Étienne-Denis Pasquier
Encyclopedia
Étienne-Denis, duc de Pasquier (21 April 1767 – 5 July 1862), Chancelier de France, (a title revived for him by Louis-Philippe in 1837), was a French statesman. In 1842, he was elected a member of the Académie française
, and in the same year was created a duke by Louis-Philippe.
, with ancestors such as Étienne Pasquier
, he was destined for the legal profession and was educated at the Collège de Juilly near Paris. He then became a counsellor of the parlement de Paris
, and witnessed many of the incidents that marked the growing hostility between that body and Louis XVI of France
in the years preceding the French Revolution
of 1789.
His views were those of a moderate reformer, determined to preserve the House of Bourbon
in a renovated France; his memoirs depict in a favorable light the actions of his parlement (an institution soon to be abolished towards the end of the year 1789, under growing revolutionary pressures).
For some time, and especially during the Reign of Terror
(1793–1794), Pasquier remained in obscurity; but this did not save him from arrest in the year 1794. He was incarcerated for two months in the Saint-Lazare Prison
shortly before the start of Thermidorian Reaction
, and released after the fall and execution of Maximilien Robespierre
at the end of July 1794.
, when the arch-chancellor Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès
used his influence with Napoleon I
to procure for him the office of maître des requêtes
to the Conseil d'État. In 1809, he became baron
of the Empire, and in February 1810 counsellor of State. In October 1810, the Emperor made him prefect of police
of Paris.
The main challenge of his career was the strange conspiracy
of the republican
general Claude François de Malet
(October 1812); Malet, spreading false news that Napoleon had died in the Russian campaign, managed to surprise and capture some of the ministers and other authorities in Paris, among them Pasquier. However, the attempt's manifest failure enabled Pasquier to speedily regain his liberty.
allotted to him the Corps des Ponts et Chaussées
. He distanced himself from the Imperial restoration at the time of the Hundred Days
(1815), and, after the final Bourbon Restoration
, became Keeper of the Seal (July 1815). Finding it impossible to work with the Ultra-royalist
s of the Chamber of Deputies
(the Chambre introuvable
), he resigned office in September. Under the more moderate ministers of succeeding years, he again held various appointments, but refused to join the reactionary
cabinets of the close of the reign of Charles X of France
.
After the July Revolution
(1830), he became president of the Chamber of Peers
a post which he held through the whole of the reign of Louis-Philippe (1830–1848). After the abdication of Louis-Philippe in February 1848, Chancelier Pasquier retired from active life and set to work to compile the notes and reminiscences of his long and active career. He died in Paris at the age of ninety-five on 5 July 1862.
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,...
, and in the same year was created a duke by Louis-Philippe.
Biography
Born in Paris in a family of the noblesse de robeNobles of the Robe
Under the Old Regime, the Nobles of the Robe or Nobles of the Gown were French aristocrats who owed their rank to judicial or administrative posts — often bought outright for high sums. As a rule, these positions did not grant the holder with a title , but were honorary positions almost always...
, with ancestors such as Étienne Pasquier
Étienne Pasquier
Étienne Pasquier , French lawyer and man of letters, was born at Paris, on 7 June 1529 by his own account, according to others a year earlier. He was called to the Paris bar in 1549....
, he was destined for the legal profession and was educated at the Collège de Juilly near Paris. He then became a counsellor of the parlement de Paris
Parlement
Parlements were regional legislative bodies in Ancien Régime France.The political institutions of the Parlement in Ancien Régime France developed out of the previous council of the king, the Conseil du roi or curia regis, and consequently had ancient and customary rights of consultation and...
, and witnessed many of the incidents that marked the growing hostility between that body and Louis XVI of France
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....
in the years preceding the French 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...
of 1789.
His views were those of a moderate reformer, determined to preserve the House of Bourbon
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...
in a renovated France; his memoirs depict in a favorable light the actions of his parlement (an institution soon to be abolished towards the end of the year 1789, under growing revolutionary pressures).
For some time, and especially during the Reign of 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...
(1793–1794), Pasquier remained in obscurity; but this did not save him from arrest in the year 1794. He was incarcerated for two months in the Saint-Lazare Prison
Prison Saint-Lazare
The Prison Saint-Lazare was a prison in the Xe arrondissement of Paris, France.-History:Originally a leper hospital founded on the road from Paris to Saint-Denis at the boundary of the marshy area of former Seine river bank in the 12th century, it was ceded on 7 January 1632 to Vincent de Paul and...
shortly before the start of Thermidorian Reaction
Thermidorian Reaction
The Thermidorian Reaction was a revolt in the French Revolution against the excesses of the Reign of Terror. It was triggered by a vote of the Committee of Public Safety to execute Maximilien Robespierre, Antoine Louis Léon de Saint-Just de Richebourg and several other leading members of the Terror...
, and released after the fall and execution of Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre is one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution. He largely dominated the Committee of Public Safety and was instrumental in the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror, which ended with his...
at the end of July 1794.
Empire
He did not re-enter the public service until the period of the First French 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...
, when the arch-chancellor Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès
Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès
Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès, 1st Duke of Parma was a French lawyer and statesman during the French Revolution and the First Empire, best remembered as the author of the Napoleonic code, which still forms the basis of French civil law.-Early career:Cambacérès was born in Montpellier, into a...
used his influence with Napoleon I
Napoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
to procure for him the office of maître des requêtes
Maître des requêtes
Masters of Requests are high-level judicial officers of administrative law in France and other European countries that have existed in one form or another since the Middle Ages.-Old Regime France:...
to the Conseil d'État. In 1809, he became baron
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...
of the Empire, and in February 1810 counsellor of State. In October 1810, the Emperor made him prefect of police
Prefecture of Police
The Prefecture of Police , headed by the Prefect of Police , is an agency of the Government of France which provides the police force for the city of Paris and the surrounding three suburban départements of Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, and Val-de-Marne...
of Paris.
The main challenge of his career was the strange conspiracy
Conspiracy (political)
In a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of persons united in the goal of usurping or overthrowing an established political power. Typically, the final goal is to gain power through a revolutionary coup d'état or through assassination....
of the republican
Republicanism
Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context...
general Claude François de Malet
Claude François de Malet
Claude François de Malet was born in Dôle to an aristocratic family on June 28, 1754. Malet was executed by a firing squad on October 29, 1812, six days after Malet staged a failed republican coup d'état as Napoléon Bonaparte returned from the disastrous Russian campaign.-Before and during the...
(October 1812); Malet, spreading false news that Napoleon had died in the Russian campaign, managed to surprise and capture some of the ministers and other authorities in Paris, among them Pasquier. However, the attempt's manifest failure enabled Pasquier to speedily regain his liberty.
Restoration and July Monarchy
When Napoleon abdicated in April 1814, Pasquier continued to exercise his functions for a few days in order to preserve order, and then resigned from the prefecture of police, whereupon Louis XVIII of FranceLouis 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...
allotted to him the Corps des Ponts et Chaussées
Corps of Bridges and Roads (France)
The Corps of Bridges is a great technical corps of the French state. It is formed of the State Engineers of the Bridges.People entering the Corps are educated at the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées...
. He distanced himself from the Imperial restoration at the time of the Hundred Days
Hundred Days
The Hundred Days, sometimes known as the Hundred Days of Napoleon or Napoleon's Hundred Days for specificity, marked the period between Emperor Napoleon I of France's return from exile on Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815...
(1815), and, after the final Bourbon Restoration
Bourbon Restoration
The Bourbon Restoration is the name given to the period following the successive events of the French Revolution , the end of the First Republic , and then the forcible end of the First French Empire under Napoleon – when a coalition of European powers restored by arms the monarchy to the...
, became Keeper of the Seal (July 1815). Finding it impossible to work with the Ultra-royalist
Ultra-royalist
Ultra-Royalists or simply Ultras were a reactionary faction which sat in the French parliament from 1815 to 1830 under the Bourbon Restoration...
s of the Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of France
Chamber of Deputies was the name given to several parliamentary bodies in France in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries:* 1814–1848 during the Bourbon Restoration and the July Monarchy, the Chamber of Deputies was the Lower chamber of the French Parliament, elected by census suffrage.*...
(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...
), he resigned office in September. Under the more moderate ministers of succeeding years, he again held various appointments, but refused to join the reactionary
Reactionary
The term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...
cabinets of the close of the reign of 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...
.
After the July Revolution
July Revolution
The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution or in French, saw the overthrow of King Charles X of France, the French Bourbon monarch, and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, who himself, after 18 precarious years on the throne, would in turn be overthrown...
(1830), he became president of the Chamber of Peers
Peerage of France
The Peerage of France was a distinction within the French nobility which appeared in the Middle Ages. It was abolished in 1789 during the French Revolution, but it reappeared in 1814 at the time of the Bourbon Restoration which followed the fall of the First French Empire...
a post which he held through the whole of the reign of Louis-Philippe (1830–1848). After the abdication of Louis-Philippe in February 1848, Chancelier Pasquier retired from active life and set to work to compile the notes and reminiscences of his long and active career. He died in Paris at the age of ninety-five on 5 July 1862.