He took service from 1873 to 1876 in the North of
Persia. In 1880, he was appointed minister plenipotentiary in
Stockholm,
Sweden, succeeding
Robert de Tamisier. He served until 1883 when he was replaced by
Charles Le Peletier d'Aunay.
China In September 1883 he was named French minister to China and could conduct his most important mission in 1884, when he was sent as to regularize the French dominion in the Vietnamese protectorate state of Annam. The
Harmand Treaty of 25 August 1883 had not been ratified by the French parliament and had upset the Chinese government. Patenôtre left Marseille at the end of April 1884 with a modified version of the treaty drafted by the
Quai d'Orsay for signature by the king of
Annam. At the end of May, he moved to a military vessel near Cap Saint-Jacques, learnt about the end of the Sino-French war and the
Tientsin Accord of 11 May and received additional instructions from Paris. He arrived in
Hải Phòng on 26 May and in
Huế on 30 May, and started discussions with
Nguyễn Văn Tường, the Regent. On 6 June 1884, the imperial Chinese seal - a symbol of the vassal status of
Annam which had been given to
Gia Long - was melted and the
Patenôtre Treaty was signed. He then proceeded to Shanghai where he arrived on 1 July to settle with China the difficulties which had arisen over the evacuation of the Chinese troops from Tongking. The negotiation failed, and the French admiral
Sébastien Lespès resumed hostilities against China in August 1884. The next year Patenôtre signed with Li Hongzhang a treaty of peace at Tientsin, by which the French protectorate in Annam and Tongking was recognized, and both parties agreed to remain within their own borders in the future.
Morocco From 1888 to 1891, Patenôtre served as Minister Plenipotentiary to the
Sultanate of Morocco. In 1912, the Sultanate became a
French protectorate when
Sultan Abd al-Hafid signed the
Treaty of Fez, following the French
military occupation with the invasion of
Oujda and the
bombardment of Casablanca in 1907.
United States In December 1891, Patenôtre was presented his credentials in
Washington, D.C. as the French Minister to the United States, succeeding
Théodore Roustan. Roustan had been appointed the French Ambassador in Madrid, a post Patenôtre himself was appointed several years later. Two years after being in Washington, he was raised to the rank of ambassador. He served as Ambassador until December 1897 when he was transferred to Spain, and presented his letters of recall to President
William McKinley. He was succeeded by
Jules Cambon, a former
governor-general of
Algeria.
Spain Like his predecessor Roustan in the United States, he was appointed ambassador to Spain at
Madrid in 1897. Roustan had retired from the post in Madrid in 1894 and was succeeded by
Frederic Guéau, Marquis of Reverseaux, who was replaced by Patenôtre. Patenôtre was received by the
Queen Regent in Madrid on 29 December. While he was Ambassador, the
Spanish–American War broke out in 1898, which was resolved by the
Treaty of Paris of 1898. He "seconded the efforts of the French Government for the re-establishment of peace at the time of the" War. He retired in 1902 and was, again, succeeded as Ambassador by
Jules Cambon in his post. He was appointed a Grand Officer of the Order of
Legion d'Honneur in 1902. ==Personal life==