Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta

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"Sébastiani" redirects here. For other people with the name, see Sebastiani.
Horace Sébastiani
Victor, 3rd duc de Broglie
Personal details
Born11 November 1771
Francoise, Duchess de Praslin
OccupationSoldier, diplomat
Count of the French Empire

Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta (

Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister of State under the July Monarchy
.

Having joined the

Sixth Coalition
.

Sébastiani recognized the

French Government service as an ambassador
.

The 1847 murder of his daughter,

1848 Revolution
.

Early life

Born in

Battle of Marengo, 1800.[8] Having served as an officer in the 9th Dragoon Regiment,[4] he was promoted to colonel in 1799.[5][8][9]

Sébastiani as a Lieutenant of the light infantry in 1793, by Jean-Baptiste Paulin Guérin (1835)

Sébastiani joined

Barbary State of Tripoli,[6][9] as well as obtaining the latter's agreement to recognize the Italian Republic.[9]

Mission to Egypt and 1805 Campaign

Sébastiani negotiated with the

Muhammad Ali's seizure of power).[9] In late 1802, he traveled to Akka, and negotiated a trade agreement with the local pasha.[9]

During this period, Sébastiani theorized that, despite Egyptian Campaign's failure, the French could yet again establish their control over the region.

British troops would remain as long as France held designs to invade Egypt.[12]

Returning to France, he was put in charge of the

Grande Armée troops during the Battle of Ulm. After leading a successful attack on Günzburg, Sébastiani followed the Austrians into Moravia (1805),[4] having been promoted Général de division after the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805, where he was wounded.[2][4][5][9]

Embassy to Selim III

Main article:
Dardanelles Operation (1807)
Order of The Crescent insignia

Appointed

Turkish and Arabic.[4]

Sébastiani persuaded the Ottomans to take a stand against Russia after bringing attention to the anti-Ottoman conspiracy in

Alexander Mourousis.[10][14][15] According to the aristocratic Wallachian memoirist and politician Ion Ghica, Selim "followed the advice of General Sébastiani, who tried to bring him to Napoleon's side", and saw a connection between Ypsilantis and the Serbian Uprising
:

"He felt that [Ypsilantis] sided with the Russians and had an understanding with

Czerny-George the Serbian, both of whom had rebelled against The Porte."[15]

The conflict itself started when Russia considered Ypsilantis' deposition to go against the letter of the

Russo-Turkish War (1806–12)).[10][14] Prince Ypsilantis had previously escaped to the Russian camp, and was briefly considered by his allies as ruler over both principalities (just before Russian occupation took over);[15] the French Consul to Moldavia, Charles-Frédéric Reinhard, reportedly not informed of Sébastiani's contacts with Selim, was arrested by the Russian troops.[14] As a major consequence of this chain of events, France pulled the strings of Ottoman foreign policy.[10]

Horace Sébastiani, portrait by Philippe Joseph Tassaert, ca. 1800

During the

Ottoman fleet and the Dardanelles military facilities to be handed over,[2][10] and for Russia to be granted rule over Wallachia and Moldavia.[10] The Sultan sent envoys requesting Sébastiani to leave Ottoman territory, but the French Ambassador explained that he would not do so until being ordered by Selim himself.[2][10]

As the matter was being debated, Janissary forces on the Anatolian shore organized themselves, and, once increased in strength, began responding to the attack.[10] Selim subsequently asked Sébastiani and his men (including Louis Gustave le Doulcet and José Martínez Hervás, marquis d'Alménara [es], as well as the embassy's secretary Florimond de Faÿ de La Tour-Maubourg [fr]), to oversee Constantinople's defense and the line of fire nearby Topkapı Palace, organizing maneuvers which caused Duckworth to withdraw.[2][10]

In 1806, Sébastiani married Jeanne-Françoise-Antoinette (Fanny)

Grand Dragoman.[18]

Embassy to Mustafa IV

Sultan Selim III visiting General Sébastiani during the defense of Constantinople in February 1807. Jules Alfred Vincent Rigo, 1860.

The successful rebellion led by Kabakçı Mustafa and the Janissary troops put an end to French diplomatic success. Sébastiani negotiated with Kabakçı, while the British sought support from various factions inside Constantinople[10][18] — the Grand Dragoman, Aleko Soutzos [el], eventually informed the French Ambassador on the parallel British projects.[10][18] This resulted in Soutzos' beheading[10][15] — that which, in Ion Ghica's version of events, caused the Soutzos family to abandon their commitment to France and begin supporting Russia.[15] According to the Revue des Deux Mondes biography, Sébastiani had betrayed Aleko Soutzos' confidence by revealing as many details of Anglo-Ottoman negotiations as to render it clear that the Dragoman had been acting as his spy, and by failing to respect the promise of French protection.[10]

Under the new monarch,

falaka torture, despite the facts that the recent annexation of Ragusa by France offered them a degree of immunity. As a result of his pressures, Sébastiani obtained rule over the province of Baghdad for his favorite, and, in return, allowed the Bostanji-bashi to remain in office.[18]

He asked to be recalled in April 1807,

Grand Aigle de la Légion d'honneur.[4][10] The Revue des Deux Mondes speculated that, based on the Corsican
heritage he shared with Sébastiani:

"the Emperor would often keep his eyes closed in respect to his Generals' mistakes.
As for [Sébastiani's] diplomatic skills, Napoleon was so affected that he sent him to the arms as soon as he returned from the Orient, and did not assign him to any negotiations until his fall [of 1814]."[10]

Peninsular War and 1813 Campaign

The Alhambra citadel, Granada

Sébastiani became a

Battle of Ciudad-Real,[8] the Battle of Talavera,[5] and the Battle of Almonacid.[2][4][8] In 1810, he took Linares, Jaén, Granada and Málaga.[5][8] Troops under his command included a group of Polish émigré soldiers,[10][19][20] among them Albert Grzymała, who served on his staff and was later noted for his friendship with Frédéric Chopin.[20]

Starting from that date, Sébastiani gained a reputation for lacking leadership skills: popularly nicknamed "General Surprise" as a result of having been caught out by enemy troops a significant number of times, he was argued by

Revue des Deux Mondes, he had also become known for his lassitude, to the point where Napoleon himself grew irate. The same source recounted that, after Talavera de la Reina and especially after Almonacid, the general raised suspicion that he wasted men and resources, systematically failed to report all his casualties, and seriously exaggerated the scale of his victories. It was contended that the Emperor eventually withdrew Sébastiani's command of IV Corps after concluding that this assessment was correct.[10]

Some sources claim that Sébastiani was created "1st Duke of Murcia" by Napoleon;

Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult).[10]

Sébastiani is reported to have plundered a number of

Roman Catholic convents during the Peninsular expedition.[5] Having stationed his troops in the Alhambra,[5][10][22] where he himself resided in noted luxury,[10] Sébastiani partly destroyed the palace's fortifications after retreating.[22] It is argued that he was also responsible for the partial devastation of the palace's interior.[5] The American author Washington Irving, who visited Spain
in the following period, recounted that:

"With that enlightened taste which has ever distinguished the French nation in their conquests, this monument of Moorish elegance and grandeur was rescued from the absolute ruin and desolation that were overwhelming it. The roofs were repaired, the saloons and galleries protected from the weather, the gardens cultivated, the watercourses restored, the fountains once more made to throw up their sparkling showers; and Spain may thank her invaders for having preserved to her the most beautiful and interesting of her historical monuments."[22]

Serving during

Emmanuel de Saint-Priest.[4]

Hundred Days and Second Restoration

Caricature of Sébastiani, drawn by Honoré Daumier

Changing sides to support

Emperor.[4] Napoleon also sent him over to attract support from the liberal politician Benjamin Constant; soon after, Constant became involved in drafting the more permissive Acte Additionel, which amended the Constitution of the Year XII.[10]

During the

marquis d'Argenson and comte de Pontécoulant).[2][4][9] During talks, he showed himself opposed to a second Bourbon return.[4]

Sébastiani spent a year in England before being allowed to return

Grande Armée veterans; a speech he held on the latter occasion, which gave praise to the French tricolor, caused an uproar among conservative deputies.[10]

During the

Jean-Baptiste de Villèle, and he subsequently won 1 out of 48 votes.[4] Instead, after General Foy's death in late 1825, he was elected as replacement in his constituency, the Aisne town of Vervins, receiving 120 votes out of 200.[4][10]

July Revolution and Belgian question

Louis-Philippe in 1830, painting by François Gérard
, 1836

After the

French throne.[23]

After that, the Sébastianis became the most influential faction in Corsica, replacing the Legitimist Pozzo di Borgo family[24] — one of the latter, Carlo Andrea Pozzo di Borgo, was a high-ranking Russian diplomat who negotiated with Horace Sébastiani on several occasions.

In the wake of the

Louise-Marie of France. This policy was viewed as a capitulation by the Legitimists, and most notably by Jean Maximilien Lamarque, who, while deploring the separation of the French and the French-speaking Walloons, accused Sébastiani of having obtained the destruction of fortifications in Belgium not as a concession from other states, but rather because "the allied powers want to set aside the means of entering France without running into obstacles".[10]

When the London Conference compelled Dutch forces to evacuate Belgian territory, Sébastiani indicated that the French troops under General Gérard were to remain in the area until "all reasons why the French Army has maneuvered would be dealt with resolutely, and no danger would threaten us". Nevertheless, Gérard retreated before the Conference came to an end. When Chamber called on the minister to answer about the discrepancy, he declared himself "astonished" by news of the retreat, attributing it to British pressures, and indicated that "we have entered Belgium in good will; good will is what led us to withdraw".[23]

November Uprising: early negotiations

Honoré Daumier's cartoon of the 1832 London Conference, with France depicted as a timid hare in front of other powers (Poland is the female figure trampled upon by Russia)

In late 1830, after the

the Duke of Mortemart was dispatched to Russia in order to seek a new agreement—his mission was made ineffectual by the revolutionaries' decision to dethrone Nicholas from his position as King of Poland, which in turn led to a standoff between all sides involved.[19]

In parallel, Sébastiani allegedly approved the designs of

Ambassador to The Porte, who attempted to undermine the Holy Alliance by stressing that Russian actions in Poland and the Balkans could rally opposition from Austria, the Ottoman Empire and the United Kingdom. Guilleminot ultimately presented the Ottomans with an offer to back an independent Poland—as a consequence, Foreign Minister Sébastiani was formally asked by Carlo Andrea Pozzo di Borgo to recall the ambassador, and he ultimately agreed to do so.[10]

Historian Barthélemy Hauréau indicated that the moderate path pursued by Sébastiani had been largely responsible for convincing Jan Zygmunt Skrzynecki to postpone military operations, to the point where it was later contended that the minister was plotting with Russian authorities. He referred to Sébastiani's position as "a miserable role", and to his correspondence with the Poles as "perfidious epistles".[25]

November Uprising: aftermath

Order reigns in Warsaw, cartoon by J. J. Grandville, 1831

When Poland was ultimately pacified, Sébastiani uttered the famous words:

"Order reigns in Warsaw."

The statement itself was not rendered verbatim by the

Duke of Trévise, only after hearing news of Sébastiani's speech.[10]

Later, he justified himself in front of the Chamber by arguing that intervention in Poland was doomed to failure, noting that a French landing on Poland's

Radicalism
had become a European phenomenon, he was also quoted saying:

"There are those who want to drag us into a war of opinions, to dump us into an apparent alliance of peoples versus governments; we ask them with what right do they pretend to attribute themselves or assign us the mission of revolutionizing all the peoples. We know their goal and their secret thought. These people work to bring disruptions on the inside through disruptions on the outside. What they want, we avoid; what they fear, we seek. In the absence of set rules of conduct, their exhortations, their fears and their joys would suffice for shedding light on our path and making us perceive the abysses where they would like to throw us."[10]

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

During a Chamber session in September 1831, the

Revue des Deux Mondes recounted that the diplomat Talleyrand and Sébastiani both maintained an independent line in politics—their secretive notes reportedly contributed to the fall of the Laffitte government.[10]

Périer Cabinet

Over the following year, he and

Cristina Trivulzio di Belgiojoso
to remain on French territory. La Fayette noted that Sébastiani had undertaken:

"efforts to revoke and prevent the sequestration [of property] that was inflicted [by Austria] on the Italian men and women who are traveling in France."[28]

In February 1832, Sébastiani took initiative in ordering a French occupation of Ancona. The Revue argued that this was the most significant gesture of his career, and credited him with having planned it as an indirect but effective strike at Austrian economic interests, when implying that France would march into Rome and Trieste in the event of a war with Austria.

Among his last actions in office as Foreign Minister were negotiations with the United States over losses suffered by American citizens during the Napoleon's

Conseil d'État and Chamber had decided, although still significantly less than what had been asked by American plaintiffs.[10]

It was during the same period that Sébastiani remarried, to Aglaé-Angélique-Gabrielle de Gramont, one of

Héraclius, duc de Gramont's daughters and the widow of the Russian General Count Alexander Davidoff.[29] He retired from office after having a stroke which left him partly paralyzed, and traveled in the Italian Peninsula. He was later Minister of State for a short period of time.[10]

Later years

In 1833, Sébastiani was ambassador to the

Syria (see London Straits Convention). Adolphe Thiers
later pointed out that he agreed with Sébastiani's view, which he defined as:

"The apprehension [...] over seeing France engaging in the

Oriental question, to find herself the only one of that opinion, and from that moment on to be reduced to the alternative of either ceding or risk a universal war over an object that was not worth it [...]."[30]

During the ministerial crisis provoked by the fall of the

Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult cabinet, before Thiers' nomination, Sébastiani was considered for the office of Premier; his failure to gain the position was attributed to rejection from all political camps, based on the view that he was overtly subservient to King Louis-Philippe.[23]

He was made

Revue des Deux Mondes' François Buloz announced, in April 1835, that Vicomte Tiburce Sébastiani was involved in heated disputes with other public figures, over repeated allegations that his brother had harmed French interests in the American creditors' affair. In this and other cases of the period, the same controversy almost erupted into duels.[7]

Having largely retired from public life, he had his last years clouded by the 1847 death of his sole daughter from his first marriage, Fanny, duchess of Choiseul-Praslin.

1848 Revolution, after public opinion began speculating that aristocrats had allowed one of their own to take his own life rather than face trial,[31] or even that Choiseul-Praslin had been allowed to escape.[17] As a parallel result, the 1848 events brought an end to the Sébastianis' influence in Corsica, especially after Tiburce Sébastiani chose to retire to his domain in Olmeta-di-Tuda.[24]

Four years later, Sébastiani died suddenly while having breakfast. His funeral service was held at

Second Republic.[5]

Legacy

Horace Sébastiani's name is inscribed on the western side of the Arc de Triomphe.[2] An avenue in Bastia was named in his honor (Avenue Maréchal Sébastiani).

In 1938,

All This and Heaven Too, a novel which centers on the killing of Sébastiani's daughter. The 1940 drama film of the same starred Barbara O'Neil as Fanny, Charles Boyer as De Choiseul-Praslin, and Bette Davis as Henriette Deluzy-Desportes, the governess. Sébastiani is portrayed by Montagu Love.[34]

Sébastiani is also one of the protagonists in Prince Michael of Greece's novel Sultana - La Nuit du Sérail, which depicts fictionalized events of Selim III's rule. In 1989, the story was later turned into an American-Swiss film co-production: titled The Favorite (or La Nuit du Sérail), it starred Laurent Le Doyen as Sébastiani.[35]

Honours

See also

  • List of Ambassadors of France to the United Kingdom
  • Inmaculada Concepción (Murillo, 1670)

References

  1. ^ www.archiveshub.ac.uk
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x (in French) "Horace Sébastiani", in Charles Mullié, Biographie des célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850 (wikisource)
  3. ^ Germain Sarrut, Biographie des Hommes du Jour, H. Krabe, Paris, 1835, p.237
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai Pierre François Marie Massey de Tyronne, Biographie des députés de la Chambre septennale de 1824 à 1830, J.-G. Dentu, Paris, 1826, p.566–571
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w "Marshal Sebastiani. Obituary", in The Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. XXXVI, John Bowyer Nichols and Son, London, 1851, p.537–538
  6. ^ a b c d David Turnbull, The French Revolution of 1830, Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, London, 1830, p.370–372
  7. ^
    Revue des Deux Mondes
    , Tome 2, 1835 (wikisource)
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h (in German) "Sébastiani, Horace François de la Porta", in Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 1888 edition, retrieved 5 May 2007
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t "Sebastiani, Horace", in Encyclopedia Americana, Vol.XI, B. B. Mussey & Co., Boston, 1851, p.298–299
  10. ^
    Revue des Deux Mondes
    , Tome 4, 1833 (wikisource)
  11. ^ a b Jeremy Black, From Louis XIV to Napoleon: the Fate of a Great Power, Routledge, London, 1999, p.183
  12. ^ a b Edward Ingram, Empire-Building and Empire-Builders: Twelve Studies, Routledge, London, 1995, p.95–96
  13. ^ a b c Alastair Hamilton, Maurits H. van den Boogert, Alexander H. de Groot, Friends and Rivals in the East: Studies in Anglo-Dutch Relations in The Levant from the Seventeenth Century to the Early Nineteenth Century, Brill Publishers, Leiden, 2000, p.231
  14. ^
    Humanitas
    , Bucharest, 1995, p.284, 340–341
  15. ^ a b c d e (in Romanian) Ion Ghica, Scrisori către Vasile Alecsandri: "Polcovnicul Ioniţă Ceganu"; "Din timpul zaverii" (wikisource)
  16. ^ Portland (London) Collection: Catalogue of Family and Financial Papers of the Dukes of Portland, 1583–1940 Archived 2007-03-20 at the Wayback Machine, at the University of Nottingham, retrieved 5 May 2007
  17. ^ a b c Honoré Fisquet, "Praslin, Charles-Laure-Hugues-Théobald, duc de Choiseul", in Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours, Tome 40, Firmin Didot, Paris, 1862, p.979–980
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h Antoine de Juchereau de Saint-Denys, Histoire de l'Empire Ottoman depuis 1792 jusqu'en 1844, Tome II, Comptoirs des Imprimeurs-unis, Paris, 1844, p.205, 208–209, 211–215
  19. ^ a b S. B. Gnorowski, Insurrection of Poland in 1830–31: And the Russian Rule Preceding it Since 1815, James Ridgway, London, 1839, p.223–224
  20. ^ a b Frederick Niecks, Frédéric Chopin as a Man and Musician, Volume 2, Kessinger Publishing, Whitefish, 2004, p.8
  21. ^ a b c Philip J. Haythornthwaite, Napoleon's Commanders (2): c1809–15, Osprey Publishing, Botley, 2002, p.51
  22. ^ a b c Washington Irving, "The Alhambra", in Bracebridge Hall, Tales of a Traveller and the Alhambra, Library of America, 1991, p.753 ("Notes", p.1101)
  23. ^ a b c d e f g F. Rittiez, Histoire du règne de Louis-Philippe Ier, 1830 à 1848, précis, Tome I, V. Lecou, Paris, 1855, p.44–45, 251–267, 268–269, 274, 280, 445
  24. ^ a b c (in French) Alfredo Ortega, De la Corse à l'Andalousie. Joseph Antoine Limperani Archived 2007-02-26 at the Wayback Machine, hosted by ADECEC (Association pour le Développement des Etudes Archéologiques, Historiques, linguistiques et Naturalistes du Centre-Est de la Corse), retrieved 5 May 2007
  25. ^ Barthélemy Hauréau, Histoire de la Pologne depuis son origine jusqu'en 1846, Pagnerre, Paris, 1846, p.204–205
  26. Kent State University Press
    , Kent, 1989, p.143
  27. ^ Karl Marx, "Note for Draft of Speech by Marx on France's Attitude to Poland", at Marxists Internet Archive, retrieved 5 May 2007
  28. ^ Lloyd S. Kramer, Lafayette in Two Worlds: Public Cultures and Personal Identities in an Age of Revolution, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1996, p.174–176
  29. ^ a b Thomas Raikes, A Portion of the Journal Kept by Thomas Raikes, Esq., from 1831 to 1847, Vol. II, Longman, Brown, Green etc., London, 1856, p.40
  30. ^ a b Adolphe Thiers, "Lettre aux électeurs d'Aix", in Élias Regnault, Révolution française. Histoire de huit ans, 1840–1848, Pagnerre, Paris, 1852, p.119, 121
  31. ^ a b c d e (in French) Brigitte-Marie Le Brigand, "Choiseul-Praslin: les pièces à conviction"[permanent dead link], in Historia, Nr.704, retrieved 5 May 2007
  32. ^ a b c d Christina Vella, Intimate Enemies: The Two Worlds of the Baroness de Pontalba, Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, 1997, p.138
  33. ^ Henry James Gabriel de Milleville, Armorial historique de la noblesse de France, Bureau de l'Armorial Historique, Paris, 1845, p.67
  34. Internet Movie Database
    , retrieved 5 May 2007
  35. Internet Movie Database, retrieved 5 May 2007
    (in German) The Favorite, at The Marteau Encyclopedia of the Early Modern Period
    , retrieved 5 May 2007
  36. ^ Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons and Command, Volume 50

External links

  • Media related to Horace Sébastiani at Wikimedia Commons
  • D'un Empire à l'autre at the Prefecture of Corsica site (in French)
  • Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Sébastiani, Horace François Bastien, Count" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Political offices
Preceded by
Foreign Minister of France

1830-1832 		Succeeded by
Victor, 3rd duc de Broglie
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