Virtually uneducated, he opened a business with two friends in 1828. It was a great success. From 1833 to 1837, he travelled to France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, America, Egypt, Greece and Russia. He collected data on these countries and in 1835 published a book in which he predicted the difficulties that the European economy would face in the face of the United States. In 1837, he joined the Chamber of Commerce. He formed an association against the anti-corn law. He opposed the Crimean War. In 1860, he signed a trade treaty with France.Autograph letter signed dated 19.08.1853: "I intend to have written a few lines on the return of my boy to schoolÉÓ.