Charles-Édouard Pontois

Charles-Édouard Pontois (1792–1871) represented the July Monarchy in Brazil, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire. His Washington work included explaining French military measures that affected American merchants. On 3 May 1838 he notified John Forsyth of France’s blockade of Mexican ports, transmitting instructions that described how neutral ships were to be warned and under what conditions vessels already in port could leave. ^{1, 2}

Pontois presented the restrictions as consistent with France’s stated principles on neutral navigation and asked for a prompt acknowledgment so that the French dispatch vessel waiting at Pensacola could return. ²

He subsequently became ambassador at Constantinople. Louis-Philippe created him a count in 1839 and appointed him to the Chamber of Peers on 1 November 1846. He supported the July Monarchy there until its overthrow in 1848 and died in Paris in 1871. ¹