Antoine de Laforêt
| Antoine, comte de Laforêt | |
|---|---|
| Born |
8 August 1756 Aire-sur-la-Lys, Pas-de-Calais, France |
| Died | 2 August 1846 (aged 89) Villefrancœur Loir-et-Cher, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Diplomat, politician |
| Known for | Minister of Foreign Affairs |
Antoine René Charles Mathurin, comte de Laforêt (8 August 1756 – 2 August 1846 ) was a senior French diplomat. He was Consul General of France to the United States before the French Revolution. During the First French Empire he was Ambassador in Madrid. He was briefly Minister of Foreign Affairs during the transitional government after the fall of Napoleon in 1814, and in 1815, after second abdication of Napoleon, a plenipotentiary to the Seventh Coalition powers.
Antoine René Charles Mathurin was born in Aire-sur-la-Lys, Pas-de-Calais, on 8 August 1756. In 1772 he was a sub-lieutenant in the Hainault regiment. He soon abandoned his military career to enter the diplomatic service. He joined the department of Foreign Affairs as a junior officer on 14 December 1774. In 1779 he was named secretary to the French legation in the United States, then vice-consul at Savannah, Philadelphia and New York. He was made Consul-General of France in the United States in 1788.
Mathurin returned to France in September 1793 and became assistant to Jean Antoine Joseph Fauchet, Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States. They were dismissed on 5 November year III, but the next year on 17 July 1797 Talleyrand, head of the department of External Relations, put Laforest in charge of finance and accounting.
During the Consulate Mathurin was Director of Posts. Laforest accompanied Joseph Bonaparte to the Congress of Lunéville as first secretary of the legation, then was sent to Munich, and then to the Diet of Ratisbon as chargé d'affaires extraordinaire. He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor on 19 Vendémiaire year XII.
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