Élie Decazes

Élie, Duke of Decazes and Glücksberg.

Élie Decazes (born September 28, 1780 in Saint-Martin-de-Laye , Gironde department , † October 24, 1860 in Paris ), Duke of Decazes and Glücksberg, was a French statesman.

biography

Decazes studied law and was judge at the Seine court in 1806. In 1807 he became a member of the cabinet of Louis Bonaparte and in 1811 a lawyer at the Court of Appeal in Paris. Immediately after the fall of the Empire, he declared himself a royalist and remained loyal to the Bourbons during the so-called " Hundred Days ". During this time he made the personal acquaintance of Louis XVIII through Baron Louis . , and the king rewarded his energy and delicacy by making him Prefect of Police of Paris on July 7, 1815. With his clear success in this difficult position, he earned the appointment of Minister of Police, as Fouché's successor , on September 24th. Jules Anglès took over the post of police prefect .

In the meantime he had been elected MP for the Seine (August 1815), and as both MP and Minister he led the moderate royalists. The moderates were in the minority in the Chamber of 1815, but Decazes persuaded Louis XVIII to dissolve the Chambre introuvable and the elections of October 1816 brought them a majority. For the next four years it was Decazes' responsibility to play the leading role in government.

First, as Minister of Police, he had to suppress the uprisings that had been provoked by the ultra-royalists (the "White Terror"); then, after the resignation of Duke Richelieu , he took over the actual leadership of the cabinet, although the nominal president was General Jean Joseph Paul Dessolles (* 1767, † 1828). At the same time he held the area of ​​the inside. The cabinet, in which Baron Louis was Minister of Finance and Marshal Gouvion Saint-Cyr remained Minister of War, was entirely liberal; its first act was to suppress the Ministry of Police, as Decazes felt it was incompatible with a liberal regime. His reforms met with strong hostility in the House of Peers , where the ultra-royalists were in the majority, and in order to overcome, he brought the king to a pair push to appoint more liberal sixty pairs.

Then he pushed through the press laws that softened censorship. By reorganizing finances, protecting industry, and carrying out large public contracts, France regained economic prosperity and the minister became popular. But the powers of the Grand Alliance had viewed the development of liberalism in France with increasing concern. Metternich in particular attributed this mainly to the “weakness” of the ministry, and when the political elections confirmed the trend in 1819 - particularly with the election of the celebrated Abbé Grégoire - a discussion began as to whether the time had come to revise the conditions of the secret treaty of Aachen enforce. It was this danger of outside intervention, more than the shouting of the ultras , that Louis XVIII. forced to press ahead with an amendment to the electoral law that should prevent such a "scandal" as Grégoire's election in the future.

Dessolle and Louis refused to accept this policy and resigned; Decazes now headed the new cabinet (November 1819). But the exclusion of Grégoire from the Chamber and the changes in voting rights embittered the radicals without reconciling the Ultras. The news of the Spanish Revolution in January 1820 aggravated their anger; it was now said that the foolish and criminal policies of Decazes had once again unleashed the demon of the revolution. He was denounced as the new Sejanus , the modern Catiline . When the Duke of Berry was murdered on February 13th, angry voices loudly accused him of having been an accomplice in the crime. Decazes sensed the approaching storm and immediately submitted his resignation to the king. Ludwig initially refused because he saw attacks on Decazes as attacks on himself. Ultimately, however, he had to give in to his family's intrusiveness (February 17); Decazes was raised to the rank of duke and was sent in honorable exile to England as ambassador.

That ended Decace's meteoric career. In December 1821 he returned to the peers' chamber, where he continued to uphold his liberal views. After 1830 he maintained the July Monarchy, but after 1848 he remained in retirement. In 1826 he had organized a society for the development of coal and steel production in the Aveyron department , and the central city of the industrial region was given the name Decazeville in 1829 .

Elie Decazes died in 1860 at the age of 80 and rests in the Bonzac cemetery .

predecessor	Office	successor
Joseph Henri Joachim Lainé	Minister of the Interior of France December 29, 1818 - February 20, 1820	Joseph Jérôme Siméon