Antoine Marie Chamans, comte de Lavalette

Councilor of State Lavalette, drawing by Frédéric Christophe d'Houdetot (1806)

Antoine Marie Chamans, comte de Lavalette (born October 14, 1769 in Paris , † February 15, 1830 in Paris) was a French officer and statesman and a friend of Napoleon .

Early life

Antoine Marie Chamans, comte de Lavalette was the son of a Paris merchant. His father intended him for a spiritual career, but he had no inclination for this profession. Instead, he wanted to pursue a legal career, and after boring practice at a notary, he worked for a public prosecutor who stimulated him to prepare for training as a lawyer. With this public prosecutor he also met the later General Bertrand .

Lavalette closely followed the outbreak of the French Revolution . He was enthusiastic about the storming of the Bastille (July 14, 1789), but he did not like the atrocities of that time because he wanted a moderate revolution. He joined Lafayette's National Guard and in this position lived through the dangerous days of October 5th and 6th, 1789 in Versailles , where thousands of Poissards had moved and forced the royal family to move to Paris. As an admirer of Marie Antoinette, Lavalette embittered the National Guard's inaction at the time. After the abolition of the monasteries, he was commissioned by the President of the Paris Parliament, Louis Le Fèvre d'Ormesson de Noyseau , who had been appointed royal librarian, to compile a list of the monastic collections of books.

Lavalette often stood guard in the castle in Paris, became a royalist and was one of the defenders of the Tuileries Palace with his company during the Tuileries Storm (August 10, 1792) . After rebellious sections of the population had invaded the royal residence, he withdrew. He tried in vain to persuade comrades to prevent the September massacre of the prisoners from La Force. He also signed petitions to the National Convention in favor of Louis XVI. His royalism made him suspicious, so that he was constantly in danger. So he left Paris and on September 7, 1792, volunteered in the Alpine Army that Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers was just organizing. He soon became Sous-lieutenant in the 93 ^e régiment d'infantry , and he in 1793 for the Rhine Army was appointed. Baraguay d'Hilliers appointed him his adjutant after having been assigned to the genius for some time. He remained on the staff of the Rhine Army even after his recall and only when Baraguay d'Hilliers became chief of staff of the first military division in Paris in 1794 did he join him as an adjutant.

Career under Napoleon

Participation in the Italian campaign; Napoleon's scout in Paris

On 13th Vendémiaire (October 5th) 1795 Lavalette was in Paris and saw Napoleon successfully put down a royalist coup. During the uprising of the Vendée he fought against insurgents loyal to the king, the so-called Chouans , which he did not like, and in 1796 he joined Napoleon's army in Italy with Baraguay d'Hilliers. After the Battle of Arcole (November 1796) he became Napoleon's captain and adjutant in place of the fallen Muiron , became close friends with Marmont , went on the campaign, accompanied Joubert to Trient and was soon sent to Tyrol , on which very dangerous expedition he was was wounded in Lienz . In the presence of the army, Napoleon expressed his appreciation for completing the job. In general, Lavalette gained confidence in Napoleon's business through bravery, solid knowledge as well as dexterity and discretion in business. He served as secretary in the negotiations that preceded the preliminary peace of Leoben (April 1797) and then went to Genoa to snub the sunken republic, which was not difficult for him.

On July 11, 1797, Lavalette was commissioned by Napoleon to travel to Paris in order to research the situation there and the rule of the parties and to report to him in detail. He was to get in touch with Barras and Carnot and watch the whole Directory . Lavalette immediately recognized that a reconciliation between Barras and Carnot was impossible, avoided the latter and tried to tie Barras to Napoleon. Barras, Reubell and La Révellière-Lépeaux planned a coup. Lavalette promised the three directors military aid and three million francs, and Barras happily accepted Napoleon's proposals, especially bribed by the prospect of money. Lavalette reported to Napoleon the unpopularity of the Directory and the latter had General Augereau carry out the coup d'état of the 18th Fructidor V on September 4th, 1797. Lavalette refused the directors the money Napoleon had promised and made them angry. Augereau was also angry, and Barras showered Lavalette with impotent accusations that he was a traitor.

On September 21, 1797 Lavalette left Paris and visited Napoleon in the castle of Passeriano, where he gave him detailed information about his experiences in Paris. Napoleon instructed him to demand reparation from the Genoese Senate for an insult pronounced against the French. He then traveled with Napoleon to the Rastatt Congress , where they arrived at the end of November. When Napoleon left Rastatt on December 2, 1797, Lavalette stayed there to reinforce the impression that he himself was returning soon. His position alongside the French ambassadors, who loathed him, was unpleasant; he had to report all the incidents of Congress to Napoleon until he left Rastatt to rush to him.

marriage

Napoleon was very satisfied with Lavalette and married him on April 22, 1798 to Émilie Louise Beauharnais, who was in Madame Campan's pension and was born on January 8, 1781 . This was a daughter of the Marquis François de Beauharnais , the older brother of the first husband of Joséphine , who had married Napoleon for the second time.

From the marriage of Lavalette and his wife, a daughter named Joséphine (* 1802, † 1886) emerged, who became the wife of Baron François Alexandre de Forget.

Role in the Egyptian expedition

A few weeks after his wedding, Lavalette left with Napoleon on his expedition to Egypt . He landed with him in Malta and, after the island's surrender, accompanied the exiled Grand Master of the Order of Malta, Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim , and his entourage deep into the Adriatic Sea to protect them from the barbarians . He then inspected the fortifications and magazines of Corfu , instructed General Chabot to send Napoleon wood, wine and grapes, and went to Albania to the dreaded Ali Pasha in Janina . On Napoleon's order he was to report the conquest of Malta to him, inform him of his intentions with regard to Egypt and ask for his cooperation, and on the general's orders to assure the Pasha that if he would make common cause with him, Napoleon would significantly increase his fame and position of power . But he did not meet the Pasha, as he was fighting with Osman Pazvantoğlu on the Danube .

On July 21, 1798, Lavalette spoke to Admiral François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers , who was in charge of the French fleet, in front of the Egyptian port city of Abukir , and found him depressed and uneasy about his situation. Then he drove on, passed a violent storm at the mouth of the Nile, and went ashore in Cairo . There he reported to Napoleon that the fleet was still ahead of Abukir. He almost never left the general, shared his dangers, attended the most violent battles, was one of Napoleon's closest confidants and was usually his reader. After fighting at Salahieh , he brought Napoleon the news of the sinking of the fleet in the sea ​​battle at Abukir (August 1-2, 1798), of which he had first heard; Napoleon calmly communicated it to the officers.

Lavalette accompanied General Andréossy on an expedition to Pelusium , reported on this to Napoleon on October 27, 1798, and was sent to Alexandria with the consul Beauchamp , where the plague raged. After six weeks, Napoleon called him to Cairo on January 28, 1799 to take part in the Syrian expedition. Lavalette joined him on March 8 , the day after Jaffa was taken , and fought on Mount Tabor , participated in the long siege of Acre (March – May 1799) and, in later years, preferred to tell of Kléber's 14th storm . With Napoleon Lavalette then returned to Egypt and fought at Abukir.

Administrative career

On board the Muiron Lavalette left Egypt with Napoleon on August 23, 1799, landed with him on October 9 at Fréjus and went with him to Paris. At the large banquet given by the Directory, Napoleon had Lavalette bring him some bread and wine, as he feared an attempt at poisoning. During the coup d'état of 18th Brumaire VIII (November 9, 1799), which ended the rule of the Directory, Lavalette stood by his general loyally. Napoleon, who subsequently became First Consul and thus sole ruler, soon sent him to Dresden with great powers, in order to conclude peace negotiations with Austria if necessary . The war continued, however, and only after the severe Austrian-Bavarian defeat at Hohenlinden (December 3, 1800) did Emperor Franz II agree to an armistice with the First Consul.

As a representative of France in Dresden Lavalette worked on the good understanding of the Saxon Elector with France until Napoleon called him back in 1800. To his grief, Napoleon no longer took him as adjutant, but instead completed his military-diplomatic career and appointed him administrator of the amortization fund despite his great reluctance to pursue an administrative career. After initial resistance, Lavalette obeyed. A few months later, in 1801, he was entrusted with the management of the postal service as a commissioner, and as unsympathetic as this post was, he carried it out reliably and energetically. He stopped many abuses, which divided him permanently with Joseph Fouché , and at the instigation of Napoleon, who was elevated to emperor in 1804, set up the relay system, which soon worked very well.

Napoleon, who regarded Lavalette as an old friend and cousin of Empress Joséphine, appointed him General Post Director on March 19, 1804, and soon afterwards State Councilor and Director of the Black Cabinet , Count of the Empire in 1808 and Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor on June 30, 1811 . After his withdrawal from Russia, Napoleon used to chat confidentially with Lavalette about the state of affairs every evening; Lavalette was never a courtier and therefore openly told the emperor his opinion of the exhaustion of France. He remained faithful with him until his abdication in April 1814; then he resigned his position because he was unwilling to Louis XVIII. to serve. The first restoration brought him back into private life; Ferrand took the place of Lavalette. Before Napoleon moved to Russia, he had entrusted Lavalette with 1.6 million francs for safekeeping, which the count carefully guarded, which was particularly difficult in times of war; half was given by Lavalette in 1814 to Eugène de Beauharnais , who traveled to Germany, in order to let them get to Elba .

Lavalette deliberately refrained from all politics, stayed away from the court and the public as far as possible, but maintained relations with Napoleon on Elba and cheered his return to France. When Louis XVIII. therefore left Paris, Lavalette appeared a few hours later, namely on March 20, 1815 at seven o'clock in the morning, with General Sébastiani in front of Ferrand and took over the post administration again on his own initiative. This bold coup went a long way towards restoring Napoleon's rule . Napoleon, who owed him a lot of thanks for this, immediately confirmed him in office because he refused to head the Ministry of the Interior. The count brought order back to the degenerate postal system, forbade all denunciations and showed chivalrous moderation. The confidential discussions began again with Napoleon, and Lavalette expected the best from him. Napoleon appointed him peer of France .

Later life during the restoration

Sentenced to death after the second return of Louis XVIII.

After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo (June 18, 1815) Lavalette could not hide from the emperor that the mood was decidedly against him. He tried in vain to get the pairs to act vigorously while he advised Napoleon to abdicate. On June 22nd, in the Chamber of Deputies , he demanded that the laws regarding the abdication of the emperor and the creation of a government commission should be sent to the departments by special couriers. Napoleon asked the Count to accompany him into exile, which the latter refused because his wife was pregnant. After Napoleon's departure, Lavalette stayed in Paris against the advice of his friends. He believed that he had not committed a crime that would force him to flee.

Louis XVIII but excepted Lavalette in the ordinance of July 24, 1815 from the amnesty. Instead, the king had ordered his arrest and citation to a court-martial . According to public opinion, Lavalette was one of the main contributors to Napoleon's return to Paris. Lavalette, on the other hand, wanted to justify himself and wrote to Prime Minister Talleyrand on July 14 that he wanted to be brought to justice. The keeper of the seal Pasquier asked him to leave again; but he stayed and was arrested at breakfast on July 18th, taken to the police prefecture and interrogated. Soon he had to go to the conciergerie even though he was sick. He chose the well-known Nicolas Tripier , who moved Delacroix-Frainville to his defense . His newly born boy died.

At the same time as the trial of Marshal Michel Ney , whose flute Lavalette often heard in the conciergerie, the count's trial was being conducted; the Assisenhof of the Seine was entrusted with this, since Lavalette, as no longer belonging to the army, could not be tried in court. Evidence was searched for months to condemn him; the royalists wanted him to be sentenced to death. On November 19, 1815, he finally appeared before the Assize "accused of complicity in the assassination attempt in February and March against the king's person with the aim of changing and destroying the government and arming citizens and residents against the royal authority to excite ". The main charges were as follows: On the morning of March 20, 1815, Lavalette had deposed the Postmaster General Ferrand on behalf of Napoleon and presumed his office, given orders in this function, opposed Ferrand's departure to the King in Lille , interrupted the publication of the journals, especially the Moniteur universel , in which a decree against Napoleon was printed, and he had entered into correspondence with the usurper before he moved into Paris.

In contrast, Lavalette declared his appearance in the main post office on March 20, 1815 with the wish to receive news; he only met General Sébastiani by chance on the way and took him with him; at the post office he had hardly gotten to say hello to Ferrand, since he had left immediately; and in order not to leave the postal administration without a manager, he gave the employees advice rather than orders. He denied that he had officially taken over and obstructed Ferrand's departure for Lille. He also denied having sent any official dispatch before March 21st. But he was presented with a circular dated March 20th and signed by him, which had arrived in Beauvais on the night of March 20th to 21st and in Auxerre on the afternoon of March 21st. Ferrand's wife had also kept a letter signed by Lavalette ordering Ferrand's impeachment.

Despite efforts by the defense attorneys to save Lavalette, the witnesses too confirmed the charges and the judges were too pressured by the royalist sentiment for the court to pass anything other than the death sentence for high treason on November 21, 1815. Lavalette had followed the debates calmly and after hearing his verdict he told his lawyer Tripier that he was hit by a cannon. Then he greeted the numerous postal workers who had been called as witnesses against him.

Flight, exile in Germany, return to France and death

Lavalette appealed to the Court of Cassation, but the latter rejected his request on December 14, 1815. His wife then considered making an attempt to let him escape from prison. She turned to Amable de Baudus , whom Lavalette met in Germany and with whom he had become friends, for help . Baudus, who was now employed as an official of the Foreign Ministry, often visited Lavalette in the conciergerie and was supposed to find a place of refuge for him, where he could hide him in the event of a successful escape. Baudus was now a friend of Bresson , chief of accounting in the State Department, and he and his wife agreed to take Lavalette in.

Depiction of Lavalette's escape on a marble relief of his tomb

Meanwhile, Lavalette's wife received an audience with Louis XVIII, who seemed inclined to forbear. The king had to take into account, however, that the influential party of the ultra-royalists , which dominated the Chambre introuvable , was resolutely against Lavalette's pardon. The Minister of Police, Élie Decazes, wanted the Duchess of Angoulème to mediate on this matter , which Duke Richelieu could persuade her to do, but she made it necessary to discuss it with her friends first. It was agreed that Marshal Marmont, who was a close friend of Lavalette, would lead Lavalette's wife to the Tuileries Palace, throw her at the king's feet and also excite the pity of the Duchess, who, after initially reluctance, should finally give in to the Duchess's request. The friends the Duchess had consulted had caused a change of opinion in her, and orders were issued not to admit women into the Tuileries Palace. Marmont disregarded this rule, and when the king was about to go to mass, Lavalette's wife was able to kneel before him, but received from Louis XVIII. just an evasive answer.

This episode took place the day before Lavalette's execution, scheduled for December 21, 1815. His wife went to the conciergerie on the evening before the execution date in a sedan chair, accompanied by her 14-year-old daughter and an old servant. She dined with her husband in a separate room, then changed clothes with him and stayed in the dungeon. Lavalette, on the other hand, left the prison in women's clothes with his daughter and the servant, sobbing and hiding his face under a sheet. The porter dared not lift the veil, and so Lavalette was able to let himself be carried away unnoticed in his wife's litter. Baudus was waiting for the sedan chair on Rue du Harlay and led Lavalette to a convertible in which de Chassenon, a former auditor at the Council of State, drove him to Boulevard Neuf. Here he met Baudus again, exchanged his disguise for jockey clothes and was hidden in the Foreign Office. Bresson and his wife took him in, and he stayed with them for 14 days.

Lavalette's tomb with a bronze bust in the Père Lachaise cemetery

Lavalette's escape was discovered very quickly and the entire police apparatus was mobilized to arrest him. The Countess had to undergo strict interrogation, the ultra-royalists were furious and threatened the Ministry, which they suspected had let Lavalette escape. The Chambre introuvable asked the Justice Minister François Barbé-Marbois and the Police Minister Decazes to clarify about the escape; a commission was appointed to explain the nation's distrust to the two ministers. But this did not happen because the king threatened to dissolve the chamber in this case. On January 7, 1816, Lavalette was executed in effigy in the square of the Palace of Justice, while the following day he escaped from Paris in the uniform of a British colonel with the help of British officers. Under the code name Losack, he sat in an open car with Napoleon's once bitter enemy, General Sir Robert Thomas Wilson . They passed the Belgian border on January 10th and drove on to Mons ; the order to arrest Lavalette arrived too late.

The escape helpers Lavalette, namely Wilson, who had returned to Paris, and Captain John Hely-Hutchinson and Michael Bruce, were tried in France, with Dupin the Elder appearing as their defense lawyer. On April 24, 1816, they were sentenced to three months' imprisonment and the conciergerie porter received a two-year prison term for negligence. Lavalette's wife had spent a month in the conciergerie and was released at the end of January 1816; she fell into disorder, but did not die until June 18, 1855.

The protection of Eugène Beauharnais gave Lavalette asylum in Bavaria after his escape ; but since his stay in Munich was not advisable because of the research by the French embassy , he lived first in Freising , then in Starnberg , always in close contact with Eugène Beauharnais, but otherwise very secluded. Later he lived hidden in Eichstädt and in Augsburg with the ex-queen Hortense, a close friend of his . His daughter married the Baron François Alexandre de Forget in France.

In 1822 Louis XVIII pardoned Lavalette and allowed him to return to France, whereupon the count returned home broken. He lived extremely secluded in Paris with his wife, to whom he lovingly devoted himself. Napoleon gave him 300,000 francs in his will, which had been deposited with Laffitte; the count received about 60,000 francs and his heirs were allocated about 204,000 francs by decree of 1855. His memoirs, which he began in Bavaria and which are particularly interesting because of his long acquaintance with Napoleon, were completed in France and, after his death in Paris on February 15, 1830, his family wrote according to his manuscripts as Mémoires et souvenirs du comte Lavalette (2 volumes, Paris 1831; German memoirs and historical memories of Count Lavalette , 2 volumes, Leipzig 1832) published. Lavalette found his final resting place in the Père Lachaise cemetery .

literature

• Procès de Sir Robert Wilson , Hutchins, Michel Bruce et autres accusés concernant l'évasion de Lavalette. Paris 1816.
• Jean Lorédan: Madame de Lavalette. Paris 1829.
• Mémoires et souvenirs du comte Lavalette. 2 vols., Paris 1831.
• Mémoires du maréchal Marmont . Paris 1857.
• Arthur Kleinschmidt : Lavalette (Antoine Marie Chamans, Count of). In: Johann Samuelersch , Johann Gottfried Gruber (Hrsg.): General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts . 2nd Section, 42nd Vol. (1888), pp. 284-286.
• Mémoires du chancelier Pasquier . Paris 1897.
• Henry Houssaye: 1815. La Seconde abdication. La Terreur blanche. 2 vols., Paris 1899/1905.
• Louis Madelin : Fouché , 1759-1820. Paris 1913.
• Golo Mann : A true story. Edited and with an afterword by Peter Marxer. Publisher Mirio Romano, Kilchberg 1985.

Web links

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