#louix xviii

[northernmariette]

Marshal Ney’s Trial: the second Royal decree (Part 2)

The second part of this decree does not concern Marshal Ney, although I’m sure it would have had he been acquitted. It probably did apply to those named in the first Royal decree, about which I just recently posted. 

Many on the list of those affected by this second decree will be familiar to Napoleonic history enthusiasts. As was the case for the list on part one of this post, there is a mix of military and civilian personnel. The original French text can be found here:

https://www.senat.fr/fileadmin/Fichiers/Images/archives/D26/Marechal_Ney/Ordonnance__41_24071815.pdf

Article 2. The individuals whose names follow, namely: Soult, Alix, Excelmans [sic], Bassano [Maret], Marbot, Felix Lepelletier, Boulay (de la Meurthe), Méhée, Fressinet, Thibaudeau, Carnot, Vandamme, Lamarque (general), [Mouton-]Lobau, Harel, Piré, Barrere , Arnault, Pommereul, Regnaud (de Saint-Jean-d'Angely) Arrighi (de Padoue), Dejean the younger, Garrau, Réal, Bouvier-Dumolard, Merlin (de Douai), Durbach, Dirat, Defermon, Bory-Saint-Vincent, Felix Desportes, Garnier de Saintes, Meilinet, Hullin, Cluys , Courtin , Forbin-Janson, eldest son, Le Lorgne-Dideville,

will leave the city of Paris within three days, and will withdraw to such places in France that our Minister of the general police will assign to them, and where they will remain under his surveillance while awaiting the Chambers’ decision regarding which among them will have to either leave the Kingdom, or to be entrusted to the courts. Those who do not proceed to the place assigned to them by our Minister of the General Police shall be arrested forthwith.

Article 3. Those sentenced to leave the Kingdom shall be permitted to sell their goods and properties within one year, and during this time to dispose of them as they see fit, to transfer proceeds outside of France, and to receive in foreign countries any income generated by their properties, on condition of providing proof of their obedience.

[...]

This is signed by Louis XVIII, and by

Le Ministre Secrétaire d'état de la police générale Signé Duc d'OTRANTE. 

The Duc d’Otrante being Fouché.

I don’t imagine those forced to sell their properties received a very good price for them. Any buyer knew that the sellers had no choice but to get rid of their holdings. Also, many who had served Bonaparte were emigrating or else cutting down on the sort of lavish lifestyle Napoleon had demanded from his high-ranked personnel, whether military or civil.

On the other hand, many families had to flee France during the Revolution in order to keep their heads attached to their bodies; being of noble birth was enough to attract the attention of ill-named Comité de salut public. For such people, the stark choice was to abandon everything and survive, or stay on and risk execution. Those who emigrated had their properties seized by the State, to be later sold to the likes of those appearing on the above list. I would think that the provisions of this decree appeared very generous to those who had had to run for their lives 25 years before.

[aflamethatneverdies]

2.8.2-2.8.3

2.8.2

I love this chapter, it had the potential to be very serious because there’s been a death in the convent but ends up being so ridiculous and funny the way Hugo wrote it, it was a good way to shift the tension from the very serious/philosophical convent digression parts. From the start, both Fauchelevant and the prioress have signs of concern on their faces and I love that Mother Innocent has a sort of nickname for Fauchelevant.

Fauchelevant not only gathers information, he also does not gossip about the things he knows. It’s interesting that he manages to inspire confidence in people, since people gossip frequently in the book, is that meant to be a positive thing that Hugo is highlighting? oh look, Fauchelevant does not say anything about anyone. Everyone thinks him stupid, but the joke’s on them? I’m not sure what to think about, ‘the whole convent thought him stupid, a great merit in religion,’ bit, why is it a great merit?

But Fauchelevant’s clearly a valued member of the convent, beside the fact that he keeps things to himself, he does his work and his disabilities prove useful to the job. He’s really such a great character.

And when he talks, he fully comes prepared to introduce Valjean as his brother to Mother Innocent. The prioress answers with her own request of procuring an ironbar. We only get to know that one of the convent Mothers died much later, which adds to the hilarity. 

2.8.3

Really, if this wasn’t such a solemn occasion, or maybe because of the fact that it is such a solemn occasion, it looks like something from a comedy, it’s incredibly funny. The dialogue is short and to the point, there are several misunderstandings here, as well as Fauchelevant’s attempts to convince Mother Innocent to why they should hire his brother.

Fauchelevant continues his argument of why it would be better to have another man here and the Mother keeps telling him to do his best and they keep talking around each other. Without context, Mother Innocent’s dialogue seems like they are planning something extremely shady and they are sort of. They are planning to bury Mother Crucifixion in the convent according to her wishes, but the fact that that is explained later, adds to the hilarity. Even Fauchelevant’s deafness is used to add to it, where he mistakenly says Amen because he thinks this is the end of a funeral oration. I do like how diplomatic Fauchelevant is at most times, he does ignore a lot of her religious talk or that talk is met with misunderstanding but he does agree with her when he can. 

I have to applaud how gothic the late Reverend Mother Crucifixion is, since she’s been sleeping in a coffin for twenty years. But moving on, Mother Innocent has a really long speech about Mother Crucifixion’s right to be buried in the convent, who cares about a minor matter like health violations. Honestly, it is amusing how often the nuns disregard health violations: brushing the teeth is at the bottom rung; it doesn’t matter if the health inspector won’t think it is good to have the nun buried in the vault. She also gives a lot of examples of other Saints who have been buried according to their wishes and blames the Revolution for everything.

She does unfairly blame the French Revolution for everything because at this point (1824, Either Louix XVIII would be in power or Charles X) - the royalty was nice to the Church, it does show maybe that she’s a little too out of touch with actual politics? I’ve been reading more about the Church’s role in 18th-19th Century France (Blood in the City: Violence and Revelation in Paris 1789- 1945) and French Revolution did mark a separation of the Church from the State for the first time. In the 19th Century, lives of French people were coming increasingly outside the jurisdiction of the Catholic Church, including the rise in civil burials. So, the horror Mother Innocent is expressing is both funny, but also partially at least based on the very visible separation of Church and the working class.

The way she’s talking about the ordinary person misunderstanding religion and therefore not being religious anymore is also played out in these two not understanding each other at different points, Fauchelevant misunderstands things Mother Innocent says at times or ignores them, while Mother Innocent seems to pay no attention to Fauchelevant’s sneakily made argument of bringing his brother to the convent to help him. But finally, they both manage to accept each other’s requests.    

[aflamethatneverdies]

1.8.3

The court insists that it must have a Valjean, which seems to be an ineffective way of dispensing justice. They must have a criminal to punish, even though Valjean told his story and they know that he is a respectable citizen, but the bias against ex-convicts is strong. The law finds it hard to believe that people can change and turn things around.

The judge mentions that one of the biases against Valjean was simply in terms of calling Napoleon Bonaparte – ‘the emperor’, because of the judge being a royalist. It highlights how much royalist sentiment around (1822), Louix XVIII’s time, was against Napoleon sympathisers, though I’m not sure if Valjean actively has political sympathies, one way or the other.

Javert’s slightly messy appearance is the only hint of the agitation he feels. It does highlight the way he thinks and acts, he measures everything in absolutes, even his emotions. It also highlights the fact that he is often described in terms of his outward appearance and very little of that has been describing his inner turmoil. He seems to focus his hatred of himself outward towards the society and in keeping prostitutes/prisoners, etc. in their place, outside of society. His whole aspect reveals his systematic nature, he is consistent and regular in his habits, a little tiny detail amiss is enough to reveal the strong agitation that he feels. Later on, we know that that strong agitation is one of joy.

He keeps being compared to an animal/ beast, excited at putting Valjean back in prison and after suspecting and jumping to the wrong conclusion before, it must feel good to finally reach and grab his prey.

Once again, he is linked in terms of absolutes. He is alternatively described as a beast and a ferocious archangel, a monstrous St Michael, upholding the integrity and law and order in society and pushing back evil, with, as he believes the power of the law and justice is at his side. And the power of law and society is at his side in this instance.

Except to us as the readers, that whole description of Javert does ring hollow, because we know what Valjean has been through, he does not deserve to go back to prison. And a monstrous archangel as Javert has been described would probably be a demon or a devil, I suppose, especially since Fantine and Valjean have been given comparisons to Jesus and he has and will ruin both their lives all in the name of duty.

Hugo is insistent though, that Javert may think he is doing his duty, but he corrupts his virtues of duty, following honour, with the sense that he is doing the right thing when he is not. He cannot think outside of the absolutes and that remains his main weakness. He is to be pitied, he has the right intentions, that of ridding the society of the wretchedness and poverty, but his way of carrying it out makes him side with the devils or evil instead of with the Providence or God. There is no light symbolism in this chapter following Javert, he is treading down the path of evil even with good intentions.  

This chapter is also an interrogation of through what means can you resolve the issue of poverty and order in society, and Hugo finds that Javert’s means devoid of any compassion or sympathy are not suitable and instead do more harm than any good.