Online Encyclopedia

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

VILLELE, JEAN BAPTISTE GUILLAUME MARI...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 80 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:

VILLELE, See also:JEAN See also:BAPTISTE See also:GUILLAUME See also:MARIE See also:ANNE SERAPHIN, See also:COMTE DE (1773–1854) , See also:French statesman, was See also:born at See also:Toulouse on the 14th of See also:April 1773 and educated for the See also:navy. He joined the " Bayonnaise " at See also:Brest in See also:July 1788 and served in the See also:West and See also:East Indies. Arrested in the Isle of See also:Bourbon under the Terror, he was set See also:free by the revolution of See also:Thermidor (July 1794). He acquired some See also:property in the See also:island, and married in 1799 the daughter of a See also:great proprietor, M. Desbassyns de Richemont, whose estates he had managed. His See also:apprenticeship to politics was served in the Colonial See also:Assembly of Bourbon, where he fought successfully to preserve the See also:colony from the consequences of perpetual interference from the authorities in See also:Paris, and on the other See also:hand to prevent See also:local discontent from appealing to the See also:English for See also:protection. The arrival of See also:General See also:Decaen, sent out by See also:Bonaparte in 1802, restored See also:security to the island, and,five years later Villele, who had now realized a large See also:fortune, returned to See also:France. He was See also:mayor of his See also:commune, and a member of the See also:council of the Haute-See also:Garonne under the See also:Empire. At the restoration of 1814 he at once declared for royalist principles. He was mayor of Toulouse in 1814–15 and See also:deputy for the Haute-Garonne in the " Chambre Introuvable " of 1815. Villele, who before the promulgation of the See also:charter had written some Observations sur le projet de constitution opposing it, as too democratic in See also:character, naturally took his See also:place, on the extreme right with the ultra-royalists. In the new Chamber of 1816 Villele found his party in a minority, but his See also:personal authority nevertheless increased.

He was looked on by the ministerialists as the least unreasonable of his party, and by the " ultras " as the safest of their leaders. Under the electoral See also:

law of 1817 the See also:Abbe See also:Gregoire, who was popularly supposed to have voted for the See also:death of See also:Louis XVI. in the See also:Convention, was admitted to the Chamber of Deputies. The Conservative party gained strength from the alarm raised by this incident and still more from the See also:shock caused by the assassination of the duc de Berri. The duc de See also:Richelieu was compelled to admit to the See also:cabinet two of the chiefs of the See also:Left, Villele and Corbiere. Villele resigned within a See also:year, but on the fall of Richelieu at the end of 1821 he became the real See also:chief of the new cabinet, in which he was See also:minister of See also:finance. Although not himself a courtier, he was backed at See also:court by Sosthenes de la Rochefoucauld and Madame du Cayla, and in 1822 Louis XVIII. gave him the See also:title of See also:count and made him formally See also:prime minister. He immediately proceeded to muzzle opposition by stringent See also:press See also:laws, and the See also:discovery of See also:minor liberal conspiracies afforded an excuse for further repression. Forced against his will into interference in See also:Spain by Mathieu de See also:Montmorency and See also:Chateaubriand, he contrived to reap some See also:credit for the See also:monarchy from the successful See also:campaign of 1823. Meanwhile he had consolidated the royal See also:power by persuading Louis XVIII. to swamp the liberal See also:majority in the upper See also:house by the nomination of twenty-seven new peers; he availed himself of the temporary popularity of the monarchy after the See also:Spanish campaign to summon a new Chamber of Deputies. This new and obedient legislature, to which only nineteen liberals were returned, made itself into a septennial See also:parliament, thus providing See also:time, it was thought, to restore some See also:part of the ancien regime. Villele's plans were assisted by the death of Louis XVIII. and the See also:accession of his bigoted See also:brother. Prudent See also:financial See also:administration since 1815 had made possible the See also:conversion of the See also:state bonds from 5 to 4%.

It was proposed to utilize the See also:

money set free by this operation to indemnify by a milliard francs the emigres for the loss of their lands at the Revolution; it was also proposed to restore their former privileges to the religious congregations. Both these propositions were, with some restrictions, secured. See also:Sacrilege was made a See also:crime punishable by death, and the See also:ministry were preparing a law to alter the law of equal See also:inheritance, and thus create anew the great estates. These See also:measures roused violent opposition in the See also:country, which a new and stringent press law, nicknamed the " law of See also:justice and love," failed to put down. The peers rejected the law of inheritance and the press law; it was found necessary to disband the See also:National Guard; and in See also:November 1827 seventy-six new peers were created, and recourse was had to a general See also:election. The new Chamber proved hostile to Villele, who resigned to make way for the See also:short-lived moderate ministry of See also:Martignac. The new ministry made Villele's removal to the upper house a See also:condition of taking See also:office, and he took no further part in public affairs. At the time of his death, on the 13th of See also:March 18J4, he had advanced as far as 1816 with his See also:memoirs, which were completed from his See also:correspondence by his See also:family as Memoires et correspondance du comte de Villele (Paris, 5 vols., 1887-90). See also C. de Mazade, L'Opposition royalists (Paris, 1894) ; J. G. See also:Hyde de See also:Neuville. See also:Notice sur le comte de Villele (Paris, 1899); and M.

Chotard, " L'CEuvre financiere de M. de Villele," in Annales See also:

des sciences politiques (vol. v., 1890).

End of Article: VILLELE, JEAN BAPTISTE GUILLAUME MARIE ANNE SERAPHIN, COMTE DE (1773–1854)

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]
VILLEHARDOUIN, GEOFFROY DE (c. 116o-c. 1213) 		[next]
VILLEMAIN, ABEL FRANCOIS (179o-1867)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries