#bon-adrien jannot de moncey

[detournementsmineurs]

“Marie-Paul-Joseph-Yves-Gilles Mottier, Marquis de La Fayette” (1791) et "Bon-Adrien Jannot de Moncey" (1792) présentés au Château de Versailles, septembre 2024.

[northernmariette]

Happy Birthday, Marshal Moncey! (updated)

Update: I can’t believe I had wished an “nappy” birthday to the worthy Marshal. I guess I must need a nap myself. Now that I’ve corrected my typo, back to the regularly scheduled program:

This feels like a gift card, because I don’t know how to post a picture. Be it as it may, this is the painting from Horace Vernet showing Marshal Moncey defending Paris just before Marmont signed an armistice with the Allies in March 1814. 

Moncey was one of the oldest Marshals. He did not participate in many campaigns under Napoleon, as he was mostly in charge of running the gendarmerie. He did fight during the revolutionary period and during the Directoire. He fought in Spain in the mid-1790s, again during Napoleon’s ill-advised Peninsular adventure circa 1807, and again, in his seventies, under Charles X. I wonder how he felt about that. His path through the Pyrenees was obviously well-worn.

The painting described in the link shows Moncey in the famous painting at the Gate of Clichy. In 1814 Moncey had been put in command of the National Guard in Paris. He assembled a ragtag group of this Guard, some soldiers from the Invalides and some students from the Ecole polytechnique, and with this improvised army he fought against the Allies in the north-west part of Paris. In the link below is the painting itself, and an excellent article from the Fondation Napoleon regarding why and when it was created, and an explanation of all its details.

https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/paintings/the-clichy-gate-the-defence-of-paris-30-march-1814/ 

[impetuous-impulse]

31st July, 1794

Since it is Moncey’s birthday at this time of the year, I thought it would be interesting to present how he spent his birthday at another point in his life. As Col. Ramsay Weston Phipps supplies in Vol. 3 of his Armies of the First French Republic, 228 years ago to this date, on his 40th birthday, Moncey was engaged in operations in the Baztan Valley on the Spanish frontier, as part of the Armée des Pyrenées-Occidentales, or the Army of the Western Pyrenees. At that time, he had recently been promoted to general de brigade due to his actions at the Battle of Sans Culottes Camp (which was the actual name of the French camp), an affair which Phipps describes as thus:

[On the 5th of February, 1794,] Lieut.-Colonel [or chef de bataillon] Moncey had been ill for a fortnight and intended to go back to Bayonne next day. This morning he was in bed, having taken an emetic, when he heard the noise of the attack. Hastening to his men, weak as he was, he remained on the field until he had seen the withdrawal of the enemy. For this the Representatives, making him skip a rank, on the 18th February 1794 promoted him General of Brigade, basing this not only on his conduct at Château-Pignon on the 6th June 1793 and by Saint-Jean-de-Luz on the 23rd July, and this last affair, but also on the attachment of his comrades for him. (vol. 3, p. 150.)

From the above, Moncey seems to have been held in esteem for his conduct and person since the Revolutionary days, and that would not change throughout the Empire and Restoration. His superiors’ trust in him was further evidenced when Moncey’s commander-in-chief Jacques Muller ordered him to assault the Baztan Valley in late July 1794.

Image from Wikipedia’s English article of the Battle of the Baztan Valley.

It is significant of the regard in which Moncey was already held, that he, only recently promoted, was sent to the right to command the strongest column and the one which was to deal the first and most important blow. Whilst Mauco and Marbot kept the enemy in Roncesvalles in check, three columns were formed to seize the Baztan valley, and then marching westwards to roll up the Spanish line on the Bidassoa. On the night of the 24th July Moncey with some 10,000 men (13 battalions and 800 horse) began his march, and coming over the Col de Maya he next day seized the Baztan valley, where his troops enjoyed the sight of the rich country they had reached. […] On the 27th July, while Robespierre was being overthrown, Moncey started from Elizondo in the Baztan valley with 6,000 men and, marching for thirty-two hours by the difficult Echalar (or Atchiola) road across the mountains, he joined Delaborde at Lesaca, whence the two, 12,000 strong, marched west to support the attack of the right column from Hendaye and the mouth of the Bidassoa. It was intended that, when Moncey and Delaborde should arrive, Frègeville with the right column (6,000 men) should cross the river and attack the fortified camp of San Martial, which covered Irun. Frègeville, however, not knowing that Moncey had been delayed in his mountain march, advanced on the 1st August. Then the Spaniards, aware that Moncey and Delaborde were now in their rear, blew up their works and retired with heavy loss. This caused the surrender of the virgin fortress of Fuenterrabia. (vol. 3, pp. 186-187.)

The event in itself is not of as much interest as what can be read between the lines. Moncey spent his 40th birthday 'toughing it out' on rough mountain roads—barren terrain unlikely to provide more for a meal than the rations brought with him, and more for comfort than the clothes on his back, neither of which could have amounted to much in the first place with the army’s poor supplies. There was precious little a way to celebrate anything aside from doing so verbally, or perhaps draining a last reserve of alcohol, and likely that birthday went unacknowledged in the midst of operations. When slotting such an insignificant moment into the two decades of constant wars of the Revolution and the Empire, one begins to wonder how many Marshals and generals spent their birthdays in warzones, how many of those birthdays were celebrated, or, if lost in the throes of campaigns, they remembered their birthdays at all. And, with all the soldiers that constituted Napoleon's Grand Army, one wonders how they commemorated their birthdays in war, if they ever did; how many lost a comrade around or during an anniversary, how many had larger historical events dwarf their own birthdays—and how many lost their lives just before they were to gain another year of it.

The Moncey of 1794, of course, would get to live for many years longer. In the next few days, he would go on to finish off the business along the Baztan Valley, unhinging the Spanish defensive position along the frontier:

[W]hile Delaborde and Frègeville were sent south along the Madrid road to Hernani, Moncey moved on across their rear, still westwards, for San Sebastian. This fortress was held by some 1,700 men, but Moncey sent Captain La Tour d'Auvergne to harangue the commandant: his eloquence was successful, and the garrison laid down their arms on the 4th August. Next day Frègeville occupied Tolosa. Besides a mass of prisoners the French had taken all the park of the enemy. It was a fine victory …. (vol. 3, pp. 187.)

And a fine (if late) present for a military man’s birthday, one hopes.

[northernmariette]

Though originally posted without any explanation, some will have recognized this as a detail of the famous Vernet painting of Marshal Moncey defending the barriere de Clichy against the Allies in April 1814, just before Marmont signed an armistice. Moncey’s troops were pretty ragtag, made up in part of stdents of the Ecole polytechnique and even pensioners of the Invalides, but that did not deter the doughty Marshal.

[isa-ko]

This is probably my best one although I’m not quite sure where I got the reference pic

[histoireettralala]

The young runaway.

“Bon-Adrien Jannot was born in Palise, in the Doubs, on July 31, 1754. His father, lawyer at the parliament of Besançon and lieutenant in the Water and Forests Department, had eleven children. At that time, the Jannot family did not bear the name of Moncey. It is Bon-Adrien who will add this surname when he buys, in 1789, the land of Moncey whose name he will take. Destined to pursue a career in the law , just like his ancestors, notaries and lawyers, he received a solid education at the college in Besançon, but soon disappointed his father.

At fourteen, influenced by the war stories of several military parents, Bon-Adrien felt a passion for arms awakening in him. Abandoning his studies, he escaped from the family home and enlisted in the Conti-Infanterie regiment. Six months later, his father found his trail, bought back his leave and put him in the hands of his teachers. It was a waste of time, because Bon-Adrien fled again, to the chagrin of Bisontine society scandalized by this son of a good family who persisted in denying his origins.

Enlisted on September 16, 1769, in the Champagne-Infanterie regiment, this time he completed four years of uninterrupted service, serving modestly as a grenadier in various garrisons in the East and on the coasts of Brittany.

On June 30, 1773, his father, believing the prodigal son calmed down by this second experience, again bought his leave before the end of his engagement. He moved him to Besançon in his own office so that he could resume his law studies in order to be able to succeed him one day. We must believe that Bon-Adrien was absolutely allergic to the judiciary since, on April 18, 1774, he abandoned family peace to join the English company of the gendarmerie of Lunéville.

His family, exasperated by this singular behavior, finally bowed to this irresistible vocation, all the more easily as the gendarmerie was a privileged corps where ordinary soldiers had the rank of second lieutenant in the line army.”

Jean-Claude Banc, Dictionnaire des Maréchaux de Napoléon, Pygmalion, P. 251-252

[detournementsmineurs]

"Bon-Adrien Jannot de Moncey" (1792) présenté au Château de Versailles, septembre 2024.

[northernmariette]

Not one of the flashy Marshals, but far from uninteresting. I’d like to post something about him someday.

Bon Adrien Jeannot de Moncey, Duc de Conegliano, Marshal of France by Jacques-Luc Barbier-Walbonne, 1806

[northernmariette]

Marshal Ney’s trial: Superstar attorneys, reluctant judges (Part 1)

This section is a bit long, so I’m posting it in two parts. The original French text can be found here:

https://www.senat.fr/evenement/archives/D26/le_proces/lincompetence_du_conseil_de_guerre.html

In my previous post translating the Senat’s file about Marshal Ney (Marshal Ney’s Trial: “It will hurt us more than his treason in March”), authorities were not sure which instance ought to be assigned the responsibility of the prosecuting him. 

On August 14, 1815, the matter was settled. Marshal Gouvion-Saint-Cyr, Minister of War, decided to bring Marshal Ney before a court-martial, which he considered less unfavourable to Ney than the Royalist majority in the Chamber of Peers. 

The composition of the tribunal was difficult. Marshal Moncey refused to preside over it, which earned him three months in prison. In a letter addressed to the King, he wrote: "Placed in the cruel alternative of disobeying Your Majesty or of failing my conscience, I must explain myself. [...] Was it the Allies who demanded that France sacrifice its most illustrious citizens? [...] Who am I to judge the fate of Marshal Ney? Sire, allow me to ask Your Majesty where the accusers were while Ney was marching through the battlefields? Oh, while Russia and the Allies may not be able to forgive the Prince of Moskowa, can France forget the hero of the Beresina? [...] "

The court-martial was ultimately presided over by Marshal Jourdan, and composed of three other Marshals (Masséna, Augereau and Mortier) who had served the Emperor on his return from Elba, and three generals rather favorable to the Empire (Claparède, Villate and Gazan). A commissioner of the executive power was also present, including during the deliberations.

With regard to the selection of the attorneys, Ney's brother-in-law, Monsieur Gamot, asked Nicolas-François Bellart, then a lawyer, to defend Ney, which was refused indignantly because of Ney's defection. [...] However, he did counsel Ney to accept being brought before the court-martial, since it was made up of military personnel who would have been better able to understand his actions and their context, and the genuine difficulties he had faced in the fulfilment of his mission.

Finally, the attorneys selected were Pierre-Nicolas Berryer, 

(known as Berryer père), assisted by his son Pierre-Antoine, and André-Jean-Jacques Dupin (known as Dupin aîné). 

Berryer, chosen because his reputation and his Monarchist opinions were expected to please King Louis XVIII, was in charge of the pleading, while Dupin did the research and writing. They decided to accept Marshal Ney's decision to decline the jurisdiction of the court-martial, perhaps because they lacked the necessary objectivity and perseverance in light of the Marshal's personality.

Considering how things went for Ney in the Chamber of Peers, it seems that his counsel was perhaps naive, yes. Even the attorney who indignantly refused to represent Ney advised him to stick with the court-martial; but if Ney had planned to paint a bull’s eye on his chest, he could not have done better than to reject judgement in front of his fellow Marshals, as we shall see. But all six Marshals mentioned here had served in Spain, and Massena had actually dismissed Ney because of his insubordination; did this play a part in Ney’s decision? On the other hand, he had to be aware of Moncey’s stance.

I intend to post something about Moncey’s refusal to judge Ney in the future. Definitely gutsy. 

Ney’s attorneys were legal stars of their time. The Senat file provides short biographies of them, which I haven’t translated, to be found here 

https://www.senat.fr/fileadmin/Fichiers/Images/archives/D26/Le_proces/Acteur_Le_procureur_general_Bellart.pdf

https://www.senat.fr/fileadmin/Fichiers/Images/archives/D26/Le_proces/Acteur_L_avocat_Berryer.pdf

https://www.senat.fr/fileadmin/Fichiers/Images/archives/D26/Le_proces/Acteur_L_avocat_Dupin.pdf

Dupin was only 32 when he defended Ney. He went on to represent the Ney family for decades in its efforts to rehabilitate the Marshal. According to the Senat file, he and Berryer’s son (also part of the defense team) went on to become two of the pre-eminent lawyers of the nineteenth century.

[northernmariette]

Marshals’ Save-the-Date Calendar: the July Boys

How time flies! After a birthday-free month of June, I came close to forgetting the two July boys. They are Marmont on July 20, and Moncey on July 31. You are all invited to their parties, and please bring party favours (anecdotes, portraits, birthday wishes, artwork... whatever strikes your fancy)!

[northernmariette]

Marshal Ney’s trial: Superstar attorneys, reluctant judges (Part 2)

In Part 1 of this instalment of the Senat file on Marshal Ney, the attorneys retained for his defense were seen to be all too willing to accede to his wish to be tried before the Chamber of Peers rather than before a court-martial. A court-martial was held nevertheless before the question could be settled. The word “competence” is used here in the sense of suitability, not of ability or knowledge.

The original text can be found here:

https://www.senat.fr/evenement/archives/D26/le_proces/lincompetence_du_conseil_de_guerre.html

The hearings were held in the courtroom of the Palais de Justice on November 9 and 10, 1815, in the presence of a rather large audience, including Prince Metternich, Prince Auguste of Prussia, foreign officers, Monarchists... and ladies of the Court.

The first session, out of presence of the accused, was dedicated to the reading of documents. In the course of the second session, the Marshal read the statement by which he rejected the jurisdiction of the court-martial. The lawyers' briefs were in agreement, invoking the Marshal's status as a Peer of France since his nomination on June 4, 1814, and requesting that his trial be referred to the Chamber of Peers.

Some expressed surprise that article 12 of the agreement of Saint-Cloud of July 3, 1815, which guaranteed the protection of persons, regardless of their past actions or stances - a sort of amnesty -, negotiated at the time of the capitulation of Paris, had not been cited. Yet Ney's hasty departure from Paris at the beginning of July 1815, while holding various safe-conducts, might indicate that he did not consider himself to be protected by this agreement.

After deliberations, the judges declared themselves not competent by a majority of five votes against two (Villate and Claparède). The question remains as to whether the strategy adopted by Ney and his counsel was a mistake. Some believe that his former brothers in arms were better able to understand the circumstances of his defection as well as to recall his heroics and his bravery on the battlefield.

General Claparède is reported to have said to the Count de Rochechouart: "I can tell you that the majority of the court-martial is in favour of acquittal; the Marshal's attorneys are madmen or imbeciles for having raised this question of incompetence which no one had thought of."

Yet three months earlier, a court-martial had condemned General de La Bédoyère to death.

As for Marshal Ney, he was delighted with this judgment: "Ah, Mr. Berryer, [...], what a favour you have rendered me! [...] You see, these buggers, they would have killed me like a rabbit!"

The court-martial's ruling angered the Marshal's enemies. It was misinterpreted and was considered a betrayal. The mood was heated, unbridled, and ripe for vengeance.

The Senat’s file includes links to Le Moniteur universel, a sort of official gazette I believe, reporting the proceedings. Two interesting details can be found there, regarding those selected to sit in judgement. First, Massena did his darnedest to be recused from his role on the court-martial, invoking the very valid reason that he and Ney had had a most stormy relationship during their time in Spain; his request was refused. Second, General Maison, who had served in Ney’s corps, was replaced by General Gazan for reasons of seniority. As it turned out, Maison did end up judging Ney in the Chamber of Peers, and voted in favour of death. I’ve included links to these articles below. 

Ultimately, the only two members who voted against declaring the court-martial unsuited to judge Ney were its two most junior members, Villate and Claparède. Here I will quote from memory things that I have read, somewhere, which I can’t double-check right now because I don’t have access to the library: these two generals voted to have Ney court-martialled because they foresaw that the Chamber of Peers would vote for execution. As for Augereau, he declared afterward (I am paraphrasing): “We refused to judge Ney because we were cowards. Had we judged him, he would be alive today”. Augereau must have said this shortly after the trial, because six months later he himself would die of congestive heart failure.

Why were the members of the court-martial so eager to divest themselves of the responsibility of judging Ney? I will speculate the following: “The mood was heated, unbridled, and ripe for vengeance”, indeed. There was the example of Moncey also. Did the members of the court-martial fear retribution from the King if they did not vote to execute Ney? Did they fear the reaction from the mob? After all, Marshal Brune had been assassinated by a Monarchist mob just four months earlier. As it was, Mortier had already been expelled from the Chamber of Peers (so had Moncey). What I see is a court-martial panel composed of members ready to vote for acquittal while concerned that the consequences for doing so might be dire; this is where their “cowardice’ as defined by Augereau, originated.

The publications of Le Moniteur universel dated November 10 and November 11 can be found here, in the original French:

https://www.senat.fr/fileadmin/Fichiers/Images/archives/D26/Le_proces/Le_Moniteur_universel_10_11_1815_1ere_seance_conseil_de_guerre_09_11_1815.pdf

https://www.senat.fr/fileadmin/Fichiers/Images/archives/D26/Le_proces/Le_Moniteur_universel_11_11_1815_2nde_seance_conseil_de_guerre_10_11_1815.pdf

[northernmariette]

Marshals’ Save-the-Date Reminder

Just four days until the doughty Marshal Moncey’s birthday. Let’s celebrate with a bang, as he is the last of the Marshals for a long while! There will be no birthdays until October, when it will be time for Marshals Augereau, Grouchy and Lefebvre to have their turn again.