Nicolas François, Count Mollien

Nicolas François, Count Mollien (born 28 February 1758 in Rouen, Seine-Inférieure – died 20 April 1850 in Paris, Seine), was a French financier.

The son of a merchant, he early showed ability, and entered the ministry of finance, where he rose rapidly; in 1784, at the time of the renewal of the arrangements with the tax-farmers-general, he was practically chief in that department and made terms advantageous to the national exchequer.

Under Calonne he improved the returns from the farmers-general; and he was largely instrumental in bringing about the erection of the octroi walls of Paris in place of the insufficient wooden barriers.

The conversations between them on this subject, as reported in Mollien's Mémoirs, are of high interest, and show that the ministry had a far truer judgement on financial matters than the emperor, who often twitted him with being an ideologue.

He lived to see the election of Louis-Napoleon as president of the Second Republic, and died in April 1850; with the exception of Étienne Denis Pasquier, he was the last surviving minister of Napoleon Bonaparte.