He had dissipated a considerable fortune and was deeply in debt when he took office, and used his power in wartime conditions to establish lucrative illegal arrangements to trade with France's enemies the English and the Dutch.
A young nobleman arrived in Martinique in 1748, and for several months used revenues from his family estates on the island to give meals and dances for the elite.
[1] In July 1741 Caylus was capitaine de vaisseau of the Borée (66) and commander of a small French squadron that included the Aquilon (46) and the Flore (26).
On 25 July 1741 off Cap Spartel they met a British force under Captain Curtis Barnett of the Dragon (60) with the Feversham (44) and Folkestone (44).
After the ships on both sides had suffered some damage and loss of men, the British sent a boat to the Borée under a flag of truce and discovered the truth.
The French did not know whether France and Britain were still at peace, since there had been a risk of war when they left the West Indies, and demanded that Barnet's lieutenant swear that this was the case.
[3] On 16 December 1744 the chevalier de Caylus led a squadron of six vessels into the harbour of Malta during a festival that the French were holding on that island to celebrate the convalescence of the king.
The minister wrongly complained of his predecessor Jacques-Charles Bochart de Champigny(fr), who perhaps by 1744 no longer had the same energy he had displayed at Saint Lucia against the English when he was only the governor of Martinique, but who was popular with the inhabitants of the islands.
He was there in 1747 when, to everyone's surprise, Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais, governor of the French possessions in India, arrived at Fort-Royal on his way back to France.
[5] After France declared war on Holland, Caylus established relations with Heliger, governor of Sint Eustatius, and severed ties with the English.
[11] In 1748 a small ship arrived in Martinique from La Rochelle, the Coureur, carrying a passenger who called himself the "comte de Tarnaud" and put on very distinguished airs.
[12] The rumour spread that he was Ercole Rinaldo of Este, hereditary prince of Modena, grandson of the Duke of Orléans and brother of the duchess of Penthièvre.
The young man refused, proclaimed that he was Hercule-Renaud d'Est, and wrote that if the governor wanted to meet him he should come to Fort Royal.