargé d’affaires (1785). A moderate Jacobin, he was France’s resident in Florence (1793), where he carried out fruitful work, helping to detach the Grand Duke from the coalition. General agent in Italy and minister in Genoa and then in Rome, he participated in the negotiations for the Peace of Tolentino (1797). Replaced in Rome by Giuseppe Bonaparte, he returned to Florence but, having fallen from favor, was recalled. In 1798 he was elected a deputy to the Council of Five Hundred and subsequently, having drawn closer to Bonaparte, to the Legislative Body. The First Consul sent him as minister plenipotentiary to Rome (1801), where he was a skilled and even-handed negotiator of the Concordat of 1802, to such an extent that he earned the sympathy and esteem of the Curia. Replaced in 1803 by Cardinal Fesch, he left Rome and Italy, which he loved so deeply, to become a member of the Senate.