Charles Pictet de Rochemont

Charles Pictet de Rochemont (21 September 1755 – 28 December 1824) was a statesman and diplomat who prepared the declaration of Switzerland's permanent neutrality ratified by the great powers in 1815.

Charles Pictet was born on 21 September 1755 at Cartigny near Geneva into an aristocratic but tolerant family. He is the son of a colonel, Charles Pictet (1713–1792) and of Marie, born Dunant. Since his young age, he wanted to dedicate himself to a military career. At the age of 20 he went to France and for twelve years pursued a career in the French Army. After his marriage in 1786 to Adélaïde Sara de Rochemont he modified his name to the more aristocratic "Pictet de Rochemont". Two years later he entered the governing council of Geneva and was made responsible for reorganizing the urban militia.

In 1792 the former city councils of Geneva were suspended and a provisional government took over, declaring all citizens equal. In 1794 Pictet was placed under house arrest for a year. His father-in-law, Jean-François de Rochemont, was less lucky; he was executed.

Later, Switzerland became a theatre of war. Napoleon had invaded in 1798 and everywhere egalitarian ideas took root and the old aristocracy was swept away. Armies devastated the countryside and the winter of 1800 would long be remembered as one of misery and starvation. Geneva was annexed to France. A few weeks later Napoleon issued a new constitution for a Helvetic Republic trying to replace the former archaic system of cantonal authorities with a centralized executive. This caused such a violent reaction that Napoleon withdrew his troops in 1802.

The power vacuum thus created set off a civil war, during which Napoleon offered his services as arbitrator. He urged the Swiss to come up with a constitution themselves. The new constitution restored the notion of autonomous cantons, created six new cantons and gave a new name to the country - the Swiss Confederation. Meanwhile, in 1798, Pictet de Rochemont had acquired seventy-five hectares of land at Lancy, centred on the present mairie de Lancy, and led the life of a gentleman farmer. He concentrated on the breeding of merino sheep and introduced the culture of maize to the Geneva region. His agrarian innovations spread. Alongside his life as a farmer, he wrote a great deal and founded a review entitled La bibliothèque britannique. From 1796 to 1815 he wrote the agricultural column in it.

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