Nicolas-François, Count Mollien

Nicolas-François, Count Mollien (born Feb. 28, 1758, Rouen, France—died April 20, 1850, Paris) was a French statesman and one of Napoleon’s chief financial advisers. Mollien worked in the office that controlled the activities of the farmers general (private contractors who collected oppressive taxes from the peasants, often by harsh measures) from 1781, and in 1786 he drew up a contract whereby these tax collectors’ payments to the Royal Treasury were increased. During the Revolution he...