Joseph de Villèle

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The Count of Villèle
Jean Baptiste de Martignac
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
for Haute-Garonne
In office
5 October 1816 – 5 July 1830
Preceded byLouis Emmanuel Dupuy
Succeeded byBlaise Vezian de Saint-André
ConstituencyToulouse
Mayor of Toulouse
In office
1815–1818
Preceded byRaymond Lanneluc
Succeeded byGuillaume de Bellegarde
Personal details
Born(1773-04-14)14 April 1773
Toulouse, Languedoc, France
Died13 March 1854(1854-03-13) (aged 80)
Toulouse, Haute-Garonne, French Empire
Political partyUltra-royalist
Spouse
Mélanie Panon Desbassayns
​
​
(m. 1799; died 1854)​
Children5
Profession
Land owner

Jean-Baptiste Guillaume Joseph Marie Anne Séraphin, 1st Count of Villèle (14 April 1773 – 13 March 1854), better known simply as Joseph de Villèle /vɪˈlɛl/, was a French statesman. Several times Prime minister, he was a leader of the Ultra-royalist faction during the Bourbon Restoration.

Youth

He was born in

Paris, and on the other hand to prevent local malcontents from appealing to the English for protection.[1]

The arrival of General

Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802, restored security to the island, and five years later Villèle, who had now accumulated a large fortune, returned to France. He was mayor of his commune, and a member of the council of the Haute-Garonne under the Empire.[1]

The Bourbon Restoration (1815–1830)

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At the Bourbon Restoration of 1814 he at once declared for the royalist principles. He was mayor of Toulouse in 1814–15 and deputy for the Haute-Garonne in the ultra-royalist Chambre introuvable of 1815.[1]

Villèle, who before the promulgation of the charter had written some Observations sur le projet de constitution, opposing it as too democratic in character, naturally took his place on the extreme right with the ultra-royalists. In the new Chamber of 1816 Villèle's party was in a minority, but his personal authority nevertheless increased. He was looked on by the ministerialists as the least unreasonable of his party, and by the "ultras" as the safest of their leaders.[1]

Under the electoral law of 1817 the

duc de Richelieu was compelled to admit to the cabinet two of the chiefs of the "ultras", Villèle and Corbière. Villèle resigned within a year, but on the fall of Richelieu at the end of 1821 he became the real chief of the new cabinet, in which he was minister of finance.[1]

Although not himself a courtier, he was backed at court by

Louis XVIII gave him the title of count and made him formally prime minister. He immediately proceeded to muzzle opposition by stringent press laws, and the discovery of minor liberal conspiracies afforded an excuse for further repression. Forced against his will into interference in Spain by Mathieu de Montmorency and Chateaubriand, he contrived to reap some credit for the monarchy from the successful campaign of 1823.[1]

Meanwhile, he had consolidated the royal power by persuading Louis XVIII to swamp the liberal majority in the upper house by the nomination of twenty-seven new peers; he availed himself of the temporary popularity of the monarchy after the Spanish campaign to summon a new Chamber of Deputies. This new and obedient legislature, to which only nineteen liberals were returned, made itself into a septennial parliament, thus providing time, it was thought, to restore some part of the ancien regime. Villèle's plans were assisted by the death of Louis XVIII and the accession of his brother, Charles X, a staunch believer in absolute monarchy. Prudent financial administration since 1815 had made possible the conversion of the state bonds from 5 to 3%. It was proposed to utilize the money set free by this operation to indemnify by a billion francs (Le milliard des émigrés) the émigrés for the loss of their lands at the Revolution; it was also proposed to restore their former privileges to the religious congregations.[1]

Both these propositions were, with some restrictions, secured.

Martignac.[1]

The new ministry made Villèle's removal to the upper house a condition of taking office, and he took no further part in public affairs. At the time of his death, he had advanced as far as 1816 with his memoirs, which were completed from his correspondence by his family as Mémoires et correspondance du comte de Villèle (Paris, 5 vols., 1887–90).[1]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jean-Baptiste de Villèle.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Villèle, Jean Baptiste Guillaume Marie Anne Séraphin, Comte de". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 79–80.

Bibliography

  • C. de Mazade, L'Opposition royaliste (Paris, 1894)
  • J. G. Hyde de Neuville
  • Notice sur le comte de Villèle (Paris, 1899)
  • M. Chotard, "L'Œuvre financière de M. de Villèle," in Annales des sciences politiques (vol. v., 1890).
Political offices
Preceded by
Duc de Richelieu
 Prime Minister of France
1821–1828 		Succeeded by
Vicomte de Martignac
French nobility
Preceded by
Title created
 Count of Villèle
1822–1851 		Succeeded by
Louis de Villèle
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