On his return from Austria, he summoned his council of ministers and, in one of his imperial tantrums, fired his minister of finance. To the Banque’s three-man management committee he offered the choice between prison or a fine of 87 million francs. They chose the fine. Determined never again to be held hostage by moneymen, Napoleon changed the Banque’s statutes so that henceforth the governor and the two deputy governors would be appointed directly by the government, which at that time meant Napoléon himself. He declared at the time, “The Banque does not belong only to its shareholders, but
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