The lawsuit of four former ministers of Charles X , shown to have taken part in the constitutional takeover by force of the July 25th 1830 which started the revolution of July, is held in front of the Room of the pars of the 15 with the December 21st 1830. It constitutes the first great political test which must face the Monarchie of July, which in fate victorious and strengthened.

In August 1830, four Ministers for the last ministry for the reign of Charles X, is stopped whereas they tried to flee abroad. It is about the president of the council, the prince de Polignac, of the , Minister of Justice Jean de Chantelauze, of the Minister of Interior Department, the count de Peyronnet, and of the Minister for the State education, the count de Guernon-Ranville. In the night of the 26 to the August 27th, they are interned with the Fort of Vincennes.

As of the August 19th, in a letter addressed to the prince Léopold of Saxony-Cobourg, Louis-Philippe reveals the embarrassment which this business causes him: “I have a weight of less on the heart since I know the king Charles X party and embarked healthy and except with all his world; I would have liked that it had taken along the unhappy ministers who were to be made stop on various points instead of remaining in his continuation. I edge say No more butt that: fools they were and fools they are still! ” the king wants to avoid the execution of the former ministers, of which it fears that it does not give the signal of a revolutionary wave of Terror which, carrying the monarchy of July in a spiral of violence, would lead it to the war with the European powers. But it also knows that in their saving the life, it is likely to be scrambled with the left, which contributed much to put it on the throne.

The August 13rd, a deputy of extreme-left, Eusèbe de Salverte, request that the ministers, who contresigned the Ordonnances of Saint-Cloud July 25th 1830, are judged for high treason and like persons in charge of the victims of the Glorious Three. The center right lights a backfire as of the August 17th with a proposal of the deputy Victor Destutt de Tracy tending to the abolition of the capital punishment.

The September 27th, the House of Commons adopts, with a very strong majority, a resolution of committal for trial of the former ministers. But, as of the October 8th, she votes by 225 votes out of 246 voters an address inviting the king to present a project abolishing the capital punishment, at least in political matters. Louis-Philippe seizes at once the tended pole: “The wish that you express, answers it as of the following day, was for a long time in my heart. Witness, in my youths, of the terrible abuse which was made capital punishment in political matters, and of all the evils which are resulted from it for France and humanity, I constantly and well highly wished abolition of it. ”

This episode causes a storm of indignation at the republicans. The 17 and October 18th, of the rioters invade the Palais Royal before going on Vincennes where they try to remove and to lynch the ministers. The general Daumesnil, governor of the castle of Vincennes, holds head with courage to them. Furious, the demonstrators walk on the Palais Royal, which is saved only accuracy thanks to the interposition of some companies of national guards.

Following these riots, the Minister of Interior Department, Guizot, request the revocation of the prefect of the Seine, Odilon Deck-beam, which, in a proclamation with Parisian, qualified “inappropriate step” the address requiring the abolition of the capital punishment. Guizot, supported by the duke of Broglie, estimates that a senior official could not criticize an act of the House of Commons, especially that this one was approved by the king and his government. The Minister of Justice, the republican Dupont of the Eure, takes the party of Odilon Barrot and threat to resign if he is repudiated. This episode involves the bursting of the ministry (V. the article First ministry for the reign of Louis-Philippe I {{er}}).

In the ministry Laffitte, which succeeds the November 2nd to him, the king names with the ministry for the Interior a young person Pair of France 28 years, Camille de Montalivet, which it specifically charges with ensuring the safety of the lawsuit of the ministers. Louis-Philippe would like to let spend a few months before letting the lawsuit open, but the National guard, only force on which the government can be based to maintain the order in Paris, wants to finish some before Christmas in order to prevent that the purchases of end of the year are not disturbed by the fear of incidents.

October 1st, a message of the president of the House of Commons officially notified the committal for trial of the ministers to the Room of the pars, responsible for their judgment. The October 4th, the pars indicated a board of inquiry. The lawsuit begins the December 15th with the Palais of Luxembourg and lasts 6 days. Chaired by the baron Pasquier, president of the Room of the pars, the debates proceed in serenity. The witnesses quoted by the four shown and the charge, supported by the deputy Jean-Charles Persil, more put forward the awkwardness of the ministers that their possible criminal intentions. In its indictment, Persil retains three counts of indictment - abuse of power in the electoral procedures from June-July, violation of the Charter by the four Ordonnances of Saint-Cloud, attack against the state security by incentive with the civil war - and claims a sorrow exemplary and proportioned with the hugeness of the committed crimes, which suggests the Capital punishment without however mentioning it explicitly.

The lawyers of the defendants pronounce remarkable pleadings. Though dying man, the Viscount of Martignac agreed to defend his rival Polignac, who had driven out it capacity in 1829. He disputes the legality of the continuations and the judgment appropriateness which risks replonger France in chaos by ressuscitant the dark moments of the Revolution: “The blow struck by you would open an abyss and these four heads would not fill it. ” Peyronnet, which ensures itself its defense, reads a text which it prepared. The young lawyer of Chantelauze, Sauzet, which will make then a beautiful political career, gains from the start notoriety by a brilliant pleading in which it supports that, since the responsibility for the ministers was introduced into the Charte only like the counterpart for the irresponsibility of the king, it does not take place any more to be once fallen monarchy. The pleading creates sensation and, according to Louis Blanc, several pars leave their place to congratulate the speaker warmly, with such sign that Pasquier must recall them that their judging functions prohibit any mark of approval to them. Lastly, Adolphe Crémieux, lawyer of Guernon-Ranville, him also at the beginning of its career and promised with brilliant intended, disappears at the end of its pleading.

While are held these debates, the riot thunders around the Palate of Luxembourg. The demonstrators vociferate and claim the head of the ministers. To protect those, the government can hope only on the national guard, but this one is actually under the cut of Fayette. The , Minister of Interior Department Montalivet, negotiates with this one to bring back the defendants to Vincennes before the end of the lawsuit in order to avoid a lynching to them. But Fayette, either by error, or by duplicity, leaves the national guards poster with the grids of the alley of the Observatory, by where the convoy was to leave, ruining the operation.

The December 21st, Montalivet arrives despite everything, by the trick, to make escape the ministers: it makes them lead to the Petit Luxembourg, Rue of Vaugirard, and the fact of getting into its own car while itself rides a horse with its escort of cavalry. The crew gains without encumbers the barrier of Hell and the fort of Vincennes by the street of Vaugirard, the Rue Madam and the Rue of ESA. With fallen the night, a blow of gun drawn from Vincennes announces to the king the success of the operation.

During this time, the pars deliberate. The sentence falls at ten o'clock in the evening, read by Pasquier: the ministers are condemned to perpetual detention, together with civil Mort for Polignac. When the verdict is announced, the majority of the demonstrators already dispersed. The following day, Paris is calm. The national guard, by its attitude, made it possible to maintain serenity. Also, the 23, Louis-Philippe, accompanied by the duke of Nemours, the marshal Soult and Montalivet and escorted by senior officers of the guard, goes it in round of inspection in the twelve districts of Paris, to express its recognition with the units of the guard, which accommodate it with heat. The evening, with the Palais Royal, one presses oneself “to congratulate the king and his family on the happy outcome of such a dangerous crisis: they all were drunk of joy”.

References

Sources

• Guy Antonetti, Louis-Philippe , Paris, Bookstore Arthème Beech, 2002 - ISBN 2-213-59222-7