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THIS WEEK IN THE BULLETIN
In addition to Guérin's allegorical masterpiece on the plight of the émigré, we bring you two linked bicentenaries related to the history of economics – the Code de Commerce and the Cour des Comptes. In Napoleonic Pages, there's a book for young people of the Restoration period on exemplary figures from recent history, with passages on the Aiglon, Bonaparte and Talleyrand. There also advance news of a subscription for a double volume of memoirs from 1809. In the Magazine, there are two articles from the BBC on British India, a call for papers on the history of Jerome's kingdom of Westphalia. Finally there is a clutch of exhibitions, including advance notice of an exhibition on the Merry Monarch Jerome, also in Kassel in 2008. Enjoy…
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THIS MONTH'S PAINTING
The Return of Marcus Sextus, by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin (1799)
Guérin presented this allegorical painting at the Salon of 1799. In the words of the Salon catalogue it shows: "Marcus Sextus, having escaped the proscriptions of Sylla, [who] on his return finds his daughter in tears at the bedside of his dead wife". For the public which thronged to see Guérin's masterpiece, the message was clear: Marcus Sextus, the Roman aristocratic victim of Sylla's proscription, is the symbol of the French émigré who, on his return finds all his belongings and property pillaged and his family decimated…
© RMN
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BICENTENARY OF THE CODE DE COMMERCE
200 years ago this week saw the promulgation (after a great deal of preparatory work) of the Code de Commerce, another foundation stone in creation of Napoleon's new France. It was to come into force on 1 January, 1808. This bicentenary is being celebrated in France with various activities, but most notably an exhibition at the Tribunal de Commerce de Paris. It was inaugurated last week by presidenct Sarkozy.
BICENTENARY OF THE COURS DES COMPTES
Ever since the ancien Régime, there had been a body checking the accounts of royal agents and examining the management of state funds. The Revolution had of course altered the royal structure but kept the same form of accountancy. When Napoleon first approached the problem, his solution (in the constitution of An VIII) was to create a body with wide ranging powers, overseeing the income and expenses of the Republic, informing the government of corruption. The members were chosen by the Senate. But after the United Merchants scandal and the ensuing financial crisis (Les Négociants Réunis, 1805-6), the French treasury suffered a loss of confidence. Mollien noted in his memoirs (vol. II, p. 80) that people desired the creation of a “supreme court” which would be “separated from the action of administration and which was independent and fixed”, one which would keep an eye on «the use and management of state funds”. The Conseil d'état planned the structure but noted that the court's jurisdiction would be on the accountants and not the agents. “The court would not be apt to judge the government ». According to the law creating the court (16 September, 1807), its mission was on the one hand to examine departmental tax accounts and on the other to examine the expenses of state paymasters and of army, military division, military arrondissement and departmental paymasters. Once the court was created, there was a rush to sit on it. For the eighty posts created, there were two thuosand candidates. Barbaé Marbois, the disgraced treasury minister in 1806 became the first president. Seventeen ex-tribunes (the Tribune had been dissolved) were to be employed. The court still exists today and is currently celebrating its bicentenary.
For the bicentenary celebrations, see here (text in French)
See our biography of François Barbé-Marbois
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NAPOLEONIC PAGES
Galerie des enfans [sic] célèbres ou Histoire des jeunes gens qui se sont illustrés par leurs vertus, leurs talens [sic], leur esprit, leur génie, etc. ; depuis le quinzième siècle jusqu'à nos jours (1835), by M. le comte de Barins. Paris: Thierot libraire, Corbet aîné libraire, 1836.
This small book was published in 1836 and it offered children born during the Restoration short accounts of exemplary lives of their predecessors. The book begins with the Duc de Reichstadt, Napoleon's son by Marie-Louise.
For all the Napoleonic Pages, click here.
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SUBSCRIPTION
The publishers Editions Historiques Teissèdre are proposing to re-publish two reference works in one book (the memoirs of Commandant Saski and those of chef d'escadron Buat) along with an introduction by the French military historian, Jacques Garnier. The titles of the works are Commandant Saski. Campagne de 1809 en Allemagne et en Autriche and Chef d'escadron Buat. 1809 – De Ratisbonne à Znaïm. The print run is limited to 300 copies and the publishers have launched a subscription which will stay open until 31 October, and the publication is due in February 2008.
For further information, click here.
200 YEARS AGO
On 15 September, 1807, the Code de Commerce was promulgated. It was to come in effect on 1 January, 1808.
On 16 September, 1807, the Cour des Comptes was founded. This financial body was closely controlled by the emperor and its role was to guarantee legality in the use of public money.
The promulgation of the Code de commerce and the establishment of the Cour des comptes form part of Napoleon's grand scheme to reorganise France after the Revolution. As he put it himself, his aim was to lay the foundations, the granite blocks (“masses de granit”), upon which the State was to be founded. Other legal cornerstones were: the Code civil (1804), the Code d'instruction criminelle (1808), and the Code pénal (1810).
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week.
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, No 425, 14-20 September, 2007
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© this Napoleon.org weekly bulletin is published by the Fondation Napoléon. Reproduction or all or part of this bulletin is forbidden, without prior agreement of the Fondation Napoléon.
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Got a problem with a link in the Bulletin? Go to the homepage: http://www.napoleon.org
FONDATION NAPOLEON RESEARCH GRANTS
To all students thinking of applying for a research grant, don't forget that your completed dossier (forms are available here on the site) have to be returned to us by 30 September!
NOTA BENE
The second floor of the Musée Malmaison will be closed from 17 September so as to allow for the installation of the forthcoming exhibition, "Indispensables nécessaires", which opens on 24 October.
THIS WEEK in the MAGAZINE
PRESS REVIEW
- Eugénie and her patronage
- Web Articles on British India
- The Military Kingdom of Westphalia and their wars 1807-1813 - Call for papers
SEEN ON THE WEB
The first photos of the re-enactment at Borodino "La Moskova".
JUST PUBLISHED
- LENTZ, Thierry, Nouvelle histoire du Premier Empire (volume 3: La France et l'Europe de Napoléon 1804-1814)
- NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, Clisson et Eugénie (ed. E. Barthet and P. Hicks, with G. Gengembre)
WHAT'S ON
Conferences:
- Napoleon Historical Society, Annual Conference, Chicago, USA
- Napoleonic Association Autumn Conference, London, UK
Exhibitions:
- König Lustik!? Jérôme Bonaparte and the Model State: the Kingdom of Westphalia, Kassel, Germany
- Empress Josephine's Malmaison Collection, Somerset House, London, UK
- Nine hundred years of miniatures at the Château d'Arenenberg, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland
- Symbols of Power: Napoleon and the Art of the Empire Style, 1800-1815, Saint Louis, MO, USA
- Napoleon's Description de L'Egypte, Dallas, Texas, USA
- "The trace of the eagle", the Invalides dome, Paris, France
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