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MARET

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 700 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MARET , See also:

HUGUES-See also:BERNARD, Duc DE See also:BASSANO (1763-1839), See also:French statesman and publicist, was See also:born at See also:Dijon. After receiving a See also:sound See also:education, he entered the legal profession and became See also:advocate at the See also:King's See also:Council at See also:Paris. The ideas of the French Revolution profoundly influenced him, and wholly altered his career. The See also:interest aroused by the debates of the first See also:National See also:Assembly suggested to him the See also:idea of See also:publishing them, conjointly with Mejean, in the Bulletin de l'Assemblee. The publicist See also:Charles See also:Joseph Panckoucke (1736-1798), owner of the Mercure de See also:France and publisher of the famous Encyclopedic (1781), persuaded him to See also:merge this in a larger See also:paper, the Moniteur universel, which gained a wide repute for correctness and impartiality. He was a member of the moderate See also:club, the Feuillants; but after the overthrow of the See also:monarchy on the loth of See also:August 1792 he accepted an See also:office in the See also:ministry of See also:foreign affairs, where he sometimes exercised a steadying See also:influence. On the withdrawal of the See also:British See also:legation from Paris Maret went on a See also:mission to See also:London, where he had a favourable interview with See also:Pitt on the 2nd of See also:December 1792. All See also:hope of an See also:accommodation was, however, in vain. After the See also:execution of See also:Louis XVI. (See also:Jan. 21, 1793), the See also:chief French See also:diplomatic See also:agent, See also:Chauvelin, was ordered to leave See also:England, while the French See also:Convention declared See also:war (Feb. 1, 1793).

These events precluded the possibility of success attending a second mission of Maret to London in See also:

January. After a space, in which he held no diplomatic See also:post, he became See also:ambassador of the French See also:Republic at See also:Naples; but, while repairing thither with De Semonville he was captured by the Austrians and was kept in See also:durance by them for some See also:thirty months, until, at the See also:close of 1795, the two were set See also:free in return for the liberation of the daughter of Louis XVI. For a, See also:time Maret betook himself to journalism; but he played a useful See also:part in the negotiations for a See also:peace with See also:Great See also:Britain which went on at See also:Lille during the summer of 1797, until the victory of the See also:Jacobins at Paris in the coup d'etat of Fructidor (See also:Sept. 1797) frustrated the hopes of Pitt for peace and inflicted on Maret another See also:reverse of See also:fortune. On the return of See also:Bonaparte from See also:Egypt in 1799 Maret joined the See also:general's party which came to See also:power with the coup d'etat of See also:Brumaire (Nov. 9-1o, 1799). Maret now became one of the First See also:Consul's secretaries and shortly afterwards secretary of See also:state. In this position his moderation, See also:industry, See also:good sense, knowledge of men and of affairs, made his services of great value. The Moniteur, which became the See also:official See also:journal of the state in 1800, was placed under his See also:control. He sometimes succeeded in toning down the hard, abrupt See also:language of See also:Napoleon's communications, and in every way proved a useful intermediary. It is known that he had a See also:share in the See also:drawing up of the new constitutions for the Batavian and See also:Italian Republics. In 1804 he became See also:Minister; in 1807 he was named See also:count, and in 1809 he received the See also:title of duc de Bassano, an See also:honour which marked the sense entertained by Napoleon of his strenuous toil, especially in connexion with the diplomatic negotiations and See also:treaties ofthis See also:period.

His See also:

personal devotion to the See also:emperor was of that See also:absolute unwavering See also:kind which Napoleon highly valued; it is seen in the See also:attempt to defend the unworthy artifices adopted by the great See also:man in See also:April-May 18o8 in See also:order to make himself See also:master of the destinies of See also:Spain. Maret also assisted in drawing up the constitution destined for Spain, which the Spaniards at once rejected. Maret accompanied Napoleon through most of his See also:campaigns, including that of 18o9; and at its close he expressed himself in favour of the See also:marriage See also:alliance with the archduchess See also:Marie See also:Louise of See also:Austria, which took See also:place in 181o. In the See also:spring of 181x, the duc de Bassano replaced Champagny, duc de Cadore, as minister of Foreign Affairs. In this capacity he showed his usual industry and devotion, concluding the treaties between France and Austria and France and See also:Prussia, which preceded the French invasion of See also:Russia in 1812. He was with Napoleon through the greater part of that See also:campaign; and after its disastrous conclusion helped to prepare the new forces with which Napoleon waged the equally disastrous campaign of 1813. But in See also:November 1813 Napoleon replaced him by See also:Caulaincourt, duc de Vicence, who was thought to be more devoted to the cause of peace and personally grateful to the emperor See also:Alexander I. of Russia. Maret, however, as private secretary of the emperor, remained with his master through the campaign of 1814, as also during that of 1815. After the second restoration of the Bourbons he was exiled, and retired to Gratz where he occupied himself with See also:literary See also:work. In 182o he was allowed to return to France, and after the Revolution of 183o, Louis Philippe, king of the French, made him a peer of France; he also held two high offices for a few days. He died at Paris in 1839. He shares with See also:Daru the honour of being the hardest worker and most devoted supporter in Napoleon's service; but it has generally been considered that he carried devotion to the length of servility, and thus often compromised the real interests of France.

This view has been contested by See also:

Baron Ernouf in his work Maret, duc de Bassano, which is the best See also:biography. For Maret's mission to England in 1792 and his work at Lille in 1797, see See also:Augustus W. See also:Miles, Letters on the French Revolution; J. H. See also:Rose, The See also:Life and Times of See also:William Pitt, and for other incidents of Maret's career, the See also:memoirs of See also:Bourrienne, See also:Pasquier, Meneval and See also:Savary (due de See also:Rovigo), may be consulted. See also:Thiers's See also:account of Maret is in general hostile to him. (J. HL.

End of Article: MARET

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