CACAULT, FRANÇOIS. - French diplomat, b. at Nantes on 10 Feb. 1743, d. at Clisson on 5 Oct. 1805. A professor at the military school of Paris, he had to go into exile for having killed his opponent in a duel (1769). After spending in Italy years that were decisive for his spiritual formation, he returned to France (1775) and entered the diplomatic service; he became secretary of embassy at Naples and then chargé d'affaires (1785). A moderate Jacobin, he was French resident at Florence (1793), where he carried out fruitful work, helping to detach the Grand Duke from the coalition. Agent general in Italy and minister at Genoa and then at Rome, he took part in the negotiations for the Peace of Tolentino (1797). Replaced at Rome by Joseph Bonaparte, he returned to Florence, but, having fallen into disfavor, he was recalled. In 1798 he was elected deputy to the Council of Five Hundred and subsequently, having drawn close to Bonaparte, to the Legislative Body. The First Consul sent him as minister plenipotentiary to Rome (1801), where he was a skillful and impartial negotiator of the Concordat of 1802, so much so as to earn the sympathies and consideration of the Curia. Replaced in 1803 by Card. Fesch, he left Rome and the Italy he so loved to become a member of the Senate.
Bibliography
Alberto M. Ghisalberti