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Revolution and Reaction - A (very) French Victoria II Interactive AAR

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MadMartigan said:
(( private: @ThaHoward ))

Mon Capitaine,
it seems inevitable to me that your League shall be banned. Even if the Chamber were to revolt, the King would do in an ordinance. Better that we control the manner . That is why my friends have been supporting the motion to ban both the League and those treacherous green banner gangs of toughs that the Ultras use to commit crimes in broad daylight. But I do not write you to convince you to support the Militia Act.

Instead I propose that you transform your League into something greater. As a Deputy, you are at this point, the subject of Royal intervention, the most prominent man of an open and liberal mind in the Doctrinaire grouping; at a time when Decazes is demanding absolute loyalty from a party that has never been a single faction. And I suspect you have sympathies for your fellow retired soldier, General Lamarque; even if Greggoire wouldn't be the hill you would choose to die on yourself. And his defense of the bishop has made him the most important Independent Liberal at this moment. Men who wait for instruction from Benjamin Constant are going to be lost in this time of turbulence. And said men make a suitable republican bogeyman, representing the far left of the Chamber.

I say that you lead an open revolt of the Deputies, that is to say a political revolt against party leadership, in the Chamber. Split the left of the Doctrinaires and take them to the center of the Chamber and ask Lamarque and his liberal allies to do the same. Let them see the strength of sentiment patriotic Frenchmen command. The deflation of the government's majority in the Chamber will lead to a new election and the chance for your likely modest at first breakaway group to return stronger than the conservative Doctrinaires. After all, you have said before you would rather work with moderate Ultras. Removing an out of touch leadership from power and forcing a two-party government of moderate members of the Left and the Ultra-Royalists would be a boon for France.

- Duval
Click to expand...

((Private letter.))

Friend,

I thank you for your advise it is well recieved. For the rebellion that is exactly what I have done. I've been loyal to Decazes and even wrote several essays where I encouraged Doctrinaires, Liberals and moderate-Ultras to unite behind him. Now he is out to get me as he percieve me as illoyal. And for what? For giving the Council the authority to depose of Gregoire or not. To calm the voices. Unfortunately he see this as a hostile act. I see him then as a proto-tyrant. And where I sacrifised personal beliefs for the unity of the Doctrinaires I see now no action but to sacrifice that unity to lead Decazes back to the Center or let the Left take over.

Now while I see that you mean well, I percieve the militia bill of your deputy as dangerous. On the simple ground that it go against the Charter. Veterans are specifically allowed to keep use of their uniform and rank. If the petition is passed the Charter who are meant to keep the government in place from abusing the people will be overruled by the said government. That lead to a dangerous path where the will of the governmemt trump the Charter. In my opinion we should move toward a liberal society where rule of law is central and not the arbritation of the government.

Lastly it is also dangerous as it create the possibility to repress and deny public meetings. We should again, if we are to move to a liberal society, increase these rights and not take them away!

Based upon these observations I advise you to make your friend retract that petition and instead stand behind me. I have also issued a compromise to Decazes and hopefully he will accept it. But if not, it would be of great help if your deputy and likeminded ones supported me and prevented the Doctrinaire from being just a petite-Ultra faction.

-Lothaire Lécuyer.
 
La Perle


Ou ; mémoires d'un voyage
à la recherche d'un pays perdu,
en réponse aux hommes de lettres infernals,
dont les réclamations ont mis en désordre
l'équilibre des forces naturel.


​
La Perle is a volume of the collected writings of French man of letters Alexandre Cazal, produced during his stay in Haiti between 1817 and 1819, and first published unabridged in August 1819. Following the publication of his previous book, the novel Aporie, Cazal travelled to Saint-Domingue in September 1817, motivated in part by a desire to escape some of the notoriety Aporie had brought him. Although intended to present the natural condition of the gens de couleur as dignified, in contrast to the various stereotypes held at the time by Europeans, be they exoticised or prejudiced, Cazal had inadvertently sparked a resumption of the debate on the on the political status of Saint-Domingue, still independent and under Black rule after its secession from France during the Revolutionary period. In the summer of 1817, Cazal was commissioned by radical liberal journal Le Constitutionnel to write a series of essays on the political situation in the former colony, at that point divided between the neo-feudal Kingdom of Haiti in the north and the ambiguously authoritarian Republic of Haiti in the south. The result was a unique insight by a sympathetic Frenchman—albeit, and perhaps more accurately, a ‘reconstructed’ man of colour—into the workings of a society still very much alien to Europeans.

Cazal stayed in Haiti for eighteen months, financed initially by Le Constitutionnel, though soon forced to live off his own means owing to the precarity of the journal's financial situation. He lived first in his birth town of Port-au-Prince, now the capital of the new Republic. Over a three-month period, he became acquainted with various members of the ruling circle of Jean-Pierre Boyer—aided, ironically, by his notoriety, which had reached the Antilles and manifested itself as a fierce admiration. Eventually meeting Boyer himself, Cazal integrated himself within Haitian high society so as to chronicle the workings of the government. The result was his first collection of essays sent back to Le Constitutionnel, serialised between January and March 1818, in which he first describes briefly, but astutely, the history of Haiti's government since the fall of Dessalines, before going on to offer an in-depth analysis of the workings of the Republic. Cazal passed comment on his disappointment in finding the Republic to be unstable and perpetually bordering on insolvency, criticising in particular the disjunct between the liberal values on which it was founded and the illberal reality caused by its penury. He also passed judgement on the regime for resorting to autocracy in the face of a troublesome legislature, adding here a cautionary discursus for the benefit of the Bourbon regime in France, which he feared could be easily tempted into doing the same. At the same time, he praised the government's ability to remain tolerant in spite of its various difficulties, drawing contrast with other historical regimes quick to scapegoat in times of trouble.

After spending time in the company of the government, Cazal left Port-au-Prince in midwinter to tour the Republic's countryside, meeting subsistence farmers and other Haitians removed from the politics of the capital. His next series of essays, serialised in France in spring 1818, largely abandoned political moralising to focus instead on the reality of ‘colonial’ life. Here, as had been preluded in Aporie, Cazal writes in a distinct humanistic voice, making no attempt to romanticise or aggrandise his subjects beyond their innate dignity as free citizens. By way of example, extracted below is a small portion of Cazal's account of a day spent helping a peasant farmer in his work on the Massif de la Hotte:

It is hot. Not since my childhood have I known such heat, permeating the very essence of my being so that, out here, removed from the relative gentility of Port-au-Prince, I feel myself equally removed from all pretensions of Europe. This is a foreign land. Its trees and its landscapes would hold no sway over the artistic sensibilities of the Parisian salon. This is a landscape that titillates the tastes of home, whose presence is active, alive—which lives, not in the way that the forests of France live as on occasion the hunt rushes through, the animals aroused to action, but constantly, through confrontation with each and every peasant who works it. Here, its life is mundane. It feeds through the modest bounty of its harvests. Its true sustaining power is felt only through the vigour inspired by its inevitable vibrancy, so ubiquitous as to become insensible, save to those attuned, as out here one must be, to its sublime power.
…
Jacques-Anne and I sit amongst its densest regions, taking shelter from the Sun by retreating from his clearing back into the forest. We lunch with no great ceremony, Jacques-Anne having picked for us both some corn and beans which we now eat, their fields still close by. Later, at dinner, our diet will be supplemented by spinach and sweet potato. During work in the afternoon, when even in January the air can hang above us at over twenty degrees Réaumur, we eat mango. The heat is amplified by the work, which in the light breeze afforded to us this morning was assuaged slightly. Ordinarily, it is far from my gentle labour of writing, which now more than ever I know to be know labour at all—my hands, fragile from a leisured Parisian existence, were unprepared for the work of scything and threshing. Jacques-Anne, meanwhile, is well aware of the respect he must pay to his craft—and which I, in turn, pay to him. His hands are balmed by callouses, strong but not rough, smoothed by years in this clearing, engaged in the yearly cycle of sowing and reaping, for no reward but his own continued freedom of existence.
​
Having worked across the Republic's rural regions, Cazal moved in May 1818 to Milot, seat of the autocratic monarchy of Henri Christophe, self-styled Henri I. Cazal's default position on the present attempt at monarchy, Haiti's second, was contempt, viewing it as unfortunate that the desire for self-rule should lead to the desire for self-subjugation. He was also scathing of Henri's system of ‘fumage’, a revivified feudalism that bound all able-bodied men into service producing goods for the kingdom's fledgling economy. Essays from this period were eagerly received back in Paris, attracting a premium from Le Constitutionnel in June 1818 before being syndicated in Le Censeur in the autumn. French society was amused by Cazal's revelations of a society forced to institute slavery by the backdoor to ensure its won survival, with some conservative writers and politicians taking this as evidence that Haiti could not rule itself, or else that slavery or servitude was the ‘natural’ state of the Haitians. Dismayed by this reaction, Cazal produced a series of essays in the autumn in which he compares the situation in Haiti to the situation of the Ancien Regime, exposing the hypocrisy of finding Black Haitians abhorrent for instituting a feudal society, yet supporting a French monarchy that sustained a similar system until both were felled by the Revolution. Cazal therefore attacked the illiberality of Haitian society whilst emphasising such illiberality was by no means grounds for reconquest of the island, or proof that the Haitains were any less civilised than the French.

At the end of 1818, Cazal sent his final essay to Le Constitutionnel: an account of his meeting with Henri I. Henri received Cazal warmly, admiring the writer as a successful Haitian. Possibly seeing the potential for Cazal to help shore up his regime, which was by now starting to crumble, Henri made the eccentric decision to create Cazal ‘Chevalier de l'Outremer’ within his Haitian peerage, with a view to retaining him as a major court figure. Cazal, while gracious enough not to reject the king outright, never used his dubious title—save on occasion when writing feuilletons in the dailies under the pseudonym ‘Outremer’. Regardless, Cazal's account presented Henri in a light less sympathetic than empathetic. His vanity was exposed, yet not to the detriment of his love of Haitian independence. Cazal ruffled feathers by drawing comparison between the Haitian monarch and certain members of France's own peerage—vain to the point of blindness, yet, even if misguided, patriotic in their delusion.

Cazal left Milot in February 1819 and returned to Port-au-Prince, where he stopped writing essays in favour of prose and, notably, verse. Cazal's prose here manifested itself as short vignettes of Haitian life, drawing upon a range of characters inspired by people he met during his travels. They range from the satirical to the poignant—a highlight is a narrative description of Cazal's discovery that his mother, who lived in Port-au-Prince and whom he had made effort to contact whilst in Haiti, had died of yellow fever in 1816. Anticipating an idiom that would later become familiar to the readers of Flaubert, Balzac and Maupassant, Cazal's short stories from Haiti examine the foibles of a society not as alien to the French as they may have liked to believe. Although realism and humanism dominate, there are also occasions where Cazal's style is more evidently influenced by Romantic and Gothic elements, creating a sort of magical realism avant la lettre. Curiously, it was one of these stories that provided the collection with its title: “La Perle” is the disquieting account of a French merchant who, arriving in Haiti en route to the American South, becomes ‘infected’ by a spirit entity that seems to represent a sort of Voudou embodiment of the island itself. It should be noted, of course, that—as is often the case with Cazal—the title here is significant, in this case a pun: ‘La Perle’ can refer either to the island itself, the ‘Pearl of the Antilles’, or else figuratively to a bead or droplet, which Cazal animates as some sort of germ of an idea that infects all who visit.

The poetry, meanwhile, is notable by its very existence rather than for its literary merit. Whilst undoubtedly competent, Cazal's reputation will never rest securely on his verse. The book when published in 1819 treated them as something of an afterthought, resigning them to the final pages. Most are little more than vignettes—typically either Romantic expressions of Haiti's landscape, or else occasionally verses dedicated to particular characters Cazal met during his time on the island. In truth, Cazal does not fit Romanticism easily—he much better fits the opportunities for social and psychological investigation offered by his usual realistic humanism—but that is not to say his verse falls entirely flat. Some interest can be found in his structures, where he often used subtle variations of the traditional alexandrine. In this verse from “L'Homme de Lettres”, for example, a self-referential satirical response to the notoriety gained after Aporie, he abandons the conventional masculine/feminine rhyme alternation in favour of freer verse:

La désordre, entraînée
par mots irréflechis,
bien sûr, a fait ciblé
encore cette colonie.

(The disorder, caused / by ill-considered words, / of course, makes a target / yet of this colony.)​

Perhaps unexpectedly, the result is an alexandrine form that tilts more than is usual towards prosody, the meter usually giving the impression of the prosaic. Elsewhere, as in this verse from “L'Isle d'Hermine”, this effect could produce a surprisingly denuded vision of Haiti's natural beauty:

Un pays de la descente
aux rives où elle termine,
d'un beau paysage qui monte
gardien de l'isle d'hermine

(A country of descent / to the shores where she ends / [and] of a natural beauty that rises / [as] guardian of the ermine isle.)​

Ultimately, La Perle established further Cazal's reputation as an energetic and independent mind within the world of French literature. Whilst the verse was effectively ignored, his Haitian prose, never before published, was lauded by critics as a bold contribution to the development of a nascent French realism. Later, critics appreciated Cazal's efforts to present the common humanity between French and Haitian, praising the egalitarian nature of his authorial gaze as much as the perspicacity of his essays. In the twentieth century, La Perle inspired a series of dramatisations that …
 
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FROM THE DUKE OF SAINT-AIGNAN TO THE COUNT OF ARTOIS ((KingHigh99 - Private))​

Monsieur,

I am honored to receive private correspondence from you and ask to excuse myself for Your Royal Highness having to contact me in such a manner. Would I have known that my service is needed, I would have immediately arrived at the capital in order to pay my respects to your honorable self.

Sadly enough I have spent the last monthes in my country manors and therefore could not visit the Pavilion. I was mainly occupied with the affairs regarding charity - if the royal government is not able to take swift and decisive measures against the famine, that it is a duty of every good subject of His Christian Majesty, as a private person, to do what he can in that capacity.

I must also confess to Your Royal Highness that I have, for this short period, been subdued by the feeling of general apathy regarding the political doings in the capital. The stately affairs are conducted in the most lamentable way, one weak and ineffective government has been changed by another, but would it doctor the wounds left by previous mismanagement? And currently there is not much that can be done - while the Cabinet and both Chambers would be dominated by Doctrinaires and mastered by such a dishonorable man as Decazes all cries of more loyal elements would fall to deaf ears.

However, the news of an entente between yourself and our Sovereign does make me rejoice greatly. I have for a long time prayed to God, asking Him, in His wisdom, to help His Christian Majesty understand the sinister nature of the attempts of Monsieur Decazes and his ilk to cause discord within the august House. Hopefully now the King would once again see you as the most loyal aide and relative you have always been, and Your Royal Highness would once again be able to assist the Monarch by sound consultations.

I would naturely do as Monsieur desires me to - I would speak in the Chamber of Peers on the matters regarding the bonapartist militias and this foul regicide, Gregoire. However, I must note that I am of the opinion that in this matter His Christian Majesty should make his will known - and make this will obeyed. Should the Ministers and the Chambers fail to address the problem, it is quite clear that it would be most prudent if the King dissolves the legislature and calls for a new election, as well as appoints new Ministers who would be more energetic in battling his foes.

It is sad that the current Council is in many ways the complete copy of the previous. Valence is a fine statesman and a masterful diplomat, one of the ministers who fit for their office, but he is, alas, overly careful and clearly not ready to speak (publicly) on dubious issues that may, in some way, blemish his reputation. Decazes is a man without principles, one that would always pursue only his lowly material interests. I can only hope that the current turmoils would persuade His Majesty that certain new blood is needed and, especially, men of merit and action instead of the same Doctrinaire bureaucrats under whose purview we have come to the current anarchic situation.

Lastly, me and my wife would be overly honored to host Monsieur in our castle of Saint-Aignan or any other our holdings, for any period of time. I beg you to look at these estates as if they were your own and visit them as often as you want.

I remain your most faithful servant,

SAINT-AIGNAN​

((Chamber of Peers - Public))​

"Monsieur President de la Chaimbre des Pairs,

"Today I want to speak on two matters - while different, they are closely related, for are connected to the same topic, the defense of the Monarchy and security of the Kingdom.

The two Chambers of our legislative assembly are a royal organ - however, currently,. strangely enough, enemies of the King and Kingdom have been admitted into their ranks. The two Chambers are also charged with discussing and advising His Christian Majesty regarding passage of laws - however, it seems, that some members of these Chambers and some of the Ministers have been themselves ignoring the existing French laws.

One of such persons who has currently been elected into the Other Place is one Henri Gregoire, a fallen priest. An ardent enemy of the Monarchy, he was in fact a president of th eConvention, the organ that organized the horrendous detainment and execution of His Most Christian Majesty, King Louis XVI and his family! The fact that such a person, due to whose doings the predecessor of our gracious Monarch, was deprived of freedom and life, is alone enough for making his presence in the royal legislature inadmissible. However, while the good King Louis XVI is the main victim of the doings of revolutionary fanatics like Gregoire, he was not the only one. One must remember that during the dark years he was one of the people who energetically called for prosecution of the "enemies of the republic", urging the Convention to purge "foreign emissaries who should be crushed by the revolutionary chariot", as this gentleman put it. And we know that the Convention acted on such advice - thousands men and women, loyal to their King and Country, were executed or detained.

However, if the two Chambers are not interested in the moral side of the question, I would appeal to the language of law.

Under the Ordonnance du Roi sur l'affaire de la Justice Royal (of 26th of October, 1815), Articles I and III, Henri Gregoire should be arrested and judged for state treason and connected crimes as a person who played a role in the causation of death, illegal arrests and detainments of King Louis XVI and his supporters. Sadly even the previous Minister of Justice failed his King and did not prosecute Gregoire before his election. Neverheless, the law must be upheld - therefore I motion the Government to take measures neccessary for annulment of the election of Gregoire, and the Chamber of Deputies, in meanwhile, to give consent to the arrest and prosecution of Henri Gregoire as it is demanded by Articles 52-53 of the Constitutional Charter.

Failure to do so would be, in my opinion, borderline disloyalty to the throne of His Most Christian Majesty. It is quite typical that among ardent supporters of the election of Gregoire is General Lamarque, a person who has betrayed the King during the Hundred Days and whose hands are still covered by the blood of the royalists of Vendee.

The second matter I want to speak of is the proposed ban on the private militias. Such measure is very advisable. It is known to us that some persons, currently present in the Other Place, have in fact been using associations of former Napoleonic veterans as a political tool. We remember how members of this association have participated in armed clashes with the Verdets in Toulose, how they have, during that event, raised the tricolors and sung revolutionary hymns. Now we once again see them demonstrating under the masterful guidance of Monsieur Lécuyer.

However, Lothaire Lécuyer is not a King and should not be entitled to have his own army, alternative to the army of His Christian Majesty. The payment of pensions to the veterans is within the purview of the Ministry of War and it is the Ministry of War that should be resolving such matters. The existance of this organization would not make these pensions bigger or paid more often - however, it would give certain political forces a tool of pressuring the government, a tool that may always become violent, as it did in Toulose. And use of force should be the monopoly of the state.

Ending my speech, I want to quote one simple fact. Monsieur Lécuyer in one sentence of his speech claims his association is harmless and in the next threatens the Other Place with the consequences of the reaction of the members of this association should it be dissolved. This fact speaks for itself."

- SAINT-AIGNAN

Press Law #1: Non
Press Law #2: Non
Press Law #3: Non
Law of the Right of Detraction: Non
Famine Relief Law: Oui
Budget: Abstain

[Pair de France]
[Bleeding Purple] +1PP
 
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In the interest of hearing out the suggested improvements for an act barring armed gangs from the streets of France, the sickly looking Deputy in the pocket of the Worm formally moves to...
Retract the proposed Militia Act​


((Private @Noco19))
His Grace, the Duc de Piombino of Var

Brother,

I know you have attachment to the Independent Liberal faction, but as a member of the House of Peers of liberal influence I cannot urge you but merely humbly suggest you consider lending your voice of support for Bishop Gregoire, General Lamarque, and Deputy Lecuyer's stand for the Veteran's League and for the electoral process and the sanctity of the laws of France. Le Centre could benefit from your influence.

Your Loyal Brother in the Worshipful Lodge,
Duval

((Private @Shynka ))
The Right Honorable Lt. Jean-Paul de St. Germain

My Friend,

I have been greatly moved by your words. If you wish to lend your voice in support of Gregoire and Lamarque, my friend Deputy Lecuyer has moved a body of Deputies to Le Centre of the Chamber and I am sure they would appreciate any encouragement you could give them.

Your partner in business,
Thibaut Duval

((private: @ThaHoward ))
Deputy Lothaire Lecuyer of Seine

Comrade,

For not the first time in our friendship I feel shame in comparison to you, for while I urge you to be bold I myself move far too cautiously. I am chastened by the civilized yet forceful manner in which you have revolted from the backbenches and shall endeavor to do everything in my power to bring more Deputies and more public sentiment to join you in Le Centre.

Your friend,
Duval

((private: @baboushreturns ))
General Jean Lamarque, ret. of Landes

General,

In these times of political calculation and cynical judgement of just how far a man can go before risking his reputation, your words have opened the hearts of the people of France to the familiar stirrings of national duty and civic brotherhood. Just as I suspect we share a mutual friend and brother in the Duc de Piombino, I hope that you will stand as a brother with Deputy Lecuyer in Le Centre of the Chamber. For now when you defend Gregoire and the ideals of France, you will not stand alone!

A friend, I hope
Thibaut Duval

((private: @Luftwafer ))
General Jean-Luc Gottoliard of Haut-Loire

General,

I am glad to have gotten to know you as a client of Seine Bank and I do not wish to apply any pressure to you. This letter to you is merely a social matter and should it not be to your liking we need never speak of it again and continue on in our professional relationship. But, given your public sentiments towards the Veterans League, I feel I must alert you as a politically active man in Doctrinaire circles to the events going on in the Chamber. With the Veterans League about to be banned, its founder Deputy Lecuyer is making a stand against Chief Minister Decazes. If you wish to keep the League free, you might consider sending your support to those Deputies who have moved to Le Centre.

Your friend and accquaintance,
Thibaut Duval
 
15sNzwI.png

To the Duc de Saint-Aignan
From the Duc de Conigliano
​
My dear friend,

You held a most fantastic in the Chamber of Peers about loyalty towards the King and the prosecution of the rouge bishop, or so I heard, I sadly wasn't there to hear it myself, as I am so terrible busy being Minister of War once more, while I am less busy with, since the reorganization of the army was approved not long ago, the poor state of our army could keep me up at night, as protecting the border of France will be near impossible with the current manpower, but hopefully that problem will get solved once National Service is implemented.

It is not only because of military matters I write to you, my friend, no. As you may know, my son Bon-Adrien de Moncey is yet unmarried due to the lack of proper brides and a hesitation from my side. I do hear however, that your daughter is almost of age and I believe that she would be the perfect match for my son, who currently is serving with great valour in the Royal Army.

I look forward to your reply.

Best Regards,
bOo9Ll3.png
​
 
NOBLESSE OBLIGE

KT9jRv2.jpg

​
Before the House of Peers rises the leader of the ultraroyalistes, M. de Saint-Aignan. There is no diffidence in his words, and many are accused of the most heinous vices; Decazes of knavery, Lécuyer of treachery, and so forth. There is flame in his discourse, and soon, all of Parisian society, from the vacation boardwalks of Choisy, Soissy, and Gentilly to the opulent noble estate of Faubourg Saint-Germain are alive with repressive conviction.

"First, begone with the regicide!" they proclaim with partial humor and partial gravity. "And then, the plébéien and his horde of vulgaire men!"

The Bois de Boulogone, west of Paris, where those of high society promenade their carriages, and the Bouffouns, where the Théâtre-Italien conducts its famous performances of opera seria, are swamped in commendation of his speech.

"M d. Saint-Aignan would be best to kick the common Captain from his false parade in Saint-Germain, and return the fool to the Chaussée d'Antin![1]" cried out the duchess de Langeais.

--
[1] A road that refers to the eastern district of Paris where the "new money" lived, as opposed to the enobled residences of the Faubourg Saint-Germain.

 
Marschalk said:
​

((Chamber of Peers - Public))​


The second matter I want to speak of is the proposed ban on the private militias. Such measure is very advisable. t is known to us that some persons, currently present in the Other Place, have in fact been using associations of former Napoleonic veterans as a political tool. We remember how members of this association have participated in armed clashes with the Verdets in Toulose, how they have, during that event, raised the tricolors and sung revolutionary hymns. Now we once again see them demonstrating under the masterful guidance of Monsieur Lécuyer.

However, Lothaire Lécuyer is not a King and should not be entitled to have his own army, alternative to the army of His Christian Majesty. The payment of pensions to the veterans is within the purview of the Ministry of War and it is the Ministry of War that should be resolving such matters. The existance of this organization would not make these pensions bigger or paid more often - however, it would give certain political forces a tool of pressuring the government, a tool that may always become violent, as it did in Toulose. And use of force should be the monopoly of the state.

Ending my speech, I want to quote one simple fact. Monsieur Lécuyer in one sentence of his speech claims his association is harmless and in the next threatens the Other Place with the consequences of the reaction of the members of this association should it be dissolved. This fact speaks for itself."

- SAINT-AIGNAN

Press Law #1: Non
Press Law #2: Non
Press Law #3: Non
Law of the Right of Detraction: Non
Famine Relief Law: Oui
Budget: Abstain

[Pair de France]
[Bleeding Purple] +1PP
Click to expand...

Chamber of Deputies, Paris.

M.President,

Forgive me, but I will adress what Peer Saint-Aignan said in our sister Chamber. This is because he directly misquoted me there.

Again the Veteran's League is not a militia. What are the basis of that? A militia is a non-professional fighting force composed of the citizens of a given nation. Proffessional in this contex is an Army, National Guard and so on. Now the Veteran's League is NOT a fighting force. It is a place that advocate the neglected rights of the Veterans and a place where Veterans can come together and socialise. Look at it as a gentleman's club for veterans. That is one major misunderstanding. Let it be a true misunderstanding or one of machinations to get rid of political opponents. But in the end of the day it is NOT a militia, and as such the entire basis of the arguments are void.

Moving on to Tolouse yet again. And yet again as I have said at that present time we were not an organised society as today. The ones who were in Tolouse were in fact veterans, but they were not Veterans of the League. And this would not have happened if they had not been terrorised on a daily basis by the Verdets. How would you fare when you came home from war only to not being allowed to work, not getting your pensions. And if you got work, you and your family would be murdered by terrorists? Then those who provoked the violence in Tolouse were not veterans, but Verdets. But where have the critics of the Verdets been from the Right? It have been exceptionally quiet! But the Veterans are being attacked for things we are not, for things we have not done.

That being said Tolouse were wakeup call, a call to show how we were better to be organised and to have a Charter of our own that prohibit ideas that led to the Revolution and the Battle of Tolouse. Let us also remember that the Veteran League have compensated all victims of the Battle of Tolouse - veteran, peasant or royalists alike.

And yes, it is a matter of the War Ministry, but we have now been waiting for 4 years without an improving condition! In fact many veterans now solely live on the donations by wealthy veterans in the League. By our own insurnance policies. That is what many live by now, and they can cope with life by socialising with other veterans. And that is what my esteemed Deputies and honorable Peers in our sister Chamber mean by the consequnces. Peer Saint-Aignan misinterpertate my words as he misinterpertate the very word militia. As I have said, many now solely live on the social conditions that the League make possible for them. That is what make them not starve on the streets. And we all know what happen to desperate men and women who are famished, weren't many here afraid of the barricades during the famine? If one accept that truth, do that mean that they support a revolt? It do not. But the veterans have been peaceful since the establishment of the League. I will make the bold claim to say that our League have prevented many from going to other social circles that are less desireble. To be radicalised. Now they are moderate and are content that they are promised change. And I say again. And I mean this! If the Council and the War Ministry make a real effort to secure the pensions the veterans are entitled to and give them the legal protection they are entitled to, then I will dissolve the Veteran's League as it is now. Then our goal have been reached.

And to all Doctrinaires. Look upon the speech of Saint-Aignan. Clearly the flirting of Decazes with the rightist elements have failed. They still despise Doctrinaires and Decazes - the very words of Saint-Aignan are a testimony of that. I will then urge you to cast off the failed rightist policies of Decazes - as the Right obviously want nothing of ud - and move to Le Centre and reason!

As I have said before many times. Year by year. Let us show the Veterans that they are part of the Society. That they are French too. Like King Louis the Desired promised during the Restoration that veterans should not be persecuted. Yet many still rely on the League. Let us show that the King care about them like he care about all of France. That they are under his paternal protection. But if we dissolve the League and many are forced to live on the streets again, I fear many will not see it as an act of reconciliation. So do not fall for the honeyed words of Decazes who only seem to empower himself, but let us improve the conditions of those who have been forgotten and cast away!

That is all M.President, thank you for your time".

As Lothaire sat down yet again he recieved a letter from Duval. He were pleased with the letter and that the Militia Act were retracted and made a toasting gesture to the sickly Deputy. He felt sorry for the Deputy and hoped that he would soon see better days. He qiuckly came out of his thougts of the sick man and replied to Durand.



MadMartigan said:
((private: @ThaHoward ))
Deputy Lothaire Lecuyer of Seine

Comrade,

For not the first time in our friendship I feel shame in comparison to you, for while I urge you to be bold I myself move far too cautiously. I am chastened by the civilized yet forceful manner in which you have revolted from the backbenches and shall endeavor to do everything in my power to bring more Deputies and more public sentiment to join you in Le Centre.

Your friend,
Duval
Click to expand...

((Private letter)).

Friend,

I hope this letter find you in good health. I also hope that your friend among the deputies soon will find good health too.

I am honored by your words. And I am grateful for your kind words and support. Not only now, but through the years. Do not be ashamed dear friend, as you have been an inspiration for me aswell and I have looked to your advise, and will do so still. Now I am even more honored that you wish to join me in moving the debate to the center and reason and that you have coined this quite brilliantly, yet simple, Le Centre. Do not hesitate to give me further advise, or ask of it.

Your friend,
-Lothaire Lécuyer.
 
Last edited:
Name: Louis Henri Joseph de Bourbon, Prince of Condé

Press Law #1: No
Press Law #2: No
Press Law #3: No
Abolition of Slave Trade: Oui
Law of the Right of Detraction: Oui
Famine Relief Law: Oui
Budget: Oui


[Noble and Peer of France, Prince of the blood, General of the division, massive land holder]
[Party: Ultra-Royalist]
[Bonus : The Condé Wealth +2 PP]
 
Press Law #1: Non
Press Law #2: Non
Press Law #3: Non
Abolition of Slave Trade: Oui
Law of the Right of Detraction: Oui
Famine Relief Law: Oui
Budget: Oui

[Vicomte and Peer of France, General of the division]
[Party: Ultraroyaliste]
[No Bonus]
 
((Private - Council of State))​
​

MEMORANDUM

FROM THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

FOR PERUSAL OF HIS MAJESTY'S COUNCIL OF STATE

STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL

​

In consideration of certain developments in the domestic sphere, it would be prudent for His Majesty's Government to reassure its allies abroad of its resilience and determination to uphold the constitutional order, as well as service the interests of the realm. As such, the following recommendations are prescribed by the Ministry for the foreign policy of the Kingdom:

First, the pact between the Royal Houses of France and Spain should be renewed. This agreement carries a greatly symbolic significance of the solidarity of the House of Bourbon, as well as a recollection to the simpler times before the revolutionary period. Moreover, consequent to the conferences at Paris and Vienna, no treaty has been signed between His Majesty's Government and that of Spain, which would do much to diminish the hostility engendered by the Bonapartist occupation. The occasion of this renewal would also serve as a venue for the resolution of any other disputes, or other agreements of mutual benefit, to be contracted.

Second, that the matter of Saint-Domingue be revisited and finally settled. As you shall be aware, certain liberal elements have been stirring up consternation regarding the island. These reports in the press are doubly damning. On the one hand, they remind the population of the unresolved status of the Saint-Domingue Question, which is humiliating to the French prestige. On the other, they engender dangerous sympathy for a rebel regime. Should such sympathy expand unchecked, it may yet limit our options in dealing with Saint-Domingue. As His Majesty's Government shall soon be in discussions with their Spanish counterpart, I suggest that this may be an opportune moment to revive the option of ceding our sovereignty over the island to Spain in return for capital compensation.

Third, that a new treaty of navigation and commerce be contracted between the Kingdom of France and Great Britain, by which our mutual trade and enterprise - ravaged by the long twilight of the Bonapartist period - be stimulated into new life. Such an agreement, which I believe that the British shall be wholly receptive to, shall not only enrich our coffers and alleviate the ravages of the famine; it shall further enhance the bonds between us. A new commercial treaty would not only capitalise on our benevolent relations, but serve to reinforce them.

On an unrelated matter, I understand, according to our minister to the Vatican, that there has been no progress made on the putative canonisation of His Majesty's brother, King Louis XVI, of late and glorious memory. Naturally, this is an internal affair of the Papacy, and I would not suggest that His Majesty's Government should intrude upon this. However, I should note that in the convention contracted between His Majesty and His Holiness the Supreme Pontiff, the latter agreed to promote the candidate of Louis XVI for beatification and canonisation. Therefore, I shall place it at the discretion of His Majesty's Government whether we should pass a note to the Pontificate enquiring as to the progress of canonisation, which might enhance the speed of the process.

I present this memorandum for the consideration of His Majesty's Government.



Signed,

His Majesty's Minister of Foreign Affairs

Marquis de Valence​
 

Conversation privée entre deux amis dans un café parisien, en concernant la situation de l'Haïti:


« Donc, Alexandre… tu croies que la France aille reconquérir l'Haïti? »

« Il faut comprendre que l'Haïti est un pays fondé sur une constitution, dont il est stipulé que les Hatiens doivent raser leurs propres villes avant que les Français ne les puissent subjuguer. Donc, même si on voit encore l'Haïti en faisant partie de la France, il sera comme une isle dénudée. Un prix vide. »

•

‘Alexandre … do you believe France will reconquest Haiti?’

‘You must understand that Haiti is a nation founded on a constitution in which is stipulated that the Haitians are to raze their own towns before the French can subjugate them. So even if we yet see Haiti as part of France, it will be as a denuded island. A hollow prize.’​
 
THE SPLIT OF THE DOCTRINAIRES
(September 1819)

W74HoYH.jpg

​
Decazes' shift to the Right earned him both foes and allies. The new press laws, which were the last vestige of his political liberalism, provided the perfect illustration to such a division. The extreme Right opposed the laws as too liberal, and the extreme Left opposed the laws as too constraining. But for the first time Decazes found opposition among his own faction; Lécuyer was now being drawn ever closer to Constant's faction, and defied expectations by taking sides with the Independents as protestation for the repression of his organization.

With the liberal moderates in open rebellion, the success of Decazes' laws thus depended upon the good nature of the pragmatic Ultra-Royalists. After considerable deliberation he was able to earn their momentary confidence, and sustain his government with the passage of the press laws. He believed with this precedent that if he could design an electoral law favorable to the Ultra-Royalists that his position would be secure.

But first came the matter of Grégoire and the milita, hotly contested throughout the corridors and salons of Paris.

--
Saint-Aignan Proposition for Electoral Annulment and Exclusion: Oui!/No!/Abstention
Proposition on Militias: Oui!/No!/Abstention

[Profession]
[Party]
[Bonus]

- Name

Reminder that everyone can vote. If you missed the last voting period, beware my wrath. Voting closes in 24 hours.
 
Saint-Aignan Proposition for Electoral Annulment and Exclusion: Oui!
Proposition on Militias: Oui!

[Ultraroyaliste]
[Grandmaitre]
[The Bonus with no name: +1 PP]
 
DensleyBlair said:
Conversation privée entre deux amis dans un café parisien, en concernant la situation de l'Haïti:


« Donc, Alexandre… tu croies que la France aille reconquérir l'Haïti? »

« Il faut comprendre que l'Haïti est un pays fondé sur une constitution, dont il est stipulé que les Hatiens doivent raser leurs propres villes avant que les Français ne les puissent subjuguer. Donc, même si on voit encore l'Haïti en faisant partie de la France, il sera comme une isle dénudée. Un prix vide. »

•

‘Alexandre … do you believe France will reconquest Haiti?’

‘You must understand that Haiti is a nation founded on a constitution in which is stipulated that the Haitians are to raze their own towns before the French can subjugate them. So even if we yet see Haiti as part of France, it will be as a denuded island. A hollow prize.’​
Click to expand...

((Please remember that there is currently a GM ruling on not writing half your ICs in French.))
 
Saint-Aignan Proposition for Electoral Annulment and Exclusion: Oui
Proposition on Militias: Oui

[Peer et Ministre]
[Independent]
[Ministre des Affaires Étrangères, Préféré du Roi +4 PP]

- Marquis de Valence
 
Saint-Aignan Proposition for Electoral Annulment and Exclusion: Oui
Proposition on Militias: Oui

[Ultraroyaliste]
[Paire de France]
[Bleeding Purple +1 PP]
 
It was September of 1819, the famine were but a memory. As autumn rain of September poured down the devastation of the past were swept away. But as the issues of the past went away far greater issues rose up. Lothaire could no longer travel to certain areas of Paris. He had to confine himself to the districts of the pleebians and new money. This however suited him well. Here he reached out to both the poor and the rich to gain their support. He warned them hat today they might crack down on the Veteran League and a murderer of a king, but tommorow. Who knew what then? He warned them that this were the first step to further repression. The press were already starting to be curtailed, and now they were to move on those Deputies who the Ministers did not like and to limit the right of public meetings.

Lothaire would go to many salons, theater cafés and drunken dens to hold his speeches and warn against Decazes and his Doctrinaires who were Ultras in liberal coating. He warned them to not be fooled, and to keep up the political discourse or else they would soon lose their political rights. This of course made him even more enemies among the nobility, but he were accustomed to that. Worst it were for his wife who could no longer go to the social clubs she had used to attend to. Lothaire and his family came under threats from the more reactionary citizens of Paris. But he held his head up high. As he told his wife, during the last campaigns when he was Chef d'Escadron his entire Escadron were indeed surrounded by foes. They all wanted to end the lives of him and his men, but he did the unexpected and packed his Dragoons for an all out assault. They broke through the enemy lines and prevailed.

The rain were pouring down. And Lothaire watched as the season changed. Darker times were ahead. Before going to the Chamber the next day and fighting for his political rights, he would make an attempt to summon a long gone ally.

((Private letter to @TJDS ))

Deputy,

It's been a long time. I missed your presence during the last session. However I understand you have lost faith as you endured a terrible smear campaign. But I am now writing to you as a friend, and to encourage you to make a comeback. We have all seen the fruits of your reforms. Decazes might take credit for it, but there is no secret it is your work. Now in his continued hubris Decazes wish to further tarnish your work. Nay your entire legacy! I say you come back. Now as the Doctrinaires are split between the petie-Ultras and the true Reformists. Lead the moderate and Reformist branches as that is your true call and save your legacy from being wiped out by Decazes. Come back brother, and we will protect France from the hubris and decadence of Decazes.

-Capitaine Lothaire Lécuyer.

Lothaire sent the letter and consulted with his wife. It was times like these he cherished. Where he could just speak as a normal person and away from the intrigues of the Chamber. He would then make a most unusual request, perhaps out of pride or a politcal stunt.

((Private letter to @DensleyBlair ))

M.Cazal,

I'm a big fan of your works. I would ask you humbly if you come back from your expedition, could you come to my chataeu? I would like you to be my biographer up until now. I look forward to your reply.

-Capitaine Lothaire Lécuyer.
 
Chamber of Deputies, September 1819.

M.President,

Let me begin with that I am most.. surprised. The so called Proposition of Militias were indeed retracted! In that light I don't believe we could vote over this matter as the petition were withdrawn. Now if this Deputy withdrew his petition it can only mean that he saw the grand errors in this petition. So if we somehow are to vote over a non existing petition, which I believe is not possible, we should also take into account that the Deputy who drafted it saw how flawed it was so he had no other choice but to withdraw it! Ponder on that for a moment.

Now let us examine the, in my opinion, non valid petition: The bais for that the Veterans League are singled out as a militia is that it is meant to carry uniforms. Now the right for veterans to carry uniforms are laid out specifically in the Charter. Are we to break the Charter? Are we allowed to do so? Also a militia is a military force intended for fighting. It might be paramilitary or military. Now the Veterans League are neither! And there is not all Veterans who choose to attend in their uniforms even if that is their right. Do the petition hold for them?

If we examine these points we can see that the petition could not be used in a legal basis. There is the right for every veteran to hold his uniform and rank and to attend to public spaces. The very definition of a militia is just wrong and then there are the Veterans of the League who do not choose to attend in their uniform, and by the logic of the petittion they should not be then counted under the petition. So not only is the petition in contradiction to the Charter, but it is impossible to actually implement it as the veterans might just choose to not wear their uniforms! And then it is the very fact that the Veterans League are not a militia, which render the petition void. Then it is the very fact that the author of the petition retracted it, so we are here discussing a retracted petition!

So this whole thing is just a major formal and procedural error. And if we take away that, I hope you can all see that this a desperate attempt by his Excellency Decazes to propose to the right. The very right wing that potray him as a demon are we to believe the words of Saint-Aignan, keep that in mind fellow Doctrinaires!

Thank you, that is all".

-----

Saint-Aignan Proposition for Electoral Annulment and Exclusion: No!
Proposition on Militias: No!

[Deputy]
[Doctrinaires]
[Downtrodden figurehead +1PP]

- Lothaire Lécuyer
 
M. de Bourbon, consumed with his impending nuptials, has time for a brief comment.

"There are some issues on which we must adopt positions of ideology, in order to advance our various beliefs, and to support those who act and feel in a like manner to ourselves. This is an acceptable course of action in politics. The issue of the regicide Gregoire is not one of those issues. That he did not formally vote for the death of the martyred king is a technicality, a coward's ruse. He committed an unforgivable crime against France and against the royal family, then boasted of the fact. If the entire Chamber must be dissolved to see him brought to justice, then let justice be done, though the heavens fall."

---

Saint-Aignan Proposition for Electoral Annulment and Exclusion: Oui!
Proposition on Militias: Oui!

[Colonel]
[Doctrinaires]
[Nope]
 
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