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200 HUNDRED YEARS AGO
24 May, 1802 (4 Prairial, An X), the Prince of Orange renounced his hereditary title of Stathouder (that is, head of the executive traditionally given to members of the Orange-Nassau family), in exchange for some German abbeys.
25 may, 1802 (5 Prairial, An X), the publication Le publiciste announced the opening of a "'muséum' of 'Arts et Métiers' (arts and crafts) in the priory known as Saint-Martin-des-Champs": demonstrators explained the workings of the machines on show.
Abbé Grégoire had first raised the idea of a "depot for machines, models, tools, drawings, descriptions and books on all the genres of arts and crafts" in 1794. In 1800, they began installing personnel and then the collections: weaving machines, fire engines, scientific instruments for both Chemistry and Physics (Lavoisier's cabinet, for example), a collection of weights and measures, a collection of illustrations and technical drawings, etc.
Museum website: http://www.arts-et-metiers.net/
26 May, 1802 (6 Prairial, An X), the feast of the Ascension was celebrated: almost all the workshop and shops were closed.
28 May, 1802 (6 Prairial, An X), Fouché annonced to Bonaparte the discovery of a plot incriminating Bernadotte: the so-called "complot des libelles" (the pamphlet plot) comprised of thousands of pamphlets inciting uprising sent to officers and soldiers. It was also called the "complot des pots de beurre" (the butter barrel conspiracy), because the pamphlets were taken from Brittany to Paris in butter barrels, only to be intercepted on their arrival in ther capital.
In the face of insistance on the part of Fouché, and in spite of proof of Bernadotte's guilt, the First Consul decided not to attack Bernadotte but rather a general from his headquarters, a certain General Simon.
29 May, 1802 (6 Prairial, An X), as a result of French intervention, Dodler (unitarian) became Landmann of Switzerland and Reding (Federalist) was removed from power; the Constitution of February 1802, of which the principal author had been Reding, was replaced by the Acte de Malmaison (the Malmaison Act), signed on May 1801 with the endorsement of Bonaparte.
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week!
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
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THIS WEEK:
Snippets
- Work in progress on the Rothschild papers
- Napoleon's skiff
Agenda
- Concert: Napoleon's coronation mass
- French Presence Symposium in South Africa
Just Published
- Henry Addington, Prime Minister, 1801-1804: Peace, War and Parliamentary politics, by Charles John Fedorak
- Napoleon & Son: the story of a lost legacy, Pascale-Anne Brault (ed.)
The monthly titles: May
- Book of the Month: 1815: The Return of Napoleon, by Paul Britten Austin
- This month's picture, The return of Marcus Sextus, by Guerin
- Article of the Month, 'The Cinco de Mayo and French Imperialism', by Peter Hicks
- In the Collectors Corner, the star of the Légion d'Honneur
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