Jean-Baptiste de Villèle

Jean-Baptiste Guillaume Marie Anne Séraphin Joseph, comte de Villèle

Jean Baptiste Guillaume Marie Anne Séraphin Joseph, comte de Villèle (born April 14, 1773 in Toulouse , † March 13, 1854 ibid) was a French statesman . In the era of the Restoration , from December 1821 he held the position of Minister of Finance; at the same time he was de facto (officially from September 1822) also President of the Council of Ministers, ie head of government. He held both offices until his dismissal in January 1828. He was also a Knight of the Order of the Holy Spirit and an officer of the Legion of Honor .

Early life

Jean Baptiste Guillaume Marie Anne Séraphin Joseph, comte de Villèle belonged to a family from the Lauragais that was raised to the nobility in the 17th century. He was the only child of Louis François Joseph de Villèle, Lord of Mourvilles-Basses, who died in 1822, and of Anne Louise Blanc de la Guizardie. In 1788 he entered the Naval School of Alais . He became a royal naval officer and subsequently provided sea services in the West and East Indies, so that he was absent from France when the French Revolution broke out . First he went to Hispaniola , then with his relative, the rear admiral Armand de Saint-Félix , to the Île de France . The revolutionary events of 1793 forced Saint-Félix to retreat to the Île Bourbon , where Villèle accompanied him. On this island, Villèle, who was an opponent of the revolution, was arrested on May 21, 1794 during the reign of terror , but was released again in October 1794 after it was terminated soon afterwards.

In October 1796 Villèle bought a modest estate on the Île Bourbon, became wealthy by growing coffee and married Barbe Mélanie Ombeline Panon Desbassayns on April 13, 1799, daughter of the wealthy planter Henri Paulin Panon Desbassayns and his wife Marie Anne Desbassayns . The couple had five children.

Villèle gained his first political experience in the colonial assembly of Bourbon, where he successfully fought to protect the colony from constant interference by the Parisian authorities and also prevented dissatisfied islanders from invoking the protection of the English. The arrival of General Decaen sent by Napoleon restored security on the island.

Start of political career

In 1807 Villèle returned to France and lived on his large estates in the municipality of Mourvilles near Toulouse , of which he became mayor in January 1808. He was also a member of the Haute-Garonne département council from 1811 . Avoiding Napoleon's rule, he participated in the resistance of the royalists and in 1813 joined their secret society Chevaliers de la Foi (ie "Knights of Faith").

When, after the first restoration of the Bourbons , which Villèle greeted enthusiastically, Louis XVIII. In the declaration of Saint-Ouen (French: Déclaration de Saint-Ouen ) promised a constitution, Villèle had the pamphlet Observations sur le projet de constitution printed in May 1814 , in which he criticized this project of the Bourbon king as too democratic and the restoration of the demanded absolute monarchy . During Napoleon's reign of the Hundred Days , he joined the opposition royalists around the Duke of Angoulême and contributed 20,000 francs from his own wallet to this dangerous undertaking.

Member of the introuvable chambre

After the second restoration, Villèle received the office of mayor in Toulouse in July 1815, which he held until February 1818. Shortly after he took over the office of Maire, General Ramel, suspected of being a supporter of Napoleon, was murdered in Toulouse on August 15, 1815 . Villèle, who had been unable to prevent this attack, was then elected as a deputy to the Chambre introuvable for the Haute-Garonne department with a narrow majority of three votes . In doing so, he joined the reactionary ultra-royalists who dominated this chamber , who advocated the abolition of the constitution, restoration of the old large estates and harsh punishment of the former revolutionaries and the Bonapartists. Villèle soon rose to be one of the leaders of the Ultras. In contrast to this party, Louis XVIII persecuted. and the government led by Richelieu a more moderate policy aimed at peaceful compromise.

There were frequent conflicts between the government and the Ultras, for example in early 1816 when Villèle and his party colleagues vigorously rejected an electoral law submitted by Interior Minister Vaublanc . Villèle pleaded for a significant reduction in the electoral census in order to extend voting rights, which should be two-tier, to poorer classes such as the peasants. The ultra-royalists distrusted the urban bourgeois middle class, which they suspected of sympathy for liberal ideas; of the farmers, however, because of their greater dependency, they assumed a rather positive voting behavior for the aristocratic large landowners. At the cantonal level, according to Villèle's concept, all French people over the age of 25 who paid at least 50 francs a year in tax should be allowed to vote, while all French people from the same age group but with over 300 francs annual tax should participate in the election of the deputies of the arrondissements among whom the king would then choose the representatives of the departments. Furthermore, the members of the Chamber should only be re-appointed every five years and then in full. No agreement was reached on the electoral law and on September 5, 1816, the King dissolved the Chambre introuvable .

Further opposition to the cabinets of Louis XVIII.

Although the Ultras were now in the minority in the newly elected Chamber from September 25 to October 4, 1816, Villèle's personal authority increased steadily. Sober and businesslike, the oratorically gifted politician exercised moderate opposition to the cabinet, which was still led by the Duke of Richelieu. He also used the press, particularly Le Conservateur, as a medium for criticizing the government . His aversion to the Charter of Louis XVIII. waned over time, and gradually he became the foremost leader of the ultra-royalists. In vain, however, was his resistance to a new electoral law drawn up by Interior Minister Lainé that favored the urban bourgeoisie vis-à-vis the landed gentry and passed on February 5, 1817, according to which only every Frenchman over 30 years of age who pays at least 300 francs a year in taxes has the right to vote had direct elections of deputies to be held in the departmental capitals; it also provided for an annual renewal of a fifth of the MPs.

The economically competent Villèle was particularly successful on financial matters. He submitted proposals for the implementation of a serious control of public spending and criticized, admittedly in vain, the costly raising of enormous government bonds by the government to service the national debts, which were increased by demands for war compensation related to the Napoleonic era. Villèle also contributed significantly to the adoption of the budget commission amendment of 1819, which addressed the specialty principle of spending.

When Richelieu did not get through because of the success of the political left in the supplementary elections of October 1818 with his demand for a change in the electoral law and rapprochement with the Ultras and therefore resigned in December 1818, Villèle was briefly under discussion as a possible naval minister in the ensuing government reshuffle. As a result, the cabinet went to the left and pursued a more liberal course, but the further strengthening and radicalization of the left and the concern of the government over the election of 1819 - the approval of the execution of Louis XVI. suspect - Abbé Henri Grégoire in the Chamber of Deputies caused another change of course in the cabinet, which now sought cooperation with the Ultras.

After the murder of the Duke of Berry (February 14, 1820) the liberal years came to an end and a third restoration began. Richelieu became prime minister again and could now count on the support of Villèle and other ultra-royalists. Villèle endorsed the law on the curtailment of individual freedoms passed on March 28 and the one of March 31 to reintroduce censorship, and eagerly participated in the debates on the new electoral law of double voting, passed on June 30, which gives the 23,000 a double vote the richest French. However, he denied that his party wanted to restore all previous rights of the aristocracy. He was one of the vice-presidents of the Chamber of Deputies and temporarily chaired it from June 8th to 11th, 1820.

Head of government under Louis XVIII.

After the electoral successes of the ultra-royalists on December 21, 1820, Richelieu had to accept two of their leaders, Villèle and his close friend Corbière , as ministers without a portfolio in his cabinet. Villèle resigned on July 25, 1821, because he still viewed Richelieu's policies as too liberal.

The fall of Richelieu brought - for the first time under Louis XVIII. - the ultras to power. With his friend Corbière Villèle was entrusted with the formation of the new cabinet, in which the later King Charles X , who sympathized with the Ultras, played a major role. Villèle took over the office of finance minister on December 14, 1821 as the successor to Antoine Roy and was at the same time de facto, from September 5, 1822 also officially head of government. Elevated by the king to count on August 17, 1822, he dominated the now illiberal-conservative politics of France until the end of 1827. At court he received support from Sosthène de La Rochefoucauld and the Countess of Cayla, Zoé Talon , among others . In his cabinet, which was formed in December 1821, Corbière became Minister of the Interior, Pierre-Denis de Peyronnet as Minister of Justice, Mathieu de Montmorency-Laval as Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Duke of Belluno as Minister of War and Aimé Marie Gaspard de Clermont-Tonnerre as Minister of the Navy; the Marquis of Lauriston remained Minister of the Royal House.

As finance minister, Villèle tried to achieve a balanced budget and was able to reduce the national debt considerably. He sought to stimulate the industry with funds from the state financial institution Caisse des Dépôts and began with the rehabilitation of the port of Dunkirk .

Restrictive press laws; Failure of conspiracies; reactionary education policy

The change of government resulted in the dismissal of liberal officials. Although censorship was abolished in February 1822, a preventive press law passed in the same year and defended by Villèle considerably restricted the freedom of the press insofar as newspapers could now be banned because of their general orientation if this was in conflict with the interests of the state, and any establishment of one new sheet required prior official approval. This was a severe blow to the liberal press.

As early as 1821 and also in 1822, sections of the liberal opposition sought to end the restorative phase through secret plots and military uprisings and to help liberalism to break through again. For example, General Jean-Baptiste Berton was executed on October 5, 1822 for his failed revolt; four young NCOs from La Rochelle were also beheaded on September 21, 1822 on charges of attempting to overthrow the monarchy. Deputies like La Fayette were involved. However, all of the opposition's actions failed.

Villèle saw threatening breeding grounds for agitation in the universities. He closed the medical faculty for three months in 1822 because the rector of the Paris Academy had been ridiculed there; likewise the rebellious École normal supérieure had to close its doors by March 1826. Villèle also suspended the lectures by Guizot and Royer-Collard, which were attended by numerous students . The Catholic traditionalist Frayssinous was appointed grand master of the university in June 1822 and directed the school system. Bishops supervised primary school classes and priests acted as philosophy teachers in high schools. These measures increased the anti-clericalism of the liberals.

Military intervention in Spain

At the Verona Congress , Foreign Minister Montmorency promised that his country would intervene militarily in Spain to help King Ferdinand VII, who had been forced to recognize the liberal constitution of 1812, regain absolutist rule . England vehemently opposed such interference. Montmorency had also made his promise without consulting his cabinet. Nevertheless, most of his colleagues approved the decision of the Foreign Minister, who had returned to Paris in November 1822. Villèle, who was keen to keep the peace, made strong resistance to the planned military expedition and was able to rely on the support of Louis XVIII. to build. Because of this conflict, Montmorency resigned on December 26, 1822, whereupon he received a successor in François-René de Chateaubriand .

Ultimately, Villèle and the King yielded to the urging of the Ultras and the States of the Holy Alliance ; on January 28, 1823 the war against Spain was decided. The majority of the Chamber voted in favor of the measures made necessary by the military intervention, but with violent opposition from the left, in particular from Deputy Jacques-Antoine Manuel . Villèle rejected the assertion of some opponents that there were parallels between the Napoleonic invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in 1808 and the intervention now planned. Manuel was because of a as approval of the execution of Louis XVI. interpretable statement excluded from the Chamber, which resulted in the withdrawal of almost the entire left there. Villèle did not interfere in this incident. The Duke of Angoulême then commanded the French expeditionary corps and put Ferdinand VII back in power. The cost of the campaign again shattered state finances, but the military success strengthened the influence of the Ultras and the reputation of France in Europe.

Power cementing; temporary failure of the emigrant compensation

From the victorious war against Spain Villèle sought to make political capital. On his advice, Louis XVIII. the liberal majority in the upper house overturned by the appointment of 27 new pairs , and after the dissolution of the chamber on December 24, 1823, Villèle offered in the elections of February and March 1824 all his increase in power in order to obtain the chamber majority. Indeed, the right-wing election ended with a major success. In the new chamber ( chambre retrouvée ), which met for the first time on March 24, 1824, there were now 410 royalist and ultra-royalist, but only 19 liberal MPs. In order to secure this enormous right-wing majority for the future and thus to guarantee his government greater stability, Villèle abolished the annual election of a fifth of the MPs and instead introduced the seven-year legislative period (septenality) of the chamber. The Chamber of Peers adopted a corresponding draft law on May 7, 1824, and then also the Chamber of Deputies. However, a fierce opposition from the extreme right to Villèle's sharp opponent La Bourdonnaye now formed within the chamber majority .

A legislative proposal introduced by Villèle, which provided for the conversion of government bonds, had less success. The aim was to get the numerous owners of government bonds to sell those securities whose price was higher than the nominal value in order to have them bought again at a lower price. The funds thus gained were intended to finance the “Emigrant Billion”, ie the compensation for former emigrants who had lost their property during the French Revolution. This meant that bourgeois pensioners would have had to pay for the debts to the emigrant aristocracy incurred by the revolution and Napoleon's regime. The project caused a sensation and was fiercely opposed by the Liberals, among others. In the Chamber of Deputies, the Finance Minister passed his legislative initiative on May 5, 1824 with 238 votes to 145, but failed because of the Chamber of Peers, in which he had less influence. The Pairs rejected his plan on June 3, 1824 with a majority of 34 votes.

The Minister of Finance drew the consequence of his failure to part with Chateaubriand, who had spoken out against the pension reduction plan. On 6 June 1824, Villèle also took over the post of Foreign Minister on an interim basis, which Ange Hyacinthe Maxence de Damas then held from August 4, 1824 . Chateaubriand became a bitter opponent of Villèle, the ultra-royalist party continued to split, and Villèle now came under heavy criticism from two newspapers, the Journal des Débats and Quotidienne .

Censorship was temporarily reintroduced by royal orderly on August 16, 1824, and a Ministry of Education and Spiritual Affairs headed by Frayssinous was established on August 26. In addition, several bishops were introduced to the State Council and others were made pairs, indicating the growing clerical influence. Louis XVIII died on September 16, 1824.

Head of government under Charles X.

Growing ecclesiastical influence; Decision on emigrant compensation

On the death of Louis XVIII. This was followed by the ascension to the throne of his 67-year-old brother Karl X. , who confirmed the Villèle cabinet in office and - despite his previous unpopularity - managed to make himself popular for a short time. The ordinance of September 29, 1824, allegedly against the Council of Villèles, ordered the restoration of freedom of the press. But the bourbon was very reactionary, did not want to see royal power restricted by a parliamentary system, reintroduced some old monarchical traditions and, as a deeply devout Catholic, promoted the further strengthening of ecclesiastical influence in his empire. As a result, its initial popularity quickly waned.

On November 21, 1824, the cabinet decided to submit two bills - rejected by the politically more moderate Villèle - to the chambers, one of which provided for the renewed permission of religious congregations, by ordinance by the king, and the other for the reintroduction of blasphemy as a criminal offense . Church offenses should be punished with the heaviest penalties. Although these drafts went through despite strong criticism, the sacrilege law was never applied.

There was also a new attempt at emigrant compensation. On January 3, 1825, the government submitted a corresponding application to the Chamber of Deputies. Accordingly, just under a billion francs should be paid out as compensation in the form of a delivery of three percent bonds. There were violent controversies in both chambers, which also included fundamental debates with the very general scourging of the French Revolution by the right and, conversely, that of emigration by the left. During these discussions, Villèle replied, among other things, to those who accused the emigrants of fleeing during the revolution that they had no other choice if they did not want to die by the guillotine ; only the emigration of the Bourbons preserved the French their king, who restored them general peace and prosperity. Ultimately, the government draft was adopted in the Chamber of Deputies with a majority of 135 votes and in the Chamber of Peers with a majority of 86 votes and passed as law on April 27, 1825. A modified pension reduction law also went through.

In the same year 1825 Villèle achieved that his party and the king agreed to recognize the independence of Haiti against a compensation sum of 150 million francs for a former plantation owner. With this step, Villèle also wanted to ensure that Spain also accepted the independence of its American colonies. In the discussions about the distribution of the compensation that developed over the next year, the right-wing counter-opposition criticized the recognition of Haiti's sovereignty, which Villèle defended with reference to the interests of French trade and the expropriated former settlers as well as the difficulties of military intervention and the associated costs. receiving support from the left.

In the country meanwhile, because of the unmistakable intention of the Ministry to gradually abolish the constitution, against which only the opposition of the Chamber of Peers was still effective, the displeasure became greater and greater, especially when the government greatly promoted the Jesuit order. Its followers now occupied many high state offices; the trend that began as early as 1822 that clergymen increasingly dominated public instruction, intensified. Overall, the court and church determined political decisions considerably more than under Louis XVIII. Liberals therefore criticized the growing power of a “priestly party”. This tried to eliminate the journals hostile to it as dangerous to the throne and religion through tendentious processes. But the courts demonstrated their independence by repeatedly acquitting the accused newspapers, and the press trials tended to increase the influence of liberal authors.

Increasing resistance to the Villèles government

On November 28, 1825, the liberal-minded General Maximilien-Sébastien Foy died , and the fact that more than a hundred thousand people followed his body and more than a million francs were collected for his memorial was so skillfully used by Villèles' opponents that he asked for his Believed to have to ask for release, but was refused.

The chamber reopened on January 31, 1826 approved the finance law, but the draft law introduced by the ministry to introduce the right to birthright was rejected by the chamber of peers on April 7, 1826. Had this draft, in the discussion of which Villèle only took a small part, passed, the eldest sons would have received a larger inheritance in the case of inheritance of goods with over 300 francs property tax. After the regulation of the revolution, however, all children received the same inheritance. The proposed law was aimed at counteracting the fragmentation of large estates and thus improving the economic basis of aristocratic landowners. As the final effect of the birthright, the Ultras hoped that the principle of bourgeois equality would be undermined and that the nobility would gain power, i.e. the reversal of the social structure that emerged from the revolution. The rejection of the ministerial bill meant a serious defeat for Charles X and his government.

At the session of the Chamber on December 12, 1826, the extreme right and the liberal opposition jointly attacked the government, and there has been intermittent joint resistance from the two different parties to the cabinet. On the right-wing side, a Gallican opposition was formed on religious issues , the spokesman of which, the Count of Montlosier, attacked the Jesuits to great applause. The Cabinet was also criticized for its policy regarding the British intervention in Portugal, which had come about because of the advances made by Portuguese absolutists who sought to overturn the liberal charter of Peter I ; however, Villèle's government team was able to prevail in both chambers with a clear majority.

In order to stop the attacks of the liberal opposition press, the Justice Minister Peyronnet drafted the plan, soon to be derided by the public as the “law of justice and love”, to severely restrict press freedom. It is true that the government did not dare to take over from Karl. X. to reintroduce censorship, which had been abolished when he ascended the throne, but at least tried to stipulate that all books and brochures be presented to the Ministry of the Interior before they were sold and to make the press offenses of the journals more expensive by increasing stamp fees and high fines, thereby reducing their number of subscribers and thus theirs Undermine effectiveness. Only church letters should not be affected by the regulation. In fact, if this government project, which Chateaubriand dubbed the “Vandal Law”, had been implemented, the continued existence of liberal newspapers would have been enormously difficult. Even the Académie française declared in a supplik to Charles X, which was passed by a majority during its meeting on January 16, 1827, of its concern about the planned attack on the media.

There was also great indignation in the Chamber of Deputies when they debated the bill from February 14 to March 12, 1827. Compulsory government measures such as the dismissal of the members of the Académie française opposed to their plans ( Joseph François Michaud , Abel-François Villemain and others), the closing of the lectures by Victor Cousin and Guizot at the Sorbonne and the general teachers' seminar increased the bitterness. Despite the general protests and the associated efforts of the counter-opposition (La Bourdonnaye, Neuville, etc.), the draft was accepted by the Chamber of Deputies with 233 votes to 134 on March 17th. In the chamber of peers, however, it was watered down so much by the commission appointed for examination and headed by Duke de Broglie that the government withdrew it on April 17th, which was enthusiastically acclaimed in Paris. An article in the Journal des Débats on April 28, 1827 even urged Villèle bluntly to resign.

When the King inspected the National Guard on the Marsfeld on April 29, 1827 , the call rang out: “Vive la charte! À bas les jésuites! À bas les calotins! ”(“ Long live the Charte! Down with the Jesuits! Down with the friends of the priests! ”) In addition, Villèle was mocked by two legions of the National Guard who passed the Ministry of Finance. These events caused the king, at Villèle's insistence, to sign the order to disband the entire National Guard on the night of April 29th or 30th. Villèle thought about a reorganization of the electoral law in order to strengthen the aristocratic element in the chambers, and in this sense presented a jury law, which went through the chamber of peers after substantial amendments. A royal ordinance of June 24th, 1827, which was counter-signed by Villèle, Corbière and Peyronnet, also reinstated the censorship laws of 1820 and 1821. This act made the government unpopular with the people.

In response to ministerial efforts, Chateaubriand founded the Society of Friends of the Freedom of the Press , whose main task was to distribute pamphlets to the people that were not subject to censorship in place of the displaced or pressurized journals in order to educate them about the most important events and interests. From this society a new association developed, which was soon named after its motto Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera . The anti-government sentiment of the people was expressed both at the funeral of Manuel († August 20, 1827), who was suspected of defending regicide, and at the acquittals of authors of anti-ministerial writings.

Villèle's foreign policy was ultimately unable to consolidate its position, although France's treaty of July 6, 1827 with Russia and Great Britain in support of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire and the unification of a French fleet under Admiral Henri de Rigny with the Russian and British on October 20, 1827 resulted in the naval victory of Navarino and the destruction of the Turkish fleet.

Fall

Since Villèle no longer had a secure majority in the Chamber of Deputies and had been confronted several times with strong opposition in the Chamber of Peers, he tried to convince Charles X to use a political strike to enable him to restore the power of the ministry . The royal ordinances of November 5, 1827, who appeared on Villèle's advice, envisaged a reorganization of the chamber of peers in the interests of the government through the appointment of 88 new pairs, the premature dissolution of the chamber of deputies with subsequent new elections and the renewed abolition of censorship. By an early election date - which was set on November 17 and 24, 1827 - Villèle hoped to prevent the organizational consolidation of the opposition. But since he acted on his own initiative and, in particular with the large number of newly appointed pairs, had not asked his colleagues for advice, this act violated not only the chamber of peers, but also his ministerial colleagues. The new pairs were mostly bishops and reactionary ex-emigrants, and a violent opposition was preparing among the deputies to whom he had given hope of becoming peers without fulfilling it.

As a result of the abolition of censorship, the press could again afford more violent attacks on the government, and the aforementioned new associations for the defense of press freedom supported the election campaign of the opposition, whose leaders on the left and right cooperated during the election campaign. In the first round, held in the electoral colleges of the arrondissements, the opposition triumphed with great success, which was particularly celebrated in Paris. There were riots in the capital on the night of November 19-20, 1827, during which barricades were even erected. The military deployed against it quickly got the situation under control, including deaths. Three deputies discussed this with Villèle, and one of these deputies, Benjamin Constant , suggested that the party that had lost in the elections might have organized the unrest. The first minister replied that the party, which regretted the dissolution of the National Guard, might have had even more interest in inciting the riot. The meeting was inconclusive. In the second ballot, the ministerial candidates did better, which in turn raised suspicions that the police had instigated the unrest to deter voters from casting anti-government votes. Meanwhile, the government's sympathizers were only able to have 180 MPs, while the Liberals now had an equal number of seats and the right-wing opposition 75 seats.

At first, Villèle, who had been re-elected, did not want to know anything about his resignation, but he had gambled away his credit even with many men close to Charles X. They demanded the formation of a cabinet which should be able to turn the royalists back into a unified party. The king insisted that his close confidante Jules de Polignac be given a ministerial post in the cabinet. Villèle fought this plan violently, while Charles X again denied Chateaubriand's entry into the government. The prime minister finally saw that he was no longer adequately supported by the monarch and asked for his dismissal, which Charles X. granted on January 3, 1828. The new cabinet was under the top management of Martignac . Villèle's lasting merit was the long-term restructuring of French finances.

Later life and death

Together with Corbière and Peyronnet, Villèle was appointed peer on January 3, 1828, but renounced political life. When, for example, Georges Humann proposed to him on March 31, 1830, on behalf of the deputies of the center, who wanted to avoid the turmoil of the revolution, that he should take the place of Polignac again, Villèle refused. Despite this, he still exerted some influence as many MPs sought his advice and support.

In July 1830 Villèle retired to Toulouse for private life. There he lived without taking an active part in public affairs. Only in 1839 did he write some notable articles in the Gazette de France on universal suffrage and the financial situation. He died on March 13, 1854, almost 81 years old, in his Toulouse town house on Rue Vélane. His funeral took place in the Saint-Étienne cathedral. He found his final resting place in the chapel of the castle of Mourvilles.

Villèle had written his memoirs by 1816. They were completed by his family based on his correspondence and published as Mémoires et correspondance de Villèle (5 volumes, Paris 1887–1890).

literature

• Villèle (Jean-Baptiste-Séraphin-Joseph) . In: Louis-Gabriel Michaud (Ed.): Biographie universelle , 2nd edition, Vol. 43, pp. 453–461.
• Villèle, Jean Baptiste Guillaume Marie Anne Séraphin , in: Encyclopædia Britannica , 11th edition, Vol. 28 (1911), pp. 79f.

Remarks

1. ^ Villèle (Jean-Baptiste-Séraphin-Joseph) . In: Louis-Gabriel Michaud (ed.): Biographie universelle , 2nd edition, vol. 43, p. 453; Villèle, Jean Baptiste Guillaume Marie Anne Séraphin , in: Encyclopædia Britannica , 11th edition, Vol. 28 (1911), p. 79.
2. ↑ Louis-Gabriel Michaud (Ed.): Biographie universelle , 2nd edition, Vol. 43, p. 453; Encyclopædia Britannica , 11th Edition, Vol. 28 (1911), p. 79.
3. ↑ Louis-Gabriel Michaud (Ed.): Biographie universelle , 2nd edition, Vol. 43, p. 453f .; on the role of the ultras in general: Hans-Ulrich Thamer : Ludwig XVIII. In: Peter C. Hartmann (Ed.): French Kings and Emperors of the Modern Age , 1994, ISBN 3-406-38506-0 , pp. 382–384; Klaus Malettke : Die Bourbonen , Vol. 3, 2009, ISBN 978-3-17-020584-0 , pp. 52–56.
4. ↑ Louis-Gabriel Michaud (Ed.): Biographie universelle , 2nd edition, Vol. 43, p. 454f .; Hans-Ulrich Thamer: Ludwig XVIII. In: Peter C. Hartmann (Ed.): French Kings and Emperors of the Modern Age , pp. 384–386; Klaus Malettke: Die Bourbonen , Vol. 3, S. 56-64.
5. ↑ Louis-Gabriel Michaud (Ed.): Biographie universelle , 2nd edition, Vol. 43, pp. 455-457; Hans-Ulrich Thamer: Ludwig XVIII. In: Peter C. Hartmann (Ed.): French Kings and Emperors of the Modern Age , pp. 386–388; Klaus Malettke: The Bourbons , vol. 3, p. 64f .; 69f .; 95f.
6. ↑ Louis-Gabriel Michaud (Ed.): Biographie universelle , 2nd edition, Vol. 43, p. 457f .; Hans-Ulrich Thamer: Karl X. In: Peter C. Hartmann (Ed.): French kings and emperors of the modern age , p. 397; Klaus Malettke: The Bourbons , Vol. 3, p. 95; 98-100.
7. ↑ Louis-Gabriel Michaud (Ed.): Biographie universelle , 2nd edition, Vol. 43, p. 458f .; Hans-Ulrich Thamer: Karl X. In: Peter C. Hartmann (Ed.): French kings and emperors of the modern times , p. 397f .; Klaus Malettke: The Bourbons , Vol. 3, pp. 100-104.
8. ↑ Louis-Gabriel Michaud (Ed.): Biographie universelle , 2nd edition, Vol. 43, pp. 459f .; Hans-Ulrich Thamer: Karl X. In: Peter C. Hartmann (Ed.): French Kings and Emperors of the Modern Age , p. 398; Klaus Malettke: The Bourbons , Vol. 3, pp. 104-106.

predecessor	Office	successor
Antoine Roy	Finance Minister of France December 14, 1821 - January 4, 1828	Antoine Roy