Charles Lemercier de Longpré, baron d'Haussez

Charles Lemercier de Longpre, baron d'Haussez (October 20, 1778 Neufchâtel-en-Bray (Normandy) - November 10, 1854 Saint-Saëns (Seine-Maritime)) was a French politician and minister.

Biography

The Baron of Haussez was from a family of magistrates attached to the Old Regime. As soon as his graduation, still quite young, he entered the royalists who plots hatched by the end of the revolutionary period. In the seventh year, he served in the "royal army in Normandy, was denounced to the police, prosecuted, and had to hide until 1804. He began to conspire and was compromised in the case of the attempted landing and Pichegru. Accused of having favored the company of the conspirators, he was prosecuted but acquitted for lack of evidence.

He seemed to rally enthusiastically to the Empire and was created Baron of the Empire (November 1805) and appointed mayor of his hometown of Neuchâtel (now Neufchâtel-en-Bray). But he soon regain his Legitimist inclination. Eager to welcome Louis XVIII at the head of a Neufchâtel delegation, he commanded of the National Guard after Waterloo, was general counsel of the Lower Seine, and he was elected by the general department of the college August 22, 1815. He had previously failed, May 10, as candidate for the Chamber of the Hundred Days in the borough of Neufchâtel-en-Bray.

After the dissolution of the House, which he applauded, he was not re-elected and was appointed prefect of the Landes (May 28, 1817) and prefect of the Gard (March 19, 1819) and prefect of Isère (1820). It was under his administration broke out the troubles of Grenoble (1821), following the revolution in Piedmont. General Pamphile de Lacroix, who commanded the division, the department put in a state of siege, which appealed to the government and obtained the withdrawal of the measure. He nevertheless took a personal part of the most active in the bloody repression.

He was prefect of the Gironde (April 7, 1824), State Councilor and Officer of the Legion of Honor, he returned to the Chamber of Deputies November 17, 1827, elected by the 2nd District electoral Landes (Dax). He served in the majority, but when Charles X was separated from the Viscount Martignac to call the Prince de Polignac to form a new ministry, on August 23, 1829, he was assigned the portfolio of the Navy, replacing Vice - Admiral Rigny.

He signaled his transition to government in the preparation and conduct of the expedition to Algiers. With his colleagues Bourmont, Courvoisier and Guernon Ranville, he contributed to revoke the treaty first signed with the envoys of the Pasha of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, whereby the latter was responsible to attack the pirates in Africa and to avenge the blow given by the Dey of Algiers to the consul of France. Once it had been decided that France itself would up arms, England asked in vain for explanations, complained and even resorted to threats. The French informed them that the king would lay down their arms until they reach the double goal he had proposed, the immediate cause of hostilities and, secondly, the triumph of Interest common to all Christendom. That attitude deeply angered England. In Paris, the British Ambassador, Sir Charles Stuart tried to intimidate the Baron up in the semi-diplomatic. But the Minister of the Navy rejected these approaches and he said:

If you want a diplomatic answer, Mr. Chairman will oblige. For me, I tell you, except the official language, f*** you!

He eagerly continued preparations for the war effort. In all ports of the kingdom, he doubled the burden on workers and their wages and chartered in under three months one hundred warships and four hundred transports. He rescinded the appointment of Admiral Roussin in command of the fleet, and gave the command to Admiral Duperré, the maritime prefect in Brest.

He signed the orders of St. Cloud's July 25, 1830. When the victory was gained for the insurgency, he went to St. Cloud with Charles X, then won Dieppe, and thence to England.

Involved in the trial of ministers, he was sentenced in absentia, April 11, 1831, to life imprisonment. He spent his time in exile to visit Italy, Switzerland and Germany and returned to France, after the amnesty of 1839 and took up his residence in the department of Seine-Lower. He gave up politics and died in 1854 at the castle of Saint-Saëns.

References

• « Charles Lemercier de Longpré », dans Adolphe Robert, Edgar Bourloton et Gaston Cougny, Dictionnaire des parlementaires français (1789–1891), XIXe siècle

Political offices
Preceded by Henri de Rigny	Minister of the Marine 23 August 1829 - 31 July 1830	Succeeded by Henri de Rigny

This article incorporates information from the revision as of 2010-01-9 of the equivalent article on the French Wikipedia.

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Name	Longpre, Charles Lemercier De
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Date of birth	1778
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Date of death	1854
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