Jcles Mires, a French speculator, born of Jewish parentage in Bordeaux, Dec. 9, 1809, died near Marseilles, June 6, 1871. He settled in Paris as a broker, and became director of a gas company. In conjunction with his townsman Moise Millaud, also a Jew, he purchased in 1848 the Journal des Chemins de Eer, which gave them considerable control over railway enterprise; and they increased their influence by purchasing an interest in the Conseiller du Peuple, the Constitutionnel, and other journals. They next founded the railway bank (la caisse des chemins defer), by which they made several millions. Mires remained the sole director of this establishment in 1853, and thenceforward was prominent in many loans and industrial enterprises. In 1860 he negotiated a Turkish loan. In February, 1861, he was arrested for maladministration, and sentenced to five years' imprisonment and a fine of 3,000 francs. The imperial tribunal confirmed the sentence, but the court of cassation set it aside and ordered a new trial at Douai, which ended in a reversal of the judgment, and his escaping with one month's imprisonment for an incidental misdemeanor.

But when the case was again brought before the court of cassation, the Douai decision was reversed, and Mires served out his term of imprisonment till 1866. On gaining his liberty, he came forward as a negotiator of loans, and attempted to reorganize his bank; and though the bank of France declined to deal with him, he recovered his influence among his old followers. In 1869 he was involved in a libel suit with Pereire, and in 1870 he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment and 3,000 francs fine for attacking his former judges in his pamphlet Un crime judiciaire.