NOIRCLERC, Albert Paul Charles de (nwar-clare), Canadian administrator, born in Three Rivers in 1721 ; died in Cayenne in 1779. He was descended from the early settlers of Canada, and his great-uncle had been a missionary among the Hurons. He entered the provincial administration of Quebec, and served afterward in Louisiana, being governor of Mobile in. 1763, when he was appointed the king's lieutenant at Cayenne. The secretary of state, the Duke de Choiseul, being deeply affected at the loss of Canada, had prepared plans for the foundation of the "France equinoxiale du sud" in Guiana, and Noirclerc was summoned to Versailles to consult with the colonial department. The governor of Guiana was then Chevalier Turgot, a brother of the philosopher, and as he disapproved of the duke's schemes he forbade Noirclerc, upon the latter's arrival in Cayenne, to carry them out, and sailed a few days later to lay a memoir before the king. During his absence a convoy of 900 emigrants from Alsace and Lorraine arrived in Guiana, and Noirclerc, notwithstanding the ad-vices of experienced citizens, established them 125 miles from the capital. The place was unhealthy, as the ground was lower than the level of the sea, in part inundated during the rainy season, and surrounded by marshes. The emigrants complained, and becoming uneasy during an epidemic of fever fled to Cayenne, and were furnished a passage home in spite of Noirclerc's protestations. The latter was soon afterward summoned to Versailles to explain his conduct, which he easily justified to the Duke de Choiseul, and was promoted colonial intendant. He returned to Guiana with 300 emigrants, whom he established in the deserted settlements of Saint Louis in 1769. Through his unremitting efforts, the colony prospered somewhat during his administration, but succumbed to the same causes that ruined the first establishment, and soon after Noirclerc's death the place was abandoned. Noirclerc published "Observations sur la resine elastique de Cayenne" (P!tris, 1767) ; "Memoire sur la colonic de la France Equinoxiale du Sud" (1768); and "Memoire sur la maniere d'assembler, de pr6parer et de conserver les vegetaux tropicaux" (1774).