Hugues-Bernard Maret, duc de Bassano
Encyclopedia
Hugues-Bernard Maret, 1st Duc
de Bassano
(1 May 1763 – 13 May 1839) was a French statesman and journalist.
(Bourgogne
), he received a solid education, and then entered the legal profession – becoming a lawyer at the King's Council
in Paris. The ideas of the French Revolution
profoundly influenced him, and wholly altered his career.
The interest aroused by the debates of the first National Assembly
suggested to him the idea of publishing them in the Bulletin de l'Assemblée. The journalist Charles-Joseph Panckoucke
(1736–1798), owner of the Mercure de France
and publisher of the famous Encyclopédie
(1785), persuaded him to merge this in a larger paper, the Moniteur Universel, which gained a wide repute for correctness and impartiality.
He was a member of the moderate club, the Feuillants, but, after the overthrow of the monarchy on with the insurrection of 10 August, 1792 he accepted an office in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he sometimes exercised a steadying influence. On the withdrawal of the British
legation
, Maret went on a mission to London, where he had a favourable interview with William Pitt the Younger
on 22 December 1792 – all hope of an accommodation was, however, in vain. After the execution of Bourbon
King Louis XVI
(21 January 1793), the chief French diplomatic agent, François Bernard Chauvelin, was ordered to leave Britain, while the National Convention
declared war (1 February 1793 – see French Revolutionary Wars: Campaigns of 1793
). These events limited the impact of a second mission of Maret to London in January.
; but, while negotiating with Charles de Simonville
he was captured by the Austrian Empire
and was kept for some thirty months, until, at the close of 1795, the two were set free in return for the liberation of Princess Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte, the daughter of king Louis XVI.
For a time Maret returned to journalism, but he played a useful part in the negotiations for a peace with Britain which went on at Lille
during the summer of 1797, until the victory of the Jacobin Club
in Paris in the coup d'état of 18 Fructidor (September 1797) frustrated the hopes of Pitt for peace and inflicted on Maret another reverse of fortune.
On Napoleon Bonaparte's
return from Egypt
in 1799, Maret joined the general's party which came to power with the 18 Brumaire Coup
(9 November–10).
and First French Empire
.
The Moniteur, which became the official journal of the state in 1800, was placed under his control. He sometimes succeeded in toning down the hard, abrupt language of Napoleon's communications, and in every way proved a useful intermediary. It is known that he had a share in the drawing up of the new constitutions for the Batavian
and Italian Republics
.
In 1804 he became Minister; in 1807 he was named count
, and in 1809 he received the title of Duc
de Bassano
, one of the titles with the status of duché grand-fief
in Napoleon's Kingdom of Italy
, a rare hereditary honor (extinguished in 1906) which gives an insight into the respect his work had received from the emperor.
He was extremely devoted to Napoleon, as shown by his work to make pass into law the artifices adopted by the latter in April–May 1808 in order to make himself master of the destinies of Spain (see Peninsular War
). Maret also assisted in drawing up the Spanish Constitution of 1808
, which was rejected by almost all Spanish subjects. He accompanied Napoleon through most of his campaigns, including that of 1809 against the Fifth Coalition, and he expressed himself in favour of the marriage alliance with the Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria
, which took place in 1810.
In the spring of 1811, the Duc de Bassano replaced Jean-Baptiste Champagny
, as Minister of Foreign Affairs
. In this capacity he showed his usual ability and devotion, concluding the treaties between France and Austria and France and Prussia
, which preceded the French invasion of Russia in 1812. He was with Napoleon through the greater part of that campaign, and after the major defeat, helped to prepare the new forces with which Napoleon waged the equally unsuccessful campaign of 1813 against the Sixth Coalition.
However, in November 1813, Napoleon replaced him with Armand Augustin Louis Caulaincourt, who was thought to be more devoted to the cause of peace and personally grateful to the Emperor Alexander I
of Russia. Maret, however, as private secretary of Napoleon, remained with him through the campaign of 1814
, as well as during that of 1815 and the Hundred Days
.
After the full Restoration of the Bourbons, Maret was exiled, and retired to Graz
, where he occupied himself with literary work. In 1820 he was allowed to return to France, and after the July Revolution
of 1830, the new House of Orléans
king Louis-Philippe
made him Peer of France
; he also held two high offices for a few days.
Maret, Duc de Bassano died at Paris in 1839.
Duke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
de Bassano
Bassano Bresciano
Bassano Bresciano is a comune in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy. As of 2007 Bassano Bresciano had an estimated population of 2,176....
(1 May 1763 – 13 May 1839) was a French statesman and journalist.
Early career
Born at DijonDijon
Dijon is a city in eastern France, the capital of the Côte-d'Or département and of the Burgundy region.Dijon is the historical capital of the region of Burgundy. Population : 151,576 within the city limits; 250,516 for the greater Dijon area....
(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 received a solid education, and then entered the legal profession – becoming a lawyer at the King's Council
Curia Regis
Curia regis is a Latin term meaning "royal council" or "king's court."- England :The Curia Regis, in the Kingdom of England, was a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics that advised the king of England on legislative matters...
in Paris. The ideas of 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...
profoundly influenced him, and wholly altered his career.
The interest aroused by the debates of the first National Assembly
National Assembly (French Revolution)
During the French Revolution, the National Assembly , which existed from June 17 to July 9, 1789, was a transitional body between the Estates-General and the National Constituent Assembly.-Background:...
suggested to him the idea of publishing them in the Bulletin de l'Assemblée. The journalist Charles-Joseph Panckoucke
Charles-Joseph Panckoucke
Charles-Joseph Panckoucke was a French writer and publisher. He was responsible for numerous influential publications of the era, including the literary journal Mercure de France and the Encyclopédie Méthodique, a successor to the Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot.Panckoucke was born in the city of...
(1736–1798), owner of the Mercure de France
Mercure de France
The Mercure de France was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group....
and publisher of the famous Encyclopédie
Encyclopédie
Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers was a general encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772, with later supplements, revised editions, and translations. It was edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert...
(1785), persuaded him to merge this in a larger paper, the Moniteur Universel, which gained a wide repute for correctness and impartiality.
He was a member of the moderate club, the Feuillants, but, after the overthrow of the monarchy on with the insurrection of 10 August, 1792 he accepted an office in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he sometimes exercised a steadying influence. On the withdrawal of the British
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
legation
Legation
A legation was the term used in diplomacy to denote a diplomatic representative office lower than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an Ambassador, a legation was headed by a Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary....
, Maret went on a mission to London, where he had a favourable interview with William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger was a British politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24 . He left office in 1801, but was Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806...
on 22 December 1792 – all hope of an accommodation was, however, in vain. After the execution 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...
King 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....
(21 January 1793), the chief French diplomatic agent, François Bernard Chauvelin, was ordered to leave Britain, while the National Convention
National Convention
During the French Revolution, the National Convention or Convention, in France, comprised the constitutional and legislative assembly which sat from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 . It held executive power in France during the first years of the French First Republic...
declared war (1 February 1793 – see French Revolutionary Wars: Campaigns of 1793
French Revolutionary Wars: Campaigns of 1793
The French Revolutionary Wars continued from 1792, with new powers entering the First Coalition after the execution of King Louis XVI. Spain and Portugal entered the coalition in January 1793, and on 1 February France declared war on Great Britain and the Netherlands.At the opening of the year,...
). These events limited the impact of a second mission of Maret to London in January.
Envoy of the Republic
After a space in which he held no diplomatic post, he became ambassador of the French Republic in the Kingdom of NaplesKingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...
; but, while negotiating with Charles de Simonville
Charles Louis Huguet, marquis de Sémonville
Charles Louis Huguet, marquis de Sémonville was a French diplomat and politician. He was made a count of the First French Empire in 1808, and marquis in 1819.-Biography:...
he was captured by the Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
and was kept for some thirty months, until, at the close of 1795, the two were set free in return for the liberation of Princess Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte, the daughter of king Louis XVI.
For a time Maret returned to journalism, but he played a useful part in the negotiations for a peace with Britain which went on 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...
during the summer of 1797, until the victory of the Jacobin Club
Jacobin Club
The Jacobin Club was the most famous and influential political club in the development of the French Revolution, so-named because of the Dominican convent where they met, located in the Rue St. Jacques , Paris. The club originated as the Club Benthorn, formed at Versailles from a group of Breton...
in Paris in the coup d'état of 18 Fructidor (September 1797) frustrated the hopes of Pitt for peace and inflicted on Maret another reverse of fortune.
On Napoleon Bonaparte's
Napoleon I of France
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...
return from Egypt
French Revolutionary Wars: Campaigns of 1799
By 1799, the French Revolutionary Wars had resumed after a period of relative peace in 1798. The Second Coalition had organized against France, with Great Britain allying with Russia, Austria, the Ottoman Empire, and several of the minor German and Italian states...
in 1799, Maret joined the general's party which came to power with the 18 Brumaire Coup
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...
(9 November–10).
Consulate and Empire politics
Maret now became one of Napoleon's secretaries and shortly afterwards Secretary of State. An experienced politician, he rendered services of major value to the French ConsulateFrench 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...
and First French Empire
First French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
.
The Moniteur, which became the official journal of the state in 1800, was placed under his control. He sometimes succeeded in toning down the hard, abrupt language of Napoleon's communications, and in every way proved a useful intermediary. It is known that he had a share in the drawing up of the new constitutions for the Batavian
Batavian Republic
The Batavian Republic was the successor of the Republic of the United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on January 19, 1795, and ended on June 5, 1806, with the accession of Louis Bonaparte to the throne of the Kingdom of Holland....
and Italian Republics
Italian Republic (Napoleonic)
The Italian Republic was a short-lived republic located in Northern Italy. It was a vassal state of the First French Republic of Napoleon.-The republic:...
.
In 1804 he became Minister; in 1807 he was named count
Count
A count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...
, and in 1809 he received the title of Duc
Duke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
de Bassano
Bassano Bresciano
Bassano Bresciano is a comune in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy. As of 2007 Bassano Bresciano had an estimated population of 2,176....
, one of the titles with the status of duché grand-fief
Fiefdom
A fee was the central element of feudalism and consisted of heritable lands granted under one of several varieties of feudal tenure by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty in return for a form of feudal allegiance and service, usually given by the...
in Napoleon's Kingdom of Italy
Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state founded in Northern Italy by Napoleon, fully influenced by revolutionary France, that ended with his defeat and fall.-Constitutional statutes:...
, a rare hereditary honor (extinguished in 1906) which gives an insight into the respect his work had received from the emperor.
He was extremely devoted to Napoleon, as shown by his work to make pass into law the artifices adopted by the latter in April–May 1808 in order to make himself master of the destinies of Spain (see Peninsular War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
). Maret also assisted in drawing up the Spanish Constitution of 1808
Bayonne Statute
The Bayonne Statute —also Bayonne Constitution or Bayonne Charter and, officially in French, Acte Constitutionnel de l’Espagne—was a constitution or a royal charter approved in Bayonne, France, 8 July 1808, by Joseph Bonaparte as the intended basis for his rule as king of Spain...
, which was rejected by almost all Spanish subjects. He accompanied Napoleon through most of his campaigns, including that of 1809 against the Fifth Coalition, and he expressed himself in favour of the marriage alliance with the Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria
Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma
Marie Louise of Austria was the second wife of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French and later Duchess of Parma...
, which took place in 1810.
In the spring of 1811, the Duc de Bassano replaced Jean-Baptiste Champagny
Jean-Baptiste Nompère de Champagny
Jean-Baptiste de Nompère de Champagny, 1st Duc de Cadore was a French admiral and politician.He was born in Roanne, Loire. Entering the French royal navy in 1774, he fought through the war in America and resigned in 1787...
, as Minister of Foreign Affairs
Minister of Foreign Affairs (France)
Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs ), is France's foreign affairs ministry, with the headquarters located on the Quai d'Orsay in Paris close to the National Assembly of France. The Minister of Foreign and European Affairs in the government of France is the cabinet minister responsible for...
. In this capacity he showed his usual ability and devotion, concluding the treaties between France and Austria and France and Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
, which preceded the French invasion of Russia in 1812. He was with Napoleon through the greater part of that campaign, and after the major defeat, helped to prepare the new forces with which Napoleon waged the equally unsuccessful campaign of 1813 against the Sixth Coalition.
End of the Empire, exile, and return
Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....
of Russia. Maret, however, as private secretary of Napoleon, remained with him through the campaign of 1814
Six Days Campaign
The Six Days Campaign was a final series of victories by the forces of Napoleon Bonaparte as the Sixth Coalition closed in on Paris....
, as well as during that of 1815 and 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...
.
After the full Restoration of the Bourbons, Maret was exiled, and retired to Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
, where he occupied himself with literary work. In 1820 he was allowed to return to France, and 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...
of 1830, the new House of Orléans
House of Orleans
Orléans is the name used by several branches of the Royal House of France, all descended in the legitimate male line from the dynasty's founder, Hugh Capet. It became a tradition during France's ancien régime for the duchy of Orléans to be granted as an appanage to a younger son of the king...
king 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...
made him Peer of France
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...
; he also held two high offices for a few days.
Maret, Duc de Bassano died at Paris in 1839.