Léonel de Moustier (1817-1869)-Wikipedia

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For other family members, see Moustier.

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Leon , 5 It is  marquis Moustier is a French diplomat and politician, born the in Paris, where he died the .

Youth and political life [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Monument dedicated to him in Cubry.

Coming from an old Franc-Comtoise family, located in the canton of Rougemont (Doubs), he is the son of Clément-Édouard de Moustier, who was ambassador to Berne and Madrid, deputy of Baume-les-Dames, peer of France and commander of the Legion of Honor.

He studied in Paris, first at the Stanislas college then at the Faculties of Letters and Law.

He married in Brussels, in 1843, Françoise-Ghislaine de Mérode, who came from a large family of the Belgian nobility located in the Doubs.

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In 1848, he was elected within the General Council of Doubs. Léonel de Moustier is very hostile to revolutionary republicans who, in the hectic context of May-June 1848, aroused great troubles in Paris but also in Franche-Comté. He distinguished himself within his general council by his proposal to automatically convene the general councils if the legislative assembly was dispersed or dissolved. All powers would then be entrusted to them to take, in each department, the measures necessary to maintain order [ first ] .

In , he was elected deputy for Doubs within the Catholic list led by Montalembert, of which he is very close. He sits at the Palais-Bourbon in the ranks of the Order Party, which brings together the right by worried by the threat of a new revolution.

Like Montalembert, he joined the coup d’etat by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte. The legislative assembly having been dissolved, Moustier is appointed among the 78 members who form the advisory committee. However, he resigned a few weeks later to protest against the decree that spoiled the Orleans family.

Unlike Montalembert, which evolves towards the opposition to the regime, Moustier remains favorable to the one who is now the Emperor Napoleon III .

Ambassador career [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

In , the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Édouard Drouyn de Lhuys, anxious to revive the high diplomatic staff [ 2 ] , names him Minister Plenipotentiary from France to Berlin. In the context of the Crimean War, Moustier works within the Hohenzollern court to keep supporters of the Russian alliance at a distance. It also provides, through a spy, useful information about the weak points of the Sébastopol Fort, then besieged by the French and the English.

In 1859, he was sent to Vienna, as ambassador, while the peace of Villafranca has just been signed between France and Austria. Moustier is working to pacify relations between the two countries invented by the situation in Italy which remains very hectic. Although it is reserved for the policy of nationalities of Napoleon III , he must hold Austria away from an armed intervention in Italy which would be intended to put an end to the revolutions which overthrow the principalities and kingdoms of the peninsula and promote unification.

In 1861, Moustier was appointed ambassador to Constantinople. The Ottoman Empire was then agitated by crises in Serbia, Montenegro and Romania and the period of weakness in Russia, after the Crimean War, seems to be over. Moustier succeeds in changing the intransigence of the viziers and avoiding the birth of new local crises. He also very actively encourages the reforms of the Ottoman Empire (Tanzimat) in favor of greater freedom of Christians, foreigners and a modernization of the state apparatus. Finally he effectively supports Ferdinand de Lesseps in his digging work on the Suez Canal.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

After the resignation of Édouard Drouyn de Lhuys, Moustier is chosen as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the 3 It is Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte government, the . His three major affairs are the Luxembourg affair, the withdrawal of French troops from Mexico and the Roman question.

Rouher and Napoleon III had opted, in 1866, for a policy of neutrality during the Austro-Prussian conflict, hoping for territorial compensations on the Rhine. But once the conflict is finished in favor of Prussia, Bismarck publicly rejects the idea that a Germanic land passed into the hands of the French. When Moustier takes possession of the Quai d’Orsay, negotiations have moved to Luxembourg that Napoleon III intends to buy to the King of the Netherlands, in search of finance. But Prussia having meanwhile become a major power by its acquisitions in northern Germany, Bismarck now claims to consider Luxembourg as a Germanic land. Guillaume III of the Netherlands, which fears the Prussian power, is then retracting and the case is settled by the London Treaty of 1867. France does not acquire Luxembourg but it is declared neutral, the fortress of Luxembourg dismantled and The Prussian garrison evacuated.

In Mexico, the emperor Maximilian I is , although supported by French troops, is in an increasingly uncomfortable situation. The rebellion led by Juarez intensified and controlled most of the country from 1866. In addition, the United States, delivered from the Civil War since 1865, demanded the departure of any foreign presence from their border and actively support the Juarez militias which they provide arms, material and ammunition. In the presence of pressing summons from Washington, Moustier must therefore negotiate the departure of French troops by sparing Maximilian I is And without the precipitated evacuation triggering a military disaster. In , the last French troops leave the country and Maximilien, who chose to stay, was imprisoned and then shot a few months later.

In Italy, France is now the only guarantor of the territorial integrity of pontifical states. The kingdom of Italy, which now extends over the entire extent of the peninsula with the exception of Latium, still does not accept that Rome is not its capital. To avoid a war in Italy, France had negotiated and signed the so -called “Convention of” “With the Government of Florence. In its words, the kingdom of Italy undertook not to invade the Pope’s states or to destabilize it by promoting the actions of the Garibalian militias. The objective was to perpetuate the situation by liquidating the Disputes between the Pope and Italy. In exchange, France has evacuated its expeditionary force, present in Civita-Vechia since 1849. But when Moustier’s arrival, things have remained at neutral, due to the blocking of negotiations between The Italian and Pontifical Chancellery about financial questions. Moustier decides to accelerate things to definitively settle this summary situation by going beyond pontifical diplomacy and the procrastination of Florence. He thus obtains the settlement of financial questions and, in , French troops re -rear. However, the following year, the Italian government of Rattazzi no longer respects the agreement and does not prevent the invasion of pontifical states by an army of Garibaldians who massaged the Latium border, with the agreement tacit of the Italian army. France having already been humiliated by Prussia on the occasion of the Luxembourg affair, and refusing that a similar situation is not happening again, Moustier obtains from Napoleon III sending a new expeditionary force to Rome. This one comes just in time to inflict on the Garibalian militias, the , a stinging defeat in front of Mentana.

In bad health, Moustier leaves the ministry the , and is appointed by the emperor senator. Obliged to stay in bed, he will never sit and die in Paris two months after his resignation, the .

His son, René, his grandson, Léonel, and his great-grandson, Roland will also be deputies of Doubs.

  1. ↑ Doubs General Council author of text , Doubs’ reports and general council / General Council , Impr. Millot Frères et Cie, ( read online )
  2. ↑ Yves Bruley, The Qai d’Orsay Imperial , Paris, Éditions A. Pedone,
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Léonel de Moustier (1817-1869)

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