Hugues-Bernard Maret, duc de Bassano

Hugues-Bernard Maret Édouard Mortier
Personal details
Born	(1763-05-01)1 May 1763 Dijon
Died	13 May 1839(1839-05-13) (aged 76) Paris
Resting place	Père Lachaise Cemetery
Awards	Grand Eagle of the Legion of Honour Grand Cross of the House Order of Fidelity Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Hubert Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Saxony Order of the Lion and the Sun[1]
Signature

Hugues-Bernard Maret (French pronunciation:

Biography

Early career

Maret was born in Dijon, in the province of Burgundy, as the second son of a physician and scholar at the Academy of Dijon. Destined for a medical career by his father, he instead decided to study law,^[3] and after receiving a solid education Maret entered the legal profession, becoming a lawyer at the King's Council in Paris. The ideas of the French Revolution profoundly influenced him, wholly altering his career.^[4]

The interest aroused by the debates of the first National Assembly suggested to him the idea of publishing them in the Bulletin de l'Assemblée. The journalist Charles-Joseph Panckoucke (1736–1798), owner of the Mercure de France and publisher of the famous Encyclopédie (1785), persuaded him to merge this in a larger paper, Le Moniteur Universel, which gained a wide repute for correctness and impartiality.^[4]

He was a member of the moderate club, the Feuillants, but, with the overthrow of the monarchy and the insurrection of 10 August 1792 he accepted a post in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he sometimes exercised a steadying influence. On the withdrawal of the British legation, Citizen Maret (as he was then known) went on a mission to London, where he had a favourable interview with William Pitt the Younger on 22 December 1792 – all hope of an accommodation was, however, in vain. After the execution of Bourbon King Louis XVI (21 January 1793), the chief French diplomatic agent, Bernard-François de Chauvelin, was ordered to leave Britain, while the National Convention declared war (1 February 1793 – see Campaigns of 1793 in the French Revolutionary Wars). These events limited the impact of Maret's second mission to London in January 1794.^[4]

Envoy of the Republic

After a space in which he held no diplomatic post, he became Ambassador of the

For a time Maret returned to journalism, but he played a useful part in the negotiations for a peace with Britain which went on at

Maret now became one of Napoleon's secretaries and shortly afterwards Secretary of State. An experienced politician, he rendered services of major value to the French Consulate and First French Empire.

The Moniteur, which became the official State Journal in 1800, was placed under his control. He sometimes succeeded in toning down the hard, abrupt language of Napoleon's communications, and in every way proved a useful intermediary. It is known that he had a share in the drawing up of the new constitutions for the Batavian and Italian Republics.^[4]

In 1804, he became Minister; in 1807, he was created

In the spring of 1811, the Duc de Bassano replaced

Minister of Foreign Affairs. In this capacity he showed his usual ability and devotion, concluding the treaties between France and Austria and between France and Prussia, which preceded the French invasion of Russia

in 1812. He was with Napoleon through the greater part of that campaign, and after the major defeat, helped to prepare the new forces with which Napoleon waged the equally unsuccessful campaign of 1813 against the

Sixth Coalition.^[4]

End of the Empire, exile, and return

In November 1813 Napoleon replaced Maret with

that of 1815 and the Hundred Days.^[4]

After the restoration of the Bourbons, Maret was exiled. He retired to Graz, where he occupied himself with literary work. In 1820 he was allowed to return to France. After the July Revolution of 1830, the new king Louis Philippe elevated him as a Peer of France. In November 1834 Maret served a short time as Prime Minister of France.^[4]

The Duc de Bassano died at Paris in 1839.^[2]

See also

• List of Ambassadors of France to the United Kingdom

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hugues-Bernard Maret.

1. ^ ^{a b} Paris, Louis (1869). Dictionnaire des anoblissements (in French). Vol. 1. Paris: Bachelin-Deflorenne. p. 63.
2. ^
   ISBN 978-0-241-29466-6
   . the Duc de Bassano, was made a peer by Louis Philippe and became prime minister of France for eight days in November 1834; he died in Paris in 1839.
3. ^ Ernouf, Alfred-Auguste (1884). Maret, duc de Bassano (in French) (2 ed.). Paris: Éditions Perrin.
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} Rose 1911.

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rose, John Holland (1911). "Maret, Hugues-Bernard". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). p. 700.

Political offices
Preceded by Comte Gérard	Prime Minister of France 1834	Succeeded by Duc de Treviso
French nobility
Preceded by New creation	Duke of Bassano 1809–1839	Succeeded by Napoléon Hugues Maret de Bassano