Élie Decazes | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byFrançois Gérard engraved byPaolo Toschi | |
| Prime Minister of France | |
| In office 19 November 1819 – 20 February 1820 | |
| Monarch | Louis XVIII |
| Preceded by | Jean-Joseph Dessolles |
| Succeeded by | Armand-Emmanuel du Plessis de Richelieu |
| Minister of the Interior | |
| In office 29 December 1818 – 20 February 1820 | |
| Prime Minister | Jean-Joseph Dessolles |
| Preceded by | Joseph Lainé |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Jérôme Siméon |
| Minister of Police | |
| In office 26 September 1815 – 29 December 1818 | |
| Prime Minister | Armand-Emmanuel du Plessis de Richelieu |
| Preceded by | Joseph Fouché |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished (merged into theInterior Ministry) |
| Member of the Chamber of Deputies forSeine | |
| In office 25 August 1815 – 4 October 1816 | |
| Preceded by | Antoine Isaac de Sacy |
| Succeeded by | Casimir Périer |
| Constituency | Paris |
| Prefect of Police of Paris | |
| In office 9 July 1815 – 29 September 1815 | |
| Appointed by | Louis XVIII |
| Preceded by | Eustache-Marie Courtin |
| Succeeded by | Jules Anglès |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1780-09-28)28 September 1780 |
| Died | 24 October 1860(1860-10-24) (aged 80) |
| Political party | Doctrinaires |
| Spouses | |
| Children | Louis Frédéric Henriette |
| Education | Military School of Vendôme |
| Profession | Statesman |
| Signature |  |
Élie, 1stDuke of Decazes andGlücksbierg (bornÉlie Louis Decazes; 28 September 1780 – 24 October 1860) was a Frenchstatesman, leader of theliberalDoctrinaires party during theBourbon Restoration.
Élie Decazes was born atSaint-Martin-de-Laye,Gironde, son of Michel Decazes (1747–1832) by his wife, whom he married in 1779, Catherine Trigant de Beaumont.[1] He studied law, became ajudge of theSeineTribunal in 1806, was appointed to theCabinet ofLouis Bonaparte in 1807, and latercounsel to theCourt of Appeal at Paris in 1811.[2]
On 1 August 1805, in Paris, Decazes married Elisabeth-Fortunée, second daughter ofCount Honoré Muraire. She died in Paris on 24 January 1806 without issue.
Decazes married secondly on 11 August 1818 Wilhelmine-Egidia-Octavie de Beaupoil,comtesse de St-Aulaire-Glücksbierg, who died atVersailles on 8 August 1873. By her, he hadLouis-Charles-Élie-Amanien (1819–86), the 2nd Duke and laterFrench Foreign Minister, Frédéric-Xavier-Stanislas Decazes (1823 – Paris, 26 February 1887), anauthor who died unmarried without issue, and Henriette-Guillermine-Eugénie Decazes de Glücksbierg (23 November 1824 – Tournai, November, 1899), who married on 19 April 1845 aBelgian,Léopold-Jacques-Alphonse, Baron Lefebvre.
His younger brotherJoseph Decazes (1783–1868), created 1stvicomte Decazes, married in 1816Diane de Bancalis de Maurel d'Aragon, leaving issue: Sophie Decazes (1817–1904), married in 1835 to François de Carbonnelde Canisy; and Élie Decazes (1822–1851), married in 1850 to Elisabeth de Mauvisede Villars, parents of Raymond Decazes (1851–1913), married in 1887 toMarie-Louise Koechlin (having seven children).
A great-granddaughter,Marguerite-Séverine-Philippine Decazes (widow ofPrince Jean-Pierre de Broglie), married as her second husbandCaptainThe Hon. Reginald FellowesJP (1884-1953), son ofLord de Ramsey.[3]
The 6th and presentduke, Louis-Frédéric Decazes, born in 1946, is awine producer andChevalier du Tastevin.
Immediately after the fall of the Empire, Decazes declared himself a Royalist, and remained faithful to theBourbons throughout theHundred Days. He met KingLouis XVIII during that period, throughBaron Louis, and Louis XVIII rewarded his loyalty by appointing him asPrefect of Police forParis on 9 July 1815. His marked success in that difficult position earned him appointment as Minister of Police, succeedingFouché, on 24 September.[2]
Meanwhile, he had been electedDeputy for the Seine (August 1815), and both as Deputy and as a Minister he was a key player among moderate Royalists. His plan was "to royalize France and to nationalize the monarchy." The Moderates were a minority in theChamber of 1815, so Decazes persuaded Louis XVIII to dissolve Parliament, and accordingly the elections of October 1816 returned them with a majority. During the next four years, Decazes was called upon to play a leading role in theFrench government.[2]
Decazes was Minister of the Interior from 18 December 1818 to 20 February 1820.The government decided to revive theExposition des produits de l'industrie française of French industry.A royal ordinance of 13 January 1819 decreed a series of expositions at intervals of no more than four years, with the first to be held in 1819 and the second in 1821.[4]Decazes sent directives to all the prefects in France giving the general conditions for products that would be acceptable for the exposition.[5]
AsMinister of Police, he was required to suppress the insurrections provoked by theUltra-royalists (theWhite Terror); after the resignation of the5th Duc de Richelieu, he took over the day-to-day running of the ministry, althoughGeneral Dessolles remained as nominal head. Decazes simultaneously held theInterior Ministry portfolio. The Cabinet, in which Baron Louis was Finance Minister, andMarshal de Gouvion Saint-Cyr remained Minister of War, was entirelyLiberal in composition; and its first move was to abolish the Ministry of Police, as Decazes felt it incompatible with a régime espousingliberty. His reforms met with the strong hostility of theChamber of Peers, where the ultra-Royalists held a majority, and to overcome their numerical advantage, he persuaded the King to create sixty new Liberalpeers.[2]
Decazes then pushed through legislation about thepress, repealing censorship laws. He supported a policy of industrial protection the carrying out of great public works; in that time France gained economic prosperity or expansion after a downturn, and the government increased in popularity. But the powers of the Grand Alliance had been watching the growth of Liberalism in France with increasing anxiety. In particular,Metternich ascribed this mainly to the "weakness" of the Government, and the political election results of 1819 further illustrated this trend, notably by the election of the famousAbbéHenri Grégoire. A debate started over whether the time had not come to put in force the terms of the secretCongress of Aix-la-Chapelle. It was this threat of foreign intervention, rather than the clamour of the "Ultras," which forced Louis XVIII to urge a change in electoral law to prevent such a "scandal" as Grégoire's election in the future.[2]
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General Dessolles and Baron Louis, refusing to embark on this policy, then resigned; thus Decazes became the new head of government, as president of the council (November 1819). The exclusion of Grégoire from the chamber and the changes in thefranchise embittered the radicals also without reconciling the "Ultras."[citation needed] The news of therevolution in Spain in January 1820 compounded matters, as the royalfavourite was accused by his opponents to have begun another revolution; and when, on 13 February,Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, the only member of the royal family expected to ensure royal succession, was assassinated; he was accused of being an accomplice in the crime.[citation needed] Decazes, foreseeing the storm, at once offered his resignation to theKing. Louis at first refused. "They will attack", he proclaimed, "not your system, my dear son, but mine"; but in the end, he was forced to yield to the importunity of his family (17 February). Decazes, raised to therank of duke, passed into honourable exile, being posted asAmbassador to Britain.[2]
This ended Decazes' ministerial career. In December 1821, he returned to sit in theHouse of Peers, where he continued to voice his Liberal opinions.[citation needed] After 1830, he adhered to theJuly Monarchy, but after 1848, he remained firmly in retirement.[6]
In 1826, Decazes formed an association to represent the coal and iron industries inAveyron. The name ofDecazeville was given to the industry's regional centre in 1829.[6]
Duke of Decazes (French title), 1820
Duke of Glücksbierg (Danish title), 1818
Chevalier,Ordre du Saint-Esprit
Grand-croix,Légion d'honneur
Knight,Order of the ElephantAttribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Decazes, Élie, duc".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 910–911.| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of France 1819–1820 | Succeeded by |
| French nobility | ||
| Preceded by Created | Duke of Decazes 1820–1860 | Succeeded by |
First ministry of Armand-Emmanuel du Plessis de Richelieu (26 September 1815 to 29 December 1818) | ||
|---|---|---|
Head of state: KingLouis XVIII | ||
| President of the council and Foreign Affairs |  Richelieu | |
| Interior | ||
| Justice | ||
| War | ||
| Finance | ||
| Navy and Colonies | ||
| Police | ||
Ministry of Jean-Joseph Dessolles (29 December 1818 to 19 November 1819) | ||
|---|---|---|
Head of State: KingLouis XVIII | ||
| President of the council and Foreign Affairs |  Dessolles | |
| Interior | ||
| Justice | ||
| War | ||
| Finance | ||
| Navy and Colonies | ||
Ministry of Élie Decazes (19 November 1819 to 17 February 1820) | ||
|---|---|---|
Head of state: KingLouis XVIII | ||
| President of the council | ||
| Interior | ||
| Justice | ||
| Foreign Affairs | ||
| Finance | ||
| War | ||
| Navy and Colonies | ||
