Vincent-Marie Viénot, Count of Vaublanc
Encyclopedia
Vincent-Marie Viénot, Count of Vaublanc (2 March 1756 – 21 August 1845) was a French royalist
politician
, writer and artist. He was a deputy for the Seine-et-Marne
in the French Legislative Assembly
, served as President of the same body, and from 26 September 1815 to 7 May 1816, he was the French Minister of the Interior
.
His political career had him rubbing shoulders with Louis XVI
, Napoleon Bonaparte, the Count of Artois (the future Charles X of France
), and finally Louis XVIII
. He was banished and recalled four times by different regimes, never arrested, succeeding each time in regaining official favour. In a long and eventful career, he was successively a monarchist deputy during the Revolution
and under the Directoire, an exile during the Terror
, a deputy under Napoleon, Minister of the Interior
to Louis XVIII
and eventually, at the end of his political career, a simple ultra-royalist deputy. He is remembered now for the fiery eloquence of his speeches, and for his controversial reorganisation of the Académie française
in 1816 while Minister of the Interior. He strongly favoured the motion for the enfranchisement of the slaves in the French colonies in America.
Born and raised at Fort Dauphin
, Saint-Domingue
(now Fort-Liberté
, Haiti
), into an aristocratic family from Bourgogne
, he was the eldest son of Vivant-François Viénot de Vaublanc, commanding officer of Fort Saint-Louis in Fort Dauphin. He saw Metropolitan France
for the first time at the age of seven.
After military education at the Prytanée National Militaire
in La Flèche
, and at the École Militaire
in Paris from 1770 to 1774, he was decorated with the Order of Saint Lazarus
(before he had even set foot outside the school) by the Comte de Provence
, the future Louis XVIII
, Grand Master of the Order.
He was admitted as second-lieutenant to the Régiment de la Sarre, which was controlled by the Duc de Liancourt
from 1776 to 1782, and in which his uncle Charles was lieutenant-colonel. He was garrisoned successively at Metz
, at Rouen
and at Lille
, before obtaining lettres de service for Saint-Domingue to attend to family affairs.
There he married one Mademoiselle de Fontenelle, and returned to France in 1782 with a daughter. He purchased the office of lieutenant des maréchaux de France for Dammarie-les-Lys
, near Melun
, and a house in the region, giving his profession as gentleman-farmer.
The responsibility of his station was to act as arbiter in legal disputes which involved points of honour, and this permitted him to make the acquaintance of a number of aristocrats in the region. It also gave him the time to study agriculture, literature and the arts.
. The Assembly was assigned the task of drawing up a list of grievances to be submitted to the King and naming a deputy to the States-General. Vaublanc supported Fréteau de Saint Just, an elected député de la noblesse for the bailliage of Melun who was to become a member of the National Constituent Assembly
.
In 1790, Vaublanc became a member and later president of the conseil général of Seine-et-Marne
. This gave him the right to preside over the administrative directory of this .
, in an assembly composed essentially of political novices. Faithful to their promises, not one former member of the Constituent Assembly had been admitted.
in 1814.
From the very moment of his appearance, he made himself conspicuous by delivering a speech which denounced the humiliating terms on which Louis XVI
was to be received by the Assembly the next day. As a result of these statements, he was elected president from 15 November to 28 November 1791 by the assembly, the majority of whom were royalist.
On 29 November, Vaublanc was assigned the task of composing a message to the King, asking him to withdraw his veto of the decree of 9 November, a decree designed to slow the massive emigrations (then encouraged by the priests and the nobility) by threatening reprisals against German princes who continued to offer refuge to the armies of French noblemen (such as those of the Comte d'Artois, and of the Prince of Condé
). The assembly was so pleased with his work that they asked him to read it to the King personally. Louis XVI replied that he would take the request into serious consideration, and, several days later, personally announced his decision on the matter.
On this occasion Vaublanc made a name for himself by informing the assembly "that the King had made the first bow, and he had only returned the gesture." The anecdote reveals the shift in constitutional forces: the legislative power, embodied in the Legislative Assembly, was clearly ascendant over the executive, embodied in Louis XVI, who was now no more than the "King of the French" or roi des français.
Vaublanc now sided with the constitutional monarchists and joined the Amis de la Constitution (dubbed the Club des Feuillants
) with 263 other colleagues out of the 745 deputies. He became one of its principal figures, along with Jacques Claude Beugnot
, Mathieu Dumas
and Jaucourt
, after the departure of Barnave
and C. Lameth
. He vigorously opposed revolutionary governments and was characterised by his loyalty to the King, his opposition to repressive measures against rebellious priests and to laws confiscating the goods of émigrés, and his denunciation of the massacres at Avignon. Debate became steadily more extreme. The crowds attending these debates often shouted at him (as they did at Charles de Lacretelle
) "À la lanterne!
" Nicolas de Condorcet, his hostile colleague in the Legislative Assembly in 1791, said of him: "There are, at all meetings, these noisy air-headed orators, who produce a great effect through the constant repetition of redundant inanities." Brissot, one of the chief Girondist
s in the Legislative Assembly, nicknamed him le chef des bicamériste
s.
, he nevertheless took aim in a speech of 20 March at those hardline abolitionists like Brissot who knew little of life in the colonies and of the risks of civil war given the diversity of ethnicities and social conflicts in Saint-Domingue
. He supported the law of 4 April 1792 which granted citizenship to all "coloured men and free Negroes". At the meeting of 10 April, he declared himself in favour of the progressive abolition of the slave trade throughout the colonies, following the examples of Denmark and Great Britain.
On 3 May 1792, he supported the proposition of Beugnot which provoked an accusatory decree from Marat
and the abbé Royou, and on 8 May, at the Assembly, he addressed the Jacobins in these terms: "You wish, sirs, to save the Constitution; and yet, you cannot do so without beating down factions and the factious, without setting everything besides the rule of law to one side, without dying with the Law and for the Law, and I declare that I shall not be the last who shall die with you, in order to see it preserved; believe it, sirs...."
On 18 June, he was elected a member of the Commission des douze (Committee of Twelve), created by Marat to examine the State of France and to propose means of preserving the Constitution, liberty, and the Empire. He gave his resignation on 30 July.
arrived in Paris on 28 June, hoping to convince the King to leave in order to head the armies assembled in the north. At the head of the National Guard, he tried to close down the political clubs, but his attempt failed, partly because of the Court's refusal to support him. In reaction to this, the left wing of the Assembly decided to charge Lafayette with treason.
On 8 August 1792, ill at ease and shocked by the course of events, Vaublanc delivered a speech before the Assembly, in which he defended, vigorously, and courageously, against the lively opposition of the Jacobins who dominated the Assembly and of the man in the street, General La Fayette, who stood accused of violating the Constitution. He later claimed to have succeeded (with the help of Quatremère de Quincy
) in rallying 200 undecided deputies to his position. La Fayette was acquitted, by 406 votes out of 630.
On departure, Vaublanc and about thirty other deputies were threatened, insulted and jostled by the hostile crowd which had attended the debate. Some deputies even took refuge in the guardroom of the Royal Palace, later exiting through the windows. Hippolyte Taine
wrote: "After the principal defender of La Fayette, M. de Vaublanc, had been assaulted three times, he took the precaution of not immediately returning home; but the rabble besieged his house, shouting that eighty citizens must die by their hands, and that he should be the first; twelve men climbed to his apartment, ransacked it, and continued the search in neighbouring houses, hoping for members of his family if he himself could not be seized; he was informed that if he returned to his domicile he would be slaughtered."
As a result, on 9 August, Vaublanc asked for the removal of the fédérés and marseillais. The request was rejected by a majority of the Assembly.
, he witnessed from his carriage the toppling of the statue of Louis XIV
in what is now the Place Vendôme
. He enjoined the Assembly to leave Paris for royalist Rouen
to escape the revolutionary pressures, and he avoided an assassination attempt when he was narrowly saved from a sabre cut by a young officer of genius, Captain Louis Bertrand de Sivray, who was to make a name for himself as general.
He was one of the eyewitnesses of the arrival of the Royal Family, who, after the March on the Tuileries, placed themselves under the protection of the Legislative Assembly at the Place du Carrousel. The incident is described in his memoirs.
The second volume of his memoirs provides insight into the general atmosphere at the time of the Terror, as felt by an aristocratic royalist, who was at risk of being arrested at any moment and finishing up on the scaffold, and yet forced to travel back and forth over the territory of the brand new French Republic.
On the evening of 10 August he was obliged to take refuge at the home of Armand-Gaston Camus, the Assembly's archivist. Several days later he moved to the Hotel Strasbourg, on the rue Neuve Saint Eustache. On 3 September 1792, hearing a commotion in the courtyard, he thought himself betrayed; but it was in fact the passage of a rabble brandishing the head of the Princesse de Lamballe on a pole.
The Committee of Public Safety
, newly established, published a decree in which it was revealed that he was on the list of outlaws drawn up by the Municipality of Paris. This forced him to leave the city, first for Normandy
, where he reunited with his family, then for his country house at Bélombres near Melun. He lived in hiding for several months; it was there that he learnt that the newspaper Gorsas accused him among others of having "accepted 300,000 francs from the Queen for the purpose of organising the Counter-Revolution in Provence
", and that he "met with them secretly."
The Law of Suspects went to the vote on 17 September 1793. His name appeared within. A revolutionary detachment came and ransacked his house, and he "fled by the highways" entirely on foot, throwing himself on the mercy of chance. He wandered from inn to inn, entering (he later wrote) every town in a terror of being recognised, especially when going to local authorities in order to get his passport stamped.
At the trial of Marie Antoinette
, on 14 October and 16 October 1793, his name appeared next to that of Jaucourt
in the papers of the prosecutors.
Opting at first for the south of France, and Bordeaux
in particular, he changed direction after having learnt of the ferocious oppression led there by Tallien, the Convention's representative, and the dangers that travel in those regions entailed. He passed through Poitiers
, and La Rochelle
, where he stayed for one month. Wishing to avoid taking the risk of enlisting in the National Guard, where he could well be recognised, he feigned illness and obtained a medical certificate which would allow him to take a thermal cure at Castéra-Verduzan in the Gers
region. To allay suspicions, he took the precaution of regularly pricking his gums in order to simulate "incurable scurvy
." It was while at this spa that he learnt of the fall of Robespierre on 27 July 1794. He waited four months for his proscription to be lifted before returning to Paris.
. He also advocated the installation of a single person as head of the Executive, for the sake of efficiency, as opposed to the Directory's five.
After the appearance of this book, the committee entrusted with the drawing up of the Constitution of Year III (comprising Daunou and François-Antoine de Boissy d'Anglas) invited him to elaborate on his theories, but he refused. His ideas were nevertheless broadly followed, and two chambers representing the Legislature saw the light of day with the names "Council of Ancients
(Elders)" and "Council of Five Hundred
" (Conseil des Anciens and Conseil des Cinq-Cents).
Opposed to the Decree of Two Thirds, he took on an active rôle with Antoine Chrysostome Quatremère de Quincy at the time of the insurrection of 13 Vendemaire IV (5 October 1795). On this occasion, he discovered the tactical genius of Bonaparte, who became known as le général Vendémiaire. He was a member of the central royalist committee entrusted with replacing the Convention.
On 17 October, as head of the royalist faction of the Faubourg Poissonnière, he was condemned to death in absentia by a military commission presided over by General Lostange, which had its headquarters at the Théâtre-Français. This obliged him to go into hiding for a second time, mostly at the residence of Sophie Cottin, a friend of Bresson's wife. He took advantage of his stay there by making sketches of Cottin.
Several days later, the Convention, forced to hold new elections, assembled the electoral colleges. This election brought a majority of royalists into the Senate and into the Council of 500. The college of Melun elected Vaublanc as deputy for Seine-et-Marne and as a member of the Council of 500; however he had to wait for his friends Desfourneaux and Pastoret to overturn his sentence (by reason of unconstitutionality). This was made easier because of the fear inspired in the Assembly by Conspiration des Égaux at the end of August 1796. On 2 September 1796, he delivered the famous speech "I swear hatred for royalty!" which, according to legend, was interrupted by a highlander who shouted "Speak up!" — to which Vaublanc responded instantly: "Keep it down!"
The elections of Year V (May 1797), in which one third of the representatives were replaced, turned the tables in favour of the royalists, who achieved a majority in both chambers. On 20 May 1797 (20 prairial V), Charles Pichegru
was elected president of the Council of 500 and Barbé-Marbois of the Council of Elders. Vaublanc himself was named membre du bureau of the Council of 500. On the same day, the Legislature proceeded to replace the republican Director, Le Tourneur
(who had gained the position by drawing straws), with the moderate royalist François de Barthélémy
, at that time the French ambassador to Switzerland. Vaublanc voted against his nomination, preferring General Beurnonville
, who was known for his forcefulness.
The new majority supported freedom of the press, which allowed attacks on the Directory to be made with impunity. The Club de Clichy
, of which Vaublanc was a prominent member, began to control the two councils, and directly threatened the Directory. He was appointed to their committee of inspectors, and given the rôle of policing the councils and maintaining their security from within. As a result he had the power to give orders to the councils' brigadiers.
The Directory, cornered, counterattacked with the 80,000-strong army of Sambre-et-Meuse, which approached Paris under the command of Hoche. At the same time, Vaublanc pleaded for and obtained from the Council an order dissolving all clubs, including those of the Jacobins.
On 16 July 1797, under pressure from the councils, the three republican directors, Barras, Reubell and La Reveillière-Lépeaux, ordered a ministerial reshuffle disadvantaging the royalists. On 3 September, Vaublanc, with his colleague Admiral Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse and other clichiens, was a hair's breadth from achieving a coup d'état
against the triumvirate of republican directors. Their plan, which convinced the director Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot, was simple. Vaublanc was charged with delivering a speech on 4 September before the Council of 500 which would demand the impeachment of the triumvirate. Meanwhile, General Pichegru, who had been persuaded by Carnot to join the conspiracy at the head of the Legislature's Guard, would come to arrest the directors.
Unfortunately for him, General Bonaparte, then head of the Armée d'Italie, intercepted a royalist agent, Louis-Alexandre de Launay, comte d'Antraigues
, in possession of documents revealing the conspiracy and the treason of Pichegru. He sent General Pierre Augereau and his army to Paris, where the general advertised the treason with posters in the streets. The principal conspirators were either arrested and deported to Guyana
(like Pichegru and Barthélémy), or forced to flee (like Carnot and Vaublanc). The latter managed to escape the city limits of Paris, which was then still in a state of siege, by hiding in a carriage. This escape was achieved through the connivance of Rochambeau. Vaublanc made it to Italy with the help of various disguises; on his way he passed through Switzerland, where he stayed with his friend Pastoret.
of 18 Brumaire
VIII (10 November 1799), and the accession to power of the Consulat
, which gave amnesty to the proscribed, permitted him to return to France, where he was presented to Bonaparte.
In 1800, Vaublanc was elected by the conservative Senate to be deputy for Calvados
, one of 300 members of the Legislature (Corps législatif), and to fulfil the duties of questeur for a five-year term. Among those duties was that of issuing regular reports on the Consulate for the rest of his life.
The admiration and respect which he felt towards Napoleon for having "reestablished order in France and put an end to the persecution of priests" can be seen in several of his speeches at this time: for example that of 24 floréal X to the consuls, in his capacity as deputy to the Legislature, a speech which is flattering to the First Consul, or that of 24 nivôse XIII (13 January 1805), this time delivered before Napoléon I, who had in the meantime become empereur des français, when together with Jean-Pierre Louis de Fontanes, Acting President of the Legislature, Vaublanc attended the inauguration of a marble statue of the Emperor in the hall of the Legislature, which had been commissioned to honour the "father of the Civil Code."
He was President of the Legislature from 21 April to 7 May 1803.
On 4 November 1804, Pope Pius VII stayed the night at Vaublanc's house in Montargis
, 28 rue de Loing, while travelling to Paris for the coronation of the Emperor.
Napoleon rewarded him for his zeal: he was made Commander of the Légion d'honneur, knighted on 28 November 1809, made baron d'Empire on 19 December 1809 (a hereditary title), and was bestowed on 17 July 1810 with a majorat
in Hannover. Finally in 1813, he was given the title of comte d'Empire, although this last was not granted with letters patent
and thus was not hereditary. This did not prevent him from styling himself Comte de Vaublanc, or from obtaining a reversion of this title onto the benefice of his grandson Adolphe de Segond.
In June of that year he had an audience with the Emperor at the time of his passage through Metz, during which, according to the third volume of his Memoirs, he strongly objected to the idea of a campaign against Russia. During the campaign of 1813, after the withdrawal of the Mainz Army from Leipzig, a large number of wounded soldiers took refuge in Metz, resulting in a typhoid epidemic of which Vaublanc fell victim; he escaped death narrowly.
In 1814, he opened the gates of Metz to welcome the coalition forces.
, joining Louis XVIII at Ghent
.
It is said that, on meeting the officer assigned to arrest him, he said: "Do not worry about me. Better worry about your own self; no-one must see you leaving by the large courtyard", and led him to a side exit before galloping away on his horse.
On his arrival, he encountered Chateaubriand, who mentions him in his Mémoires d'Outre-tombe
: "M. de Vaublanc and M. Capelle joined us. The former said he had everything he could possibly need in his portfolio. You want Montesquieu? here you go; Bossuet
? there you are." He submitted to the King, via the Comte d'Artois, several essays on the state of the country, and predicted that His Majesty "would be on his way back to Paris in two months or less."
After the Second Restoration, in order to thank him for his loyalty Louis XVIII named him State Councillor on the spot, and, on 27 December 1815, Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour
. In July, he sent him to Marseilles to be Prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône
, and to liberate five to six hundred Bonapartist prisoners, a surprising act which was appropriate under the circumstances (Marseilles being under English control, and convulsed by anti-Bonapartist violence).
On 26 September 1815, thanks largely to the support of his friend the Comte d'Artois, the King named him Minister of the Interior
and of Public Instruction. The new President of the Council, the Duc de Richelieu
, who had been forced to nominate him, had a ruling on his nomination suspended, but he was not quick enough and on hearing the good news Vaublanc wasted no time in establishing himself firmly in his new ministry.
This nomination demonstrates the influence that the Comte d'Artois exercised over the governments of his brother. He kept a rival court at the Marsan
Pavilion and sought to restore Absolutism by rolling back the innovations that had been ushered in by the Revolution
.
Rudolf von Thadden, a contemporary German historian, summed up the comments of Martignac on 2 April 1829 by saying that his nomination was due more to his background than to his talents.
of a law that would reestablish cours prévôtales or "special courts" before the Chamber of Deputies (nicknamed the Chambre introuvable
), Vaublanc shouted out: "France wants its King!" To great applause, both the deputies and the public gallery rose to their feet and repeated "Yes, France wants its King!"
On 2 October 1815, one of his first measures was to send out a circular to all the departmental prefects informing them of their priorities in this troubled time: "The very first priority should be given to the maintenance of order (...) true vigilance foresees disorderliness and renders the use of force unnecessary." He used his powers to lock down the prefectural system to the advantage of the royalists, by transferring or sacking twenty-two prefects. By the end of his incumbency not one prefect even slightly implicated in the events of the Hundred Days was still in office.
On 18 November, he signed a statute that replaced the general staff of the National Guard with a committee of three Inspectors-General who were the members of the council of the Colonel-General — none other than the Comte d'Artois. The statute also removed the right of the other ministers to review any nominations to these positions. This permitted the Ultras to infiltrate the organisation more easily.
By a statute of 13 January 1816, he shortened the terms of mayors and deputy-mayors by two years; Vaublanc explained this measure to a prefect thus: "By accelerating the turn-over of mayors and deputy-mayors, you must get those people out of the way who, without a formal recall, would continue in a station to which they appear ill-suited."
In countersigning the statute of 21 March 1816, he aided the controversial reorganisation of the Institut de France
, perhaps persuaded by a letter from Jean Baptiste Antoine Suard, secretary in perpetuity of the Académie française
: "I can never tire of repeating that there is manifest in this institute a remnant of the Revolutionary spirit, whose influence must urgently be quelled by wise foresight working through statutes which you shall put into effect"; this statute gave him the direct power to name nine of the eleven academicians.
This radical submission of academia to "royal benevolence" met a mixed reception. In particular, the liberals reproached him for replacing the poet Antoine Vincent Arnault with the Duc de Richelieu
, Pierre Louis Roederer
with the Duc de Lévis, and Charles-Guillaume Etienne
with the Comte Choiseul-Gouffier. The new académiciens had no significant literary achievements. This affair earned him the nickname Maupeou de la littérature.
Throughout this time of purging, he proposed the creation of a Ministry of Fine Arts for Chateaubriand, but this idea was turned down by the Duc de Richelieu. On 6 April 1816 Vaublanc was elected membre libre of the Academy of Fine Arts, from which he had ousted the painter Jacques Louis David.
On 10 April 1816, to a full house, the Police Minister Decazes
heckled him: "You are nothing more than the Minister of the Comte d'Artois and you want to be more powerful than the Ministers of the King!" Vaublanc responded scathingly: "If I were more powerful than you, I would make full use of those powers to have you charged with high treason for you are, M. Decazes, indeed a traitor both to King and country."
On 13 April 1816, he aided the expulsion of some students from the Polytechnic, perpetrators of "disturbances and indiscipline", the majority in fact being Bonapartists who were being expelled for political reasons.
France's allies, still present in the country, became uneasy about the dissensions within the French government. The Russian Ambassador, a Corsican named Pozzo di Borgo, went so far as to blame Vaublanc for a large part of it: "One of the principal sources of the disorder has been the heterogeneous composition of the ministry; the defection of that of the Interior has greatly weakened the authority and the influence of the Crown on the Chambers."
The battle of personalities within the Ministry of the Interior (Vaublanc versus Richelieu
and Decazes
), the tight links between Vaublanc and the future Charles X
, the hysterical outburst of 10 April, and Vaublanc's report to the King in which he absurdly insisted on "the indespensability of a firmer and more resolute pace" all led to his downfall.
Richelieu demanded that the King dismiss Vaublanc, threatening to resign if he did not. The King finally acquiesced, and, when he asked for the statute so he could countersign it, the episode (according to the account of Louis-Mathieu Molé) descended into farce.
Replaced by Joseph Louis Joachim Lainé shortly after the failure of his plans for electoral reform, he left on 8 May 1816, the same day as the Minister of Justice, François Barbé-Marbois
, who had been sacked at the insistence of the Comte d'Artois in a tit-for-tat deal. The King recompensed Vaublanc with the titles of State Minister and Member of the Privy Council.
. He was re-elected on 10 October 1821, became a vice-president of the Chamber during the 1822 session, was re-elected again on 6 March 1824, but lost in 1827.
He was at the same time selected to be deputy for Guadeloupe
, where he was the co-proprietor of a sugar plantation in the parish of Basse-terre. In this capacity he recommended several changes in the judiciary and in the administration of the colonies, including the construction of storehouses.
With two of his colleagues in the chamber, Comte de la Breteche and Baron de Vitrolles, he oversaw some ultra-royalist periodicals, starting with La Quotidienne and Le Drapeau Blanc.
In January 1823, he came out in favour of the Spanish Expedition, and was named a member of the board of inquiry, presided over by Marshal Macdonald.
He had just been reappointed to the State Council (on 25 July) with the written promise of a peerage
, when the statues of July 1830 deposed Charles X
. He retired from public life after the accession of Louis-Philippe
and worked on his memoirs until his sight failed. He died at the age of eighty-nine, on 21 August 1845, in Paris at his house on the rue du Bac.
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, writer and artist. He was a deputy for the Seine-et-Marne
Seine-et-Marne
Seine-et-Marne is a French department, named after the Seine and Marne rivers, and located in the Île-de-France region.- History:Seine-et-Marne is one of the original 83 departments, created on March 4, 1790 during the French Revolution in application of the law of December 22, 1789...
in the French Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly (France)
During the French Revolution, the Legislative Assembly was the legislature of France from 1 October 1791 to September 1792. It provided the focus of political debate and revolutionary law-making between the periods of the National Constituent Assembly and of the National Convention.The Legislative...
, served as President of the same body, and from 26 September 1815 to 7 May 1816, he was the French Minister of the Interior
Minister of the Interior (France)
The Minister of the Interior in France is one of the most important governmental cabinet positions, responsible for the following:* The general interior security of the country, with respect to criminal acts or natural catastrophes...
.
His political career had him rubbing shoulders with Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
, Napoleon Bonaparte, the Count of Artois (the future Charles X of France
Charles X of France
Charles X was known for most of his life as the Comte d'Artois before he reigned as King of France and of Navarre from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. A younger brother to Kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported the latter in exile and eventually succeeded him...
), and finally Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII of France
Louis XVIII , known as "the Unavoidable", was King of France and of Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815...
. He was banished and recalled four times by different regimes, never arrested, succeeding each time in regaining official favour. In a long and eventful career, he was successively a monarchist deputy during the Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
and under the Directoire, an exile during the Terror
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
, a deputy under Napoleon, Minister of the Interior
Minister of the Interior (France)
The Minister of the Interior in France is one of the most important governmental cabinet positions, responsible for the following:* The general interior security of the country, with respect to criminal acts or natural catastrophes...
to Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII of France
Louis XVIII , known as "the Unavoidable", was King of France and of Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815...
and eventually, at the end of his political career, a simple ultra-royalist deputy. He is remembered now for the fiery eloquence of his speeches, and for his controversial reorganisation of the Académie française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
in 1816 while Minister of the Interior. He strongly favoured the motion for the enfranchisement of the slaves in the French colonies in America.
Military education under the Ancien Régime
Fort-Liberté
Fort-Liberté is the administrative capital of the Nord-Est Department, Haiti. It is close to the border of the Dominican Republic and is one of the oldest cities in the country. Haiti's independence was proclaimed here on November 29, 1803. The area around Fort-Liberté was originally inhabited by...
, Saint-Domingue
Saint-Domingue
The labour for these plantations was provided by an estimated 790,000 African slaves . Between 1764 and 1771, the average annual importation of slaves varied between 10,000-15,000; by 1786 it was about 28,000, and from 1787 onward, the colony received more than 40,000 slaves a year...
(now Fort-Liberté
Fort-Liberté
Fort-Liberté is the administrative capital of the Nord-Est Department, Haiti. It is close to the border of the Dominican Republic and is one of the oldest cities in the country. Haiti's independence was proclaimed here on November 29, 1803. The area around Fort-Liberté was originally inhabited by...
, Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
), into an aristocratic family from Bourgogne
Bourgogne
Burgundy is one of the 27 regions of France.The name comes from the Burgundians, an ancient Germanic people who settled in the area in early Middle-age. The region of Burgundy is both larger than the old Duchy of Burgundy and smaller than the area ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy, from the modern...
, he was the eldest son of Vivant-François Viénot de Vaublanc, commanding officer of Fort Saint-Louis in Fort Dauphin. He saw Metropolitan France
Metropolitan France
Metropolitan France is the part of France located in Europe. It can also be described as mainland France or as the French mainland and the island of Corsica...
for the first time at the age of seven.
After military education at the Prytanée National Militaire
Prytanée National Militaire
The Prytanée National Militaire, originally Collège Royal Henry-Le-Grand, is a French school managed by the military, offering regular secondary education as well as special preparatory school classes, equivalent in level to the first years of university, for students who wish to enter French...
in La Flèche
La Flèche
La Flèche is a municipality located in the French department of Sarthe and the region of Pays de la Loire in the Loire Valley. This is the sub-prefecture of the South-Sarthe, the chief district and the chief city of a canton. This is the second most populous city of the department. The city is part...
, and at the École Militaire
École Militaire
The École Militaire is a vast complex of buildings housing various military training facilities located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, southeast of the Champ de Mars....
in Paris from 1770 to 1774, he was decorated with the Order of Saint Lazarus
Order of Saint Lazarus
This article concerns the order of knighthood named after Saint Lazarus. For other uses of the name Lazarus, see Lazarus .The Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem is an order of chivalry which originated in a leper hospital founded by the Knights Hospitaller in 1098 by the...
(before he had even set foot outside the school) by the Comte de Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
, the future Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII of France
Louis XVIII , known as "the Unavoidable", was King of France and of Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815...
, Grand Master of the Order.
He was admitted as second-lieutenant to the Régiment de la Sarre, which was controlled by the Duc de Liancourt
François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt
François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt was a French social reformer.-Early life:...
from 1776 to 1782, and in which his uncle Charles was lieutenant-colonel. He was garrisoned successively at Metz
Metz
Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...
, at Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
and at Lille
Lille
Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
, before obtaining lettres de service for Saint-Domingue to attend to family affairs.
There he married one Mademoiselle de Fontenelle, and returned to France in 1782 with a daughter. He purchased the office of lieutenant des maréchaux de France for Dammarie-les-Lys
Dammarie-les-Lys
Dammarie-lès-Lys is a commune in the south-eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region from the center of Paris.-History:...
, near Melun
Melun
Melun is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Located in the south-eastern suburbs of Paris, Melun is the capital of the department, as the seat of an arrondissement...
, and a house in the region, giving his profession as gentleman-farmer.
The responsibility of his station was to act as arbiter in legal disputes which involved points of honour, and this permitted him to make the acquaintance of a number of aristocrats in the region. It also gave him the time to study agriculture, literature and the arts.
Convocation of the French States-General (1789–1791)
Seduced at first by the new ideas of the Revolution, he threw himself into a political career by becoming an aristocratic member of the bailliage of Melun in 1789. He was elected secretary of this assembly, under its president M. de Gouy d'Arcy, grand bailli of Melun, a fellow member of the famous explorer Louis Antoine de BougainvilleLouis Antoine de Bougainville
Louis-Antoine, Comte de Bougainville was a French admiral and explorer. A contemporary of James Cook, he took part in the French and Indian War and the unsuccessful French attempt to defend Canada from Britain...
. The Assembly was assigned the task of drawing up a list of grievances to be submitted to the King and naming a deputy to the States-General. Vaublanc supported Fréteau de Saint Just, an elected député de la noblesse for the bailliage of Melun who was to become a member of the National Constituent Assembly
National Constituent Assembly
The National Constituent Assembly was formed from the National Assembly on 9 July 1789, during the first stages of the French Revolution. It dissolved on 30 September 1791 and was succeeded by the Legislative Assembly.-Background:...
.
In 1790, Vaublanc became a member and later president of the conseil général of Seine-et-Marne
Seine-et-Marne
Seine-et-Marne is a French department, named after the Seine and Marne rivers, and located in the Île-de-France region.- History:Seine-et-Marne is one of the original 83 departments, created on March 4, 1790 during the French Revolution in application of the law of December 22, 1789...
. This gave him the right to preside over the administrative directory of this .
Losing ground to the Jacobins under the Legislative Assembly (1791)
After the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, the electoral colleges reconvened to elect new deputies. Vaublanc was elected president of that of Seine-et-Marne. On 1 September 1791, he was elected deputy of Seine-et-Marne at the Legislative Assembly, the eighth out of eleven,by 273 votes out of 345. He was one of the few to have any political experience, notably on the question of the AntillesAntilles
The Antilles islands form the greater part of the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. The Antilles are divided into two major groups: the "Greater Antilles" to the north and west, including the larger islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico; and the smaller "Lesser Antilles" on the...
, in an assembly composed essentially of political novices. Faithful to their promises, not one former member of the Constituent Assembly had been admitted.
A leader of the Club des Feuillants (1791–1792)
From this point on, he took the name of Viénot-Vaublanc, which he retained until the end of the First EmpireFirst French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
in 1814.
From the very moment of his appearance, he made himself conspicuous by delivering a speech which denounced the humiliating terms on which Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
was to be received by the Assembly the next day. As a result of these statements, he was elected president from 15 November to 28 November 1791 by the assembly, the majority of whom were royalist.
Prince of Condé
The Most Serene House of Condé is a historical French house, a noble lineage of descent from a single ancestor...
). The assembly was so pleased with his work that they asked him to read it to the King personally. Louis XVI replied that he would take the request into serious consideration, and, several days later, personally announced his decision on the matter.
On this occasion Vaublanc made a name for himself by informing the assembly "that the King had made the first bow, and he had only returned the gesture." The anecdote reveals the shift in constitutional forces: the legislative power, embodied in the Legislative Assembly, was clearly ascendant over the executive, embodied in Louis XVI, who was now no more than the "King of the French" or roi des français.
Vaublanc now sided with the constitutional monarchists and joined the Amis de la Constitution (dubbed the Club des Feuillants
Feuillant (political group)
The Feuillants were a political grouping that emerged during the French Revolution. It came into existence from a split within the Jacobins from those opposing the overthrow of the king and proposing a constitutional monarchy. The deputies publicly split with the Jacobins when they published a...
) with 263 other colleagues out of the 745 deputies. He became one of its principal figures, along with Jacques Claude Beugnot
Jacques Claude Beugnot
Jacques Claude, comte de Beugnot was a French politician before, during, and after the French Revolution. His son Auguste Arthur Beugnot was an historian and scholar.-Revolution:...
, Mathieu Dumas
Guillaume Mathieu, comte Dumas
Guillaume Mathieu, comte Dumas was a French general.-Biography:Born in Montpellier, France of a noble family, he joined the French army in 1773 and entered upon active service in 1780, as aide-de-camp to Rochambeau in the American Revolutionary War. He had a share in all the principal engagements...
and Jaucourt
Arnail François, marquis de Jaucourt
Arnail François, marquis de Jaucourt, comte de l'Empire was a French aristocrat and politician.-Military career and Revolution:...
, after the departure of Barnave
Antoine Barnave
Antoine Pierre Joseph Marie Barnave was a French politician, and, together with Honoré Mirabeau, one of the most influential orators of the early part of the French Revolution...
and C. Lameth
Charles Malo François Lameth
Charles Malo François Lameth was a French politician and soldier.Born in Paris, he was in the retinue of the comte d'Artois , and became an officer in a cuirassier regiment...
. He vigorously opposed revolutionary governments and was characterised by his loyalty to the King, his opposition to repressive measures against rebellious priests and to laws confiscating the goods of émigrés, and his denunciation of the massacres at Avignon. Debate became steadily more extreme. The crowds attending these debates often shouted at him (as they did at Charles de Lacretelle
Jean Charles Dominique de Lacretelle
Jean Charles Dominique de Lacretelle, , was a French historian and journalist.Called Lacretelle le jeune to distinguish him from his elder brother, Pierre Louis de Lacretelle. He was born at Metz. He was called to Paris by his brother in 1787, and during the French Revolution belonged, like...
) "À la lanterne!
Ah! ça ira
"Ah ! ça ira" is an emblematic song of the French Revolution, first heard in May 1790. It underwent several changes in wording, all of which used the title words as part of the refrain.-Original version:...
" Nicolas de Condorcet, his hostile colleague in the Legislative Assembly in 1791, said of him: "There are, at all meetings, these noisy air-headed orators, who produce a great effect through the constant repetition of redundant inanities." Brissot, one of the chief Girondist
Girondist
The Girondists were a political faction in France within the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention during the French Revolution...
s in the Legislative Assembly, nicknamed him le chef des bicamériste
Bicameralism
In the government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses....
s.
The fall of the monarchy (1792)
In 1792, he defended the Comte de Rochambeau before the Assembly and obtained his acquittal. Following the majority of the Assembly who sought to abolish slavery in the AntillesAntilles
The Antilles islands form the greater part of the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. The Antilles are divided into two major groups: the "Greater Antilles" to the north and west, including the larger islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico; and the smaller "Lesser Antilles" on the...
, he nevertheless took aim in a speech of 20 March at those hardline abolitionists like Brissot who knew little of life in the colonies and of the risks of civil war given the diversity of ethnicities and social conflicts in Saint-Domingue
Saint-Domingue
The labour for these plantations was provided by an estimated 790,000 African slaves . Between 1764 and 1771, the average annual importation of slaves varied between 10,000-15,000; by 1786 it was about 28,000, and from 1787 onward, the colony received more than 40,000 slaves a year...
. He supported the law of 4 April 1792 which granted citizenship to all "coloured men and free Negroes". At the meeting of 10 April, he declared himself in favour of the progressive abolition of the slave trade throughout the colonies, following the examples of Denmark and Great Britain.
On 3 May 1792, he supported the proposition of Beugnot which provoked an accusatory decree from Marat
Jean-Paul Marat
Jean-Paul Marat , born in the Principality of Neuchâtel, was a physician, political theorist, and scientist best known for his career in France as a radical journalist and politician during the French Revolution...
and the abbé Royou, and on 8 May, at the Assembly, he addressed the Jacobins in these terms: "You wish, sirs, to save the Constitution; and yet, you cannot do so without beating down factions and the factious, without setting everything besides the rule of law to one side, without dying with the Law and for the Law, and I declare that I shall not be the last who shall die with you, in order to see it preserved; believe it, sirs...."
On 18 June, he was elected a member of the Commission des douze (Committee of Twelve), created by Marat to examine the State of France and to propose means of preserving the Constitution, liberty, and the Empire. He gave his resignation on 30 July.
The defence of La Fayette
Following the events of 20 June 1792, La FayetteGilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette , often known as simply Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer born in Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne in south central France...
arrived in Paris on 28 June, hoping to convince the King to leave in order to head the armies assembled in the north. At the head of the National Guard, he tried to close down the political clubs, but his attempt failed, partly because of the Court's refusal to support him. In reaction to this, the left wing of the Assembly decided to charge Lafayette with treason.
On 8 August 1792, ill at ease and shocked by the course of events, Vaublanc delivered a speech before the Assembly, in which he defended, vigorously, and courageously, against the lively opposition of the Jacobins who dominated the Assembly and of the man in the street, General La Fayette, who stood accused of violating the Constitution. He later claimed to have succeeded (with the help of Quatremère de Quincy
Quatremère de Quincy
Antoine-Chrysostome Quatremère de Quincy was a French armchair archaeologist and architectural theorist, a Freemason, and an effective arts administrator and influential writer on art....
) in rallying 200 undecided deputies to his position. La Fayette was acquitted, by 406 votes out of 630.
On departure, Vaublanc and about thirty other deputies were threatened, insulted and jostled by the hostile crowd which had attended the debate. Some deputies even took refuge in the guardroom of the Royal Palace, later exiting through the windows. Hippolyte Taine
Hippolyte Taine
Hippolyte Adolphe Taine was a French critic and historian. He was the chief theoretical influence of French naturalism, a major proponent of sociological positivism, and one of the first practitioners of historicist criticism. Literary historicism as a critical movement has been said to originate...
wrote: "After the principal defender of La Fayette, M. de Vaublanc, had been assaulted three times, he took the precaution of not immediately returning home; but the rabble besieged his house, shouting that eighty citizens must die by their hands, and that he should be the first; twelve men climbed to his apartment, ransacked it, and continued the search in neighbouring houses, hoping for members of his family if he himself could not be seized; he was informed that if he returned to his domicile he would be slaughtered."
As a result, on 9 August, Vaublanc asked for the removal of the fédérés and marseillais. The request was rejected by a majority of the Assembly.
August 10
On 10 August 1792, the day that marked the downfall of the Legislative Assembly and the Monarchy at the hands of the Paris CommuneParis Commune (French Revolution)
The Paris Commune during the French Revolution was the government of Paris from 1789 until 1795. Established in the Hôtel de Ville just after the storming of the Bastille, the Commune became insurrectionary in the summer of 1792, essentially refusing to take orders from the central French...
, he witnessed from his carriage the toppling of the statue of Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
in what is now the Place Vendôme
Place Vendôme
Place Vendôme is a square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France, located to the north of the Tuileries Gardens and east of the Église de la Madeleine. It is the starting point of the Rue de la Paix. Its regular architecture by Jules Hardouin-Mansart and pedimented screens canted across the...
. He enjoined the Assembly to leave Paris for royalist Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
to escape the revolutionary pressures, and he avoided an assassination attempt when he was narrowly saved from a sabre cut by a young officer of genius, Captain Louis Bertrand de Sivray, who was to make a name for himself as general.
He was one of the eyewitnesses of the arrival of the Royal Family, who, after the March on the Tuileries, placed themselves under the protection of the Legislative Assembly at the Place du Carrousel. The incident is described in his memoirs.
Exiled during the Convention and the Reign of Terror (1792–1795)
On the evening of 10 August he was obliged to take refuge at the home of Armand-Gaston Camus, the Assembly's archivist. Several days later he moved to the Hotel Strasbourg, on the rue Neuve Saint Eustache. On 3 September 1792, hearing a commotion in the courtyard, he thought himself betrayed; but it was in fact the passage of a rabble brandishing the head of the Princesse de Lamballe on a pole.
The Committee of Public Safety
Committee of Public Safety
The Committee of Public Safety , created in April 1793 by the National Convention and then restructured in July 1793, formed the de facto executive government in France during the Reign of Terror , a stage of the French Revolution...
, newly established, published a decree in which it was revealed that he was on the list of outlaws drawn up by the Municipality of Paris. This forced him to leave the city, first for Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
, where he reunited with his family, then for his country house at Bélombres near Melun. He lived in hiding for several months; it was there that he learnt that the newspaper Gorsas accused him among others of having "accepted 300,000 francs from the Queen for the purpose of organising the Counter-Revolution in Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
", and that he "met with them secretly."
The Law of Suspects went to the vote on 17 September 1793. His name appeared within. A revolutionary detachment came and ransacked his house, and he "fled by the highways" entirely on foot, throwing himself on the mercy of chance. He wandered from inn to inn, entering (he later wrote) every town in a terror of being recognised, especially when going to local authorities in order to get his passport stamped.
At the trial of Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
, on 14 October and 16 October 1793, his name appeared next to that of Jaucourt
Arnail François, marquis de Jaucourt
Arnail François, marquis de Jaucourt, comte de l'Empire was a French aristocrat and politician.-Military career and Revolution:...
in the papers of the prosecutors.
Opting at first for the south of France, and Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
in particular, he changed direction after having learnt of the ferocious oppression led there by Tallien, the Convention's representative, and the dangers that travel in those regions entailed. He passed through Poitiers
Poitiers
Poitiers is a city on the Clain river in west central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and of the Poitou-Charentes region. The centre is picturesque and its streets are interesting for predominant remains of historical architecture, especially from the Romanesque...
, and La Rochelle
La Rochelle
La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department.The city is connected to the Île de Ré by a bridge completed on 19 May 1988...
, where he stayed for one month. Wishing to avoid taking the risk of enlisting in the National Guard, where he could well be recognised, he feigned illness and obtained a medical certificate which would allow him to take a thermal cure at Castéra-Verduzan in the Gers
Gers
The Gers is a department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in the southwest of France named after the Gers River.Inhabitants are called les Gersois or Gersoises.-History:...
region. To allay suspicions, he took the precaution of regularly pricking his gums in order to simulate "incurable scurvy
Scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...
." It was while at this spa that he learnt of the fall of Robespierre on 27 July 1794. He waited four months for his proscription to be lifted before returning to Paris.
A counterrevolutionary activist under the Directory (1795–1799)
On his return to Paris in the spring of 1795, he published his "Reflections on the foundations of a constitution" (Réflexions sur les bases d'une constitution), under the pseudonym of L.-P. de Ségur, tabled by his friend Bresson, then a deputy at the National Convention. In this work, he advocated the creation of two parliamentary chambers instead of one (as was the case under the Convention), in the belief that having only one chamber had been one of the causes of the TerrorReign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
. He also advocated the installation of a single person as head of the Executive, for the sake of efficiency, as opposed to the Directory's five.
After the appearance of this book, the committee entrusted with the drawing up of the Constitution of Year III (comprising Daunou and François-Antoine de Boissy d'Anglas) invited him to elaborate on his theories, but he refused. His ideas were nevertheless broadly followed, and two chambers representing the Legislature saw the light of day with the names "Council of Ancients
Council of Ancients
The Council of Ancients or Council of Elders was the upper house of the Directory , the legislature of France from 22 August 1795 until 9 November 1799, roughly the second half of the period generally referred to as the French Revolution.The Council of Ancients was the senior of the two halves of...
(Elders)" and "Council of Five Hundred
Council of Five Hundred
The Council of Five Hundred , or simply the Five Hundred was the lower house of the legislature of France during the period commonly known as the Directory , from 22 August 1795 until 9 November 1799, roughly the second half of the period generally referred to as the...
" (Conseil des Anciens and Conseil des Cinq-Cents).
Opposed to the Decree of Two Thirds, he took on an active rôle with Antoine Chrysostome Quatremère de Quincy at the time of the insurrection of 13 Vendemaire IV (5 October 1795). On this occasion, he discovered the tactical genius of Bonaparte, who became known as le général Vendémiaire. He was a member of the central royalist committee entrusted with replacing the Convention.
On 17 October, as head of the royalist faction of the Faubourg Poissonnière, he was condemned to death in absentia by a military commission presided over by General Lostange, which had its headquarters at the Théâtre-Français. This obliged him to go into hiding for a second time, mostly at the residence of Sophie Cottin, a friend of Bresson's wife. He took advantage of his stay there by making sketches of Cottin.
Several days later, the Convention, forced to hold new elections, assembled the electoral colleges. This election brought a majority of royalists into the Senate and into the Council of 500. The college of Melun elected Vaublanc as deputy for Seine-et-Marne and as a member of the Council of 500; however he had to wait for his friends Desfourneaux and Pastoret to overturn his sentence (by reason of unconstitutionality). This was made easier because of the fear inspired in the Assembly by Conspiration des Égaux at the end of August 1796. On 2 September 1796, he delivered the famous speech "I swear hatred for royalty!" which, according to legend, was interrupted by a highlander who shouted "Speak up!" — to which Vaublanc responded instantly: "Keep it down!"
The elections of Year V (May 1797), in which one third of the representatives were replaced, turned the tables in favour of the royalists, who achieved a majority in both chambers. On 20 May 1797 (20 prairial V), Charles Pichegru
Charles Pichegru
Jean-Charles Pichegru was a French general and political figure of the French Revolution and Revolutionary Wars.-Early life and career:...
was elected president of the Council of 500 and Barbé-Marbois of the Council of Elders. Vaublanc himself was named membre du bureau of the Council of 500. On the same day, the Legislature proceeded to replace the republican Director, Le Tourneur
Le Tourneur
-References:*...
(who had gained the position by drawing straws), with the moderate royalist François de Barthélémy
François-Marie, marquis de Barthélemy
François, marquis de Barthélemy was a French politician and diplomat, active at the time of the French Revolution.-Diplomat and member of the Directory:...
, at that time the French ambassador to Switzerland. Vaublanc voted against his nomination, preferring General Beurnonville
Pierre de Ruel, marquis de Beurnonville
Pierre de Ruel, marquis de Beurnonville was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars and later a marshal of France.-Biography:Bournonville was born at Champignol-lez-Mondeville, Aube....
, who was known for his forcefulness.
The new majority supported freedom of the press, which allowed attacks on the Directory to be made with impunity. The Club de Clichy
Club de Clichy
During the French Revolution, the Club de Clichy formed in 1794, following the fall of Robespierre, 9 Thermidor an II . The political club that came to be called the Clichyens met in rooms in the rue de Clichy, which led west towards the fashionable Parisian suburb of Clichy...
, of which Vaublanc was a prominent member, began to control the two councils, and directly threatened the Directory. He was appointed to their committee of inspectors, and given the rôle of policing the councils and maintaining their security from within. As a result he had the power to give orders to the councils' brigadiers.
The Directory, cornered, counterattacked with the 80,000-strong army of Sambre-et-Meuse, which approached Paris under the command of Hoche. At the same time, Vaublanc pleaded for and obtained from the Council an order dissolving all clubs, including those of the Jacobins.
On 16 July 1797, under pressure from the councils, the three republican directors, Barras, Reubell and La Reveillière-Lépeaux, ordered a ministerial reshuffle disadvantaging the royalists. On 3 September, Vaublanc, with his colleague Admiral Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse and other clichiens, was a hair's breadth from achieving a coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
against the triumvirate of republican directors. Their plan, which convinced the director Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot, was simple. Vaublanc was charged with delivering a speech on 4 September before the Council of 500 which would demand the impeachment of the triumvirate. Meanwhile, General Pichegru, who had been persuaded by Carnot to join the conspiracy at the head of the Legislature's Guard, would come to arrest the directors.
Unfortunately for him, General Bonaparte, then head of the Armée d'Italie, intercepted a royalist agent, Louis-Alexandre de Launay, comte d'Antraigues
Louis-Alexandre de Launay, comte d'Antraigues
Emmanuel Henri Louis Alexandre de Launay, comte d'Antraigues was a French pamphleteer, diplomat, spy and political adventurer during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars....
, in possession of documents revealing the conspiracy and the treason of Pichegru. He sent General Pierre Augereau and his army to Paris, where the general advertised the treason with posters in the streets. The principal conspirators were either arrested and deported to Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
(like Pichegru and Barthélémy), or forced to flee (like Carnot and Vaublanc). The latter managed to escape the city limits of Paris, which was then still in a state of siege, by hiding in a carriage. This escape was achieved through the connivance of Rochambeau. Vaublanc made it to Italy with the help of various disguises; on his way he passed through Switzerland, where he stayed with his friend Pastoret.
Under Napoleon
The coup d'étatCoup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
of 18 Brumaire
18 Brumaire
The coup of 18 Brumaire was the coup d'état by which General Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew the French Directory, replacing it with the French Consulate...
VIII (10 November 1799), and the accession to power of the Consulat
French Consulate
The Consulate was the government of France between the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire in 1804...
, which gave amnesty to the proscribed, permitted him to return to France, where he was presented to Bonaparte.
Deputy to the Corps législatif (1800–1805)
Calvados
The French department of Calvados is part of the region of Basse-Normandie in Normandy. It takes its name from a cluster of rocks off the English Channel coast...
, one of 300 members of the Legislature (Corps législatif), and to fulfil the duties of questeur for a five-year term. Among those duties was that of issuing regular reports on the Consulate for the rest of his life.
The admiration and respect which he felt towards Napoleon for having "reestablished order in France and put an end to the persecution of priests" can be seen in several of his speeches at this time: for example that of 24 floréal X to the consuls, in his capacity as deputy to the Legislature, a speech which is flattering to the First Consul, or that of 24 nivôse XIII (13 January 1805), this time delivered before Napoléon I, who had in the meantime become empereur des français, when together with Jean-Pierre Louis de Fontanes, Acting President of the Legislature, Vaublanc attended the inauguration of a marble statue of the Emperor in the hall of the Legislature, which had been commissioned to honour the "father of the Civil Code."
He was President of the Legislature from 21 April to 7 May 1803.
On 4 November 1804, Pope Pius VII stayed the night at Vaublanc's house in Montargis
Montargis
Montargis is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France. The town is located about south of Paris and east of Orléans in the Gâtinais....
, 28 rue de Loing, while travelling to Paris for the coronation of the Emperor.
Prefect of Moselle (1805–1814)
At the end of his term as deputy, in 1805 the electoral college of Seine-et-Marne put him up as a candidate for the Senate, but he was not retained. Interested by the administrative and territorial reorganisations that were taking place, he managed to obtain a prefecture, and on 1 February 1805 at Metz he was named préfet de la Moselle (prefect or chief administrator of the département of Moselle). He became known for his activism and for his habit of roaming his département on horseback and not by stagecoach as was customary for prefects.Napoleon rewarded him for his zeal: he was made Commander of the Légion d'honneur, knighted on 28 November 1809, made baron d'Empire on 19 December 1809 (a hereditary title), and was bestowed on 17 July 1810 with a majorat
Majorat
Majorat is the right of succession to property according to age . A majorat would be inherited by the oldest son, or if there was no son, the nearest relative. This law existed in some of the European countries and was designed to prevent the distribution of wealthy estates between many members of...
in Hannover. Finally in 1813, he was given the title of comte d'Empire, although this last was not granted with letters patent
Letters patent
Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...
and thus was not hereditary. This did not prevent him from styling himself Comte de Vaublanc, or from obtaining a reversion of this title onto the benefice of his grandson Adolphe de Segond.
In June of that year he had an audience with the Emperor at the time of his passage through Metz, during which, according to the third volume of his Memoirs, he strongly objected to the idea of a campaign against Russia. During the campaign of 1813, after the withdrawal of the Mainz Army from Leipzig, a large number of wounded soldiers took refuge in Metz, resulting in a typhoid epidemic of which Vaublanc fell victim; he escaped death narrowly.
In 1814, he opened the gates of Metz to welcome the coalition forces.
For the First Restoration and against the Hundred Days (1814–1815)
Maintained as Prefect of Moselle after the First Restoration, he was made an officier of the Legion of Honour on 23 August 1814. After the return of Napoleon he kept Metz loyal to Louis XVIII and, with Marshal Oudinot, the military governor of Metz, he attempted to hinder any Bonapartist rallies. An ordre d'arrestation, published by Marshal Davout in Le Moniteur Universel, forced him to flee towards LuxembourgLuxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
, joining Louis XVIII at Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
.
It is said that, on meeting the officer assigned to arrest him, he said: "Do not worry about me. Better worry about your own self; no-one must see you leaving by the large courtyard", and led him to a side exit before galloping away on his horse.
On his arrival, he encountered Chateaubriand, who mentions him in his Mémoires d'Outre-tombe
Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe
Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe - literally "Memoirs from Beyond the Grave" - is an autobiography in 42 volumes by François-René de Chateaubriand, published posthumously in 1848...
: "M. de Vaublanc and M. Capelle joined us. The former said he had everything he could possibly need in his portfolio. You want Montesquieu? here you go; Bossuet
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet was a French bishop and theologian, renowned for his sermons and other addresses. He has been considered by many to be one of the most brilliant orators of all time and a masterly French stylist....
? there you are." He submitted to the King, via the Comte d'Artois, several essays on the state of the country, and predicted that His Majesty "would be on his way back to Paris in two months or less."
After the Second Restoration, in order to thank him for his loyalty Louis XVIII named him State Councillor on the spot, and, on 27 December 1815, Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
. In July, he sent him to Marseilles to be Prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône
Bouches-du-Rhône
Bouches-du-Rhône is a department in the south of France named after the mouth of the Rhône River. It is the most populous department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Its INSEE and postal code is 13.-History of the department:...
, and to liberate five to six hundred Bonapartist prisoners, a surprising act which was appropriate under the circumstances (Marseilles being under English control, and convulsed by anti-Bonapartist violence).
Ultra-royalist Minister of the Interior (1815–1816)
Wishing to live down his Bonapartist past, he became known as one of the most fervent leaders of the party of "Ultras", even going so far (while Minister of the Interior) as to remove the letter N from the bridges of Paris.On 26 September 1815, thanks largely to the support of his friend the Comte d'Artois, the King named him Minister of the Interior
Minister of the Interior (France)
The Minister of the Interior in France is one of the most important governmental cabinet positions, responsible for the following:* The general interior security of the country, with respect to criminal acts or natural catastrophes...
and of Public Instruction. The new President of the Council, the Duc de Richelieu
Armand-Emmanuel du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu
Armand Emmanuel Sophie Septimanie de Vignerot du Plessis, 5th Duke of Richelieu was a prominent French statesman during the Bourbon Restoration...
, who had been forced to nominate him, had a ruling on his nomination suspended, but he was not quick enough and on hearing the good news Vaublanc wasted no time in establishing himself firmly in his new ministry.
This nomination demonstrates the influence that the Comte d'Artois exercised over the governments of his brother. He kept a rival court at the Marsan
Marsan
Marsan is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France.-Population:...
Pavilion and sought to restore Absolutism by rolling back the innovations that had been ushered in by the Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
.
Rudolf von Thadden, a contemporary German historian, summed up the comments of Martignac on 2 April 1829 by saying that his nomination was due more to his background than to his talents.
Breathless devotion
Vaublanc, at the head of his ministry, engaged immediately in Counter-Revolutionary activity that was so frenetic that even the King was to be describe it as "breathless devotion". On the tabling by the Keeper of the SealsKeeper of the seals
The title Keeper of the Seals or equivalent is used in several contexts, denoting the person entitled to keep and authorize use of the Great Seal of a given country. The title may or may not be linked to a particular cabinet or ministerial office.- Canada :...
of a law that would reestablish cours prévôtales or "special courts" before the Chamber of Deputies (nicknamed the Chambre introuvable
Chambre introuvable
La Chambre introuvable was the first Chamber of Deputies elected after the Second Bourbon Restoration in 1815. It was dominated by Ultra-royalists who completely refused to accept the results of the French Revolution...
), Vaublanc shouted out: "France wants its King!" To great applause, both the deputies and the public gallery rose to their feet and repeated "Yes, France wants its King!"
On 2 October 1815, one of his first measures was to send out a circular to all the departmental prefects informing them of their priorities in this troubled time: "The very first priority should be given to the maintenance of order (...) true vigilance foresees disorderliness and renders the use of force unnecessary." He used his powers to lock down the prefectural system to the advantage of the royalists, by transferring or sacking twenty-two prefects. By the end of his incumbency not one prefect even slightly implicated in the events of the Hundred Days was still in office.
On 18 November, he signed a statute that replaced the general staff of the National Guard with a committee of three Inspectors-General who were the members of the council of the Colonel-General — none other than the Comte d'Artois. The statute also removed the right of the other ministers to review any nominations to these positions. This permitted the Ultras to infiltrate the organisation more easily.
By a statute of 13 January 1816, he shortened the terms of mayors and deputy-mayors by two years; Vaublanc explained this measure to a prefect thus: "By accelerating the turn-over of mayors and deputy-mayors, you must get those people out of the way who, without a formal recall, would continue in a station to which they appear ill-suited."
Institut de France
The Institut de France is a French learned society, grouping five académies, the most famous of which is the Académie française.The institute, located in Paris, manages approximately 1,000 foundations, as well as museums and chateaux open for visit. It also awards prizes and subsidies, which...
, perhaps persuaded by a letter from Jean Baptiste Antoine Suard, secretary in perpetuity of the Académie française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
: "I can never tire of repeating that there is manifest in this institute a remnant of the Revolutionary spirit, whose influence must urgently be quelled by wise foresight working through statutes which you shall put into effect"; this statute gave him the direct power to name nine of the eleven academicians.
This radical submission of academia to "royal benevolence" met a mixed reception. In particular, the liberals reproached him for replacing the poet Antoine Vincent Arnault with the Duc de Richelieu
Armand-Emmanuel du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu
Armand Emmanuel Sophie Septimanie de Vignerot du Plessis, 5th Duke of Richelieu was a prominent French statesman during the Bourbon Restoration...
, Pierre Louis Roederer
Pierre Louis Roederer
Comte Pierre Louis Roederer was a French politician, economist, and historian, politically active in the era of the French Revolution and First French Republic...
with the Duc de Lévis, and Charles-Guillaume Etienne
Charles-Guillaume Étienne
Charles-Guillaume Étienne was a French dramatist and miscellaneous writer.He was born in Chamouilley, Haute Marne. He held various municipal offices under the Revolution and came in 1796 to Paris, where he produced his first opera, Le Rêve, in 1799, in collaboration with Antoine-Frédéric Gresnick...
with the Comte Choiseul-Gouffier. The new académiciens had no significant literary achievements. This affair earned him the nickname Maupeou de la littérature.
Throughout this time of purging, he proposed the creation of a Ministry of Fine Arts for Chateaubriand, but this idea was turned down by the Duc de Richelieu. On 6 April 1816 Vaublanc was elected membre libre of the Academy of Fine Arts, from which he had ousted the painter Jacques Louis David.
Fall from grace
In his capacity as Minister of the Interior, he had to draft a new electoral law. Vaublanc proposed, without much enthusiasm (and with the precedent of Article 37 from the Charter of 1814), an annual re-election of one fifth of the Chamber according to a two-tier system aimed at keeping the Chamber in Royalist hands. This proposal was rejected by the Chamber of Deputies, on 3 April 1816, by 89 votes to 57. Hoping to stay in power as long as possible, the Chamber tabled a counter-proposal involving a general election every five years, which in turn was rejected by the Government. As a result of the impasse, France briefly had no electoral law.On 10 April 1816, to a full house, the Police Minister Decazes
Élie, duc Decazes
Élie Decazes, 1st duc Decazes and 1st Duke of Glücksbierg , was a French statesman, known from 1815 to 1820 as 1st comte Decazes in France, 1st Duke of Glücksbierg in Denmark in 1818, and 1st duc Decazes in France in 1820 .-Early life:Élie Decazes was born at Saint-Martin-de-Laye, Gironde, son of...
heckled him: "You are nothing more than the Minister of the Comte d'Artois and you want to be more powerful than the Ministers of the King!" Vaublanc responded scathingly: "If I were more powerful than you, I would make full use of those powers to have you charged with high treason for you are, M. Decazes, indeed a traitor both to King and country."
On 13 April 1816, he aided the expulsion of some students from the Polytechnic, perpetrators of "disturbances and indiscipline", the majority in fact being Bonapartists who were being expelled for political reasons.
France's allies, still present in the country, became uneasy about the dissensions within the French government. The Russian Ambassador, a Corsican named Pozzo di Borgo, went so far as to blame Vaublanc for a large part of it: "One of the principal sources of the disorder has been the heterogeneous composition of the ministry; the defection of that of the Interior has greatly weakened the authority and the influence of the Crown on the Chambers."
The battle of personalities within the Ministry of the Interior (Vaublanc versus Richelieu
Armand-Emmanuel du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu
Armand Emmanuel Sophie Septimanie de Vignerot du Plessis, 5th Duke of Richelieu was a prominent French statesman during the Bourbon Restoration...
and Decazes
Élie, duc Decazes
Élie Decazes, 1st duc Decazes and 1st Duke of Glücksbierg , was a French statesman, known from 1815 to 1820 as 1st comte Decazes in France, 1st Duke of Glücksbierg in Denmark in 1818, and 1st duc Decazes in France in 1820 .-Early life:Élie Decazes was born at Saint-Martin-de-Laye, Gironde, son of...
), the tight links between Vaublanc and the future Charles X
Charles X of France
Charles X was known for most of his life as the Comte d'Artois before he reigned as King of France and of Navarre from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. A younger brother to Kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported the latter in exile and eventually succeeded him...
, the hysterical outburst of 10 April, and Vaublanc's report to the King in which he absurdly insisted on "the indespensability of a firmer and more resolute pace" all led to his downfall.
Richelieu demanded that the King dismiss Vaublanc, threatening to resign if he did not. The King finally acquiesced, and, when he asked for the statute so he could countersign it, the episode (according to the account of Louis-Mathieu Molé) descended into farce.
Replaced by Joseph Louis Joachim Lainé shortly after the failure of his plans for electoral reform, he left on 8 May 1816, the same day as the Minister of Justice, François Barbé-Marbois
François Barbé-Marbois
François Barbé-Marbois, marquis de Barbé-Marbois was a French politician.-Early career:Born in Metz, where his father was director of the local mint, Barbé-Marbois tutored the children of the Marquis de Castries. In 1779 he was made secretary of the French legation to the United States...
, who had been sacked at the insistence of the Comte d'Artois in a tit-for-tat deal. The King recompensed Vaublanc with the titles of State Minister and Member of the Privy Council.
Deputy of the chamber (1820–1827) and afterwards
On 13 November 1820 he was elected to the Chamber as deputy for CalvadosCalvados
The French department of Calvados is part of the region of Basse-Normandie in Normandy. It takes its name from a cluster of rocks off the English Channel coast...
. He was re-elected on 10 October 1821, became a vice-president of the Chamber during the 1822 session, was re-elected again on 6 March 1824, but lost in 1827.
He was at the same time selected to be deputy for Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...
, where he was the co-proprietor of a sugar plantation in the parish of Basse-terre. In this capacity he recommended several changes in the judiciary and in the administration of the colonies, including the construction of storehouses.
With two of his colleagues in the chamber, Comte de la Breteche and Baron de Vitrolles, he oversaw some ultra-royalist periodicals, starting with La Quotidienne and Le Drapeau Blanc.
In January 1823, he came out in favour of the Spanish Expedition, and was named a member of the board of inquiry, presided over by Marshal Macdonald.
He had just been reappointed to the State Council (on 25 July) with the written promise of a peerage
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
, when the statues of July 1830 deposed Charles X
Charles X of France
Charles X was known for most of his life as the Comte d'Artois before he reigned as King of France and of Navarre from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. A younger brother to Kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported the latter in exile and eventually succeeded him...
. He retired from public life after the accession of Louis-Philippe
Louis-Philippe of France
Louis Philippe I was King of the French from 1830 to 1848 in what was known as the July Monarchy. His father was a duke who supported the French Revolution but was nevertheless guillotined. Louis Philippe fled France as a young man and spent 21 years in exile, including considerable time in the...
and worked on his memoirs until his sight failed. He died at the age of eighty-nine, on 21 August 1845, in Paris at his house on the rue du Bac.
Works
- 1792 Rapport sur les honneurs et récompenses militaires, le 28 janvier 1792, fait à l'Assemblée nationale, au nom du Comité d'instruction publique
- 1795 Réflexions sur les bases d'une constitution under the pseudonym L.-P. de Segur
- 1808 Rivalité de la France et de l'Angleterre
- 1818 Tables synchroniques de l'histoire de France
- 1819 Le dernier des Césars ou la chute de l'Empire romain d'Orient
- 1822 Du commerce de la France en 1820 et 1821, Paris, chez J-C Trouvé et chez Goujon
- 1828 Des administrations provinciales et municipales
- 1833 Mémoires sur la Révolution de France et recherches sur les causes qui ont amené la Révolution de 1789 et celles qui l'ont suivie (4 volumes)
- 1833 Essai sur l'instruction et l'éducation d'un prince au XIXeme siècle, destiné au duc de Bordeaux
- 1838 Fastes mémorables de la France
- 1839 Souvenirs (2 volumes)
- 1839 Soliman II, Attila, Aristomène (tragedies, 200 copies printed)
- 1843 De la navigation des colonies
- Un an sur la grand'route
- Le courage des françaises
External links
- Dahesh Museum of Art: Photo of a bust by Charles DupatyLouis DupatyLouis-Marie-Charles-Henri Mercier Dupaty was a French sculptor.The eldest son of the magistrate Jean-Baptiste Mercier Dupaty and brother of the writer and académicien Emmanuel Mercier Dupaty, he was destined for the magistrature but preferred the arts...
- Samuel MaunderSamuel MaunderSamuel Maunder was an English writer and composer of many works. He married a sister of William Pinnock, the author of numerous catechisms and educational works. Maunder was the author of several books.-Life:...
, The Biographical Treasury http://books.google.fr/books?id=zloEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PT808&lpg=PT808&dq=viennot+vaublanc+madrid&source=web&ots=fY8PXSX6nk&sig=tlmx0_m_OTQE19kQLl_HJR_RJxI&hl=fr