TALLEYRAND, CHARLES MAURICE. (1754-1838). Influential French statesman and diplomat whose career spanned from the French Revolution to the Bourbon Restoration. DS. (“Charles Maurice”). 1p. Small folio. Trianon (Versailles), August 28, 1811. In French with translation. A partially-printed “Imperial Decree” issued by the Electoral Colleges, extracted from the minutes of the Secretary of State, making ANTOINE SIMON DURRIEU (1775-1862) an adjutant commander and member of the Legion of Honor, a member of the Electoral College of the St. Sever district in the Department of Landes. Of Durrieu, Napoleon said, “If all those who were responsible for defending the soil of France had resembled Durrieu, the soil would never have been insulted by being trampled on by the foreigner,” (Antoine Simon Durrieu : Général d'Empire, député orléaniste, Boesch, p. 192). Signed in type by Emperor Napoleon and Secretary of State Maret (whose name has been struck through, and countersigned in its place by a secretary on behalf of Comte Pierre Antoine Daru), natural scientist and grand chancellor of the Legion of Honor BERNARD-GERMAIN LACÉPÈDE (1756-1825, “b.g.é. l. cte de Lacépède”) and French nobleman and Minister of the Interior JEAN-PIERRE COMTE DE MONTALIVET (1766-1823, “Montalivet”).

“Whereas,

1° Article 99 of the Act of the constitutions of the Empire, dated 28 Floréal year 12 [18 May 1804];

2° Article 3 of the Constitution Act of February 22, 1806,

We decree that the Electoral College of which Mr. Durrieu, adjutant commander, must be a member

Member of the Legion of Honor, is that of the district of St Sever department of Landes, on the list of which he will be added by our Prefect in the said department, on the simple exhibition of the present document.

Given at Trianon on the 28th day of August in the year of grace one thousand eight hundred and eleven and on the 8th of our reign.

Signed NAPOLEON

By the Emperor: [no signature]

The Minister Secretary of State,
[This printed name is struck through] Signed HUGUES B. MARET [secretarial signature] Count Daru

The Minister of the Interior,
Count of the Empire

[signed] Montalivet
[In the left margin]
Seen and delivered by us vice-grand elector

[signed] Charles Maurice
The Grand Chancellor
[signed] b.g.é. cte of Lacépède”

When the Constitution of the Year VIII was adopted in 1799 and agreed to by popular vote in 1800,a governing Consulate was established and headed by Napoleon as First Consul, whose many reforms included a reorganization of the electoral system. “At the primary level, all resident adult males were eligible to vote in cantonal assemblies (based on the jurisdictions of the justices of the peace) in order to elect the membership of the secondary electoral colleges [whose members were elected for life] which were to meet in each arrondissement and departmental chief-lieu. The colleges’ principal task was to put forward candidates for the bicameral legislature in Paris, the Corps législatif and Tribunate, and also for the Senate. Re-instituting territorial constituencies and assemblies of voters in this way, both of which had ceased to exist after the coup of Brumaire [in 1799], went some way towards re-establishing the link between representation and communities,” (“The First European Elections? Voting And Imperial State-Building Under Napoleon, 1802–1813, The Historical Journal, Crook and Dunne).

Article 99 of the Constitution of the Year XII, referenced in our decree, states that “The grand officers, the commandants, and the officers of the Legion of Honor are members of the electoral college of the department in which they have their domicile, or of one of the departments for the cohort to which they belong. The legionaries are members of the electoral college of their district. The members of the Legion of Honor are admitted to the electoral college, of which they shall form part, upon the presentation of a certificate which is delivered to them for that purpose by the grand elector.”

A skilled negotiator and statesman, Talleyrand was “noted for his capacity for political survival,” holding positions within four different French governments, (Encyclopedia Britannica). From the French Revolution onwards, he served in each government. He began his political career as a clergyman, becoming Bishop of Autun just prior to the French Revolution and representing the clergy in the Estates-General of 1789. However, he was a strong proponent of secularization and helped the state appropriate church properties, leading to his excommunication by the pope in 1791. Talleyrand helped draft the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen but was forced into exile in the United States in 1794. He survived the changing political winds of the Directorate and after returning to France he became Foreign Minister. Talleyrand resigned his post in 1807 but continued as Vice-Grand Elector of the Empire, while opposing Napoleon’s military actions in Austria and Russia and providing intelligence to foreign powers. After Napoleon’s fall from power, he supported the restoration of the Bourbon Monarchy and served in numerous important diplomatic roles, culminating with his becoming prime minister of France in 1815.

A member of the Conseil d’État and director of the Legion of Honor, Montalivet, as Interior Minister from 1809-1814, oversaw the construction of the Arc de Triomphe.

Lacepede was a composer and natural scientist who authored a number of scientific treatises and held a post at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle. He entered government service after the revolution and held a variety of important positions including, at the time he signed our document, president of the Senate. He signed our document in his capacity as grand chancellor of the Legion of Honor.

Light foxing and dust staining with folds and creases. Napoleon’s blind-embossed seal is in the lower left margin. In very good condition.