Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

DECAZES, ELIE

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 911 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

DECAZES, See also:ELIE , Due (1780-1860), See also:French statesman, was See also:born at See also:Saint See also:Martin de Laye in the See also:Gironde. He studied See also:law, became a See also:judge in the tribunal of the See also:Seine in 1806, was attached to the See also:cabinet of See also:Louis See also:Bonaparte in 1807, and was counsel to the See also:court of See also:appeal at See also:Paris in 1811. Immediately upon the fall of the See also:empire he declared himself a Royalist, and remained faithful to the Bourbons through the See also:Hundred Days. He made the See also:personal acquaintance of Louis XVIII. during that See also:period through See also:Baron Louis, and the See also:king rewarded his See also:energy and tact by appointing him See also:prefect of See also:police at Paris on the 7th of See also:July 1815. His marked success in that difficult position won for him the See also:ministry of police, in See also:succession to See also:Fouche, on the 24th of See also:September. In the See also:interval he had been elected See also:deputy for the Seine (See also:August 1815) and both as deputy and as See also:minister he led the moderate Royalists. His See also:formula was " to royalize See also:France and to nationalize the See also:monarchy." The Moderates were in a minority in the chamber of 1815, but Decazes persuaded Louis XVIII. to dissolve the See also:house, and the elections of See also:October 1816 gave them a See also:majority. During the next four years Decazes was called upon to See also:play the leading role in the See also:government. At first, as minister of police he had to suppress the insurrections provoked by the ultra. Royalists (the See also:White Terror); then, after the resignation of the duc de See also:Richelieu, he took the actual direction of the ministry, although the nominal See also:president was See also:General J. J. P.

A. Dessolle (1767–1828). He held at the same See also:

time the See also:portfolio of the interior. The cabinet, in which Baron Louis was minister of See also:finance, and See also:Marshal See also:Gouvion Saint Cyr remained minister of See also:war, was entirely Liberal; and its first See also:act was to suppress the ministry of police, as Decazes held that it was incompatible with the regime of See also:liberty. His reforms met with the strong hostility of the Chamber of Peers, where the ultra-Royalists were in a majority, and to overcome it he got the king to create sixty new Liberal peers. He then passed the See also:laws on the See also:press, suppressing the censorship. By reorganization of the finances, the See also:protection of See also:industry and the carrying out of See also:great public See also:works, France regained its economic prosperity, and the ministry became popular. But the See also:powers of the See also:Grand See also:Alliance had been watching the growth of Liberalism in France with increasing anxiety. Metternich especially ascribed this mainly to the " weakness " of the ministry, and when in 1819 the See also:political elections still further illustrated this trend, notably by the See also:election of the celebrated See also:Abbe See also:Gregoire, it began to be debated whether the time had not come to put in force the terms of the See also:secret treaty of See also:Aix-la-Chapelle. It was this See also:threat of See also:foreign intervention, rather than the clamour of the " Ultras," that forced Louis XVIII. to urge a See also:change in the electoral law that should render such a " See also:scandal " as Gregoire's election impossible for the future. Dessolle and Louis, refusing to embark on this policy, now resigned; and Decazes became See also:head of the new ministry, as president of the See also:council (See also:November 1819). But the exclusion of Gregoire from the chamber and the changes in the See also:franchise embittered the Radicals without conciliating the " Ultras." The See also:news of the revolution in See also:Spain in See also:January 182o added See also:fuel to their fury; it was the foolish and criminal policy of the royal favourite that had once more unchained the demon of revolution.

Decazes was denounced as the new See also:

Sejanus, the See also:modern See also:Catiline; and when, on the 13th of See also:February, the See also:duke of See also:Berry was murdered, clamorous See also:tongues loudly accused him of being an See also:accomplice in the See also:crime. Decazes, indeed, foreseeing the See also:storm, at once placed his resignation in the king's hands. Louis at first refused. " They will attack," he' exclaimed, " not your See also:system, my dear son, but mine." But in the end he was forced to yield to the importunity of his See also:family (February 17th); and Decazes, raised to the See also:rank of duke, passed into See also:honourable See also:exile as See also:ambassador to Great See also:Britain. This ended Decazes's meteoric career of greatness. In See also:December 1821 he returned to sit in the House of Peers, when Le continued to maintain his Liberal opinions. After 183o he adhered to the monarchy of July, but after 1848 he remained in retirement. He had organized in 1826 a society to develop the See also:coal and See also:iron of the See also:Aveyron, and the name of See also:Decazeville was given in 1829 to the See also:principal centre of the industry. He died on the 24th of October 1860. His son, Lours See also:CHARLES ELIE DECAZES, duc de Gliicksberg (1819-1886), was born at Paris, and entered the See also:diplomatic career. He became minister plenipotentiary at See also:Madrid and at See also:Lisbon, but the revolution of 1848 caused him to withdraw into private See also:life, from which he did not emerge until in 1871 he was elected deputy to the See also:National See also:Assembly by the Gironde. There he sat in the right centre among the See also:Orleanists, and was chosen by the duc de See also:Broglie as minister of foreign affairs in November 1873.

He voted with the Orleanists the " Constitutional Laws " of 1875, and approved of See also:

MacMahon's See also:parliamentary coup d' etat on the 16th of May 1877. He was re-elected deputy in October 1877 by the See also:arrondissement of See also:Puget-Theniers, but his election was annulled by the chamber, and he was not re-elected. He died on the 16th of September 1886. On the Duc Decazes see E. See also:Daudet, Louis X VIII. et le duc Decazes (1899), and his " L'ambassade du duc Decazes " in the Revue See also:des deux mondes for 1899.

End of Article: DECAZES, ELIE

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
DECATUR, STEPHEN (1779-1820) 		[next]
DECAZEVILLE

Site © 2006 - Net Industries