The turbulent life of the Marquis de Morès – the 19th-century aristocrat turned populist thug
The Marquis de Morès (1858-96) was a man of many abilities, but balancing a chequebook was not one of them. Bested (savaged, frankly) by the Chicago meat-packing lobby and frustrated in his attempt to build a railroad across Indochina, the soldier, duelist and self-styled ‘economist’ returned to his native France in 1886, caused havoc and invented fascism (if we allow the Italian historian Sergio Luzzatto to have his way) – only to meet his nemesis much closer to home. His father-in-law went to court to separate his daughter’s finances from those of her husband; a family council took charge of Morès’s money; and at last it came out that this
