Louis Bonaparte

A new king

As of the 16 years age it was Aide-de-camp of his brother to the Armée with Italy; followed in Egypt, was married in 1802, almost in spite of him, with the girl of Joséphine de Beauharnais: Hortense de Beauharnais. It accepted, with the creation of the Empire, the title of large Connétable; in 1805 occupied, with the head of the Armée with North, the territory of the Batavian Republic; it honestly left the country with the new first of peace, which reconciled the regard of the Dutchmen to him.

In 1806, Napoleon decided to put an end to the Batavian République: Holland constituting a strategic point, it had to be placed under a strong authority. This is why it put on the throne his younger Louis brother: he believed that by naming a member of its family he could exert more influence.

Louis however issued reserves against the plans of his brother. Since years its bad health (it had rheumatisms) obliged it to attend places of cure regularly, and it was seen badly settling in a cold country. It did not like it either to be obliged to obey without discussing with the orders the emperor. But, in front of the obstinacy of Napoleon, it was necessary well that Louis inclined himself.

On the order of the emperor, a delegation of the Batavian government left for Paris in order to discuss the change of being able. Napoleon refused however to receive it itself, and, with their great humiliation, the members of the delegation had to ask Louis, in the name of the Dutch people, to be their sovereign. A frontage of legality could not dissimulate the fact that one imposed a king to the Dutchmen. The June 5th 1806, the official ceremony took place in Paris. In the presence of the Batavian delegation, Louis became sovereign Royaume of Holland.

How to impose its authority

At the time of his arrival in Holland, Louis thus encountered a problem of authority, because the Dutchmen were in front of a king who had been imposed to them. Here that a secular republic had been transformed brutally into monarchy, whereas the patriots had precisely opposed with energy the ambitions of the stadhouder to become king. It is true that Holland until the arrival of Louis had been a republic only name since the stadhouder had held the capacity between its hands and had, moreover, with the approval of the Council of State, which been able to name his/her son like successor. With the eyes of the patriots, a king on the throne of Holland did not represent of it less one provocation, which upset the purest republican tradition and the principles of the Batavian Revolution.

Of resistance, it of it was little question. The entry of Louis with $the Hague let see in the public more curiosity than of enthusiasm. Only some leaflets encouraged with the protest and the revolt. The Dutchmen awaited with apathy what the new Master was going to bring.

The historians always wondered why resistance had so much been made wait. With that, there are several reasons. In the beginning Holland was not incorporated in France. Of course, via his/her brother it was Napoleon who drew the strings, but the country remained nominally independent and preserved its own laws and its religion; in particular, it was exempted of conscription. Altogether, the constraint in France was not total. In the second place, the political transition was not abrupt: the stadhouder Guillaume V controlled in fact like a monarch and, in the Batavian Republic, the capacity was held by a small number of individuals. And then much of citizens cherished the hope that after all these revolutions, one would enjoy a little peace with a strong man.

Administration of the new king

Vis-a-vis this opposition against a foreign sovereign, Louis was not satisfied that the country was resigned to its presence, it tried to gain his affection and to justify his authority. As of its speech of reception he hastened to reassure the Dutchmen: even if it had been born in France, it the Jura to take care of the interests of its subjects.

Control of the language

Louis took his task with serious, followed language classes near Willem Bilderdijk, writer and poet of court, in the idea to control Dutch. That was not all the same easier: during a short speech with Amsterdam it would have one day alleged being rabbit of Holland ( konijn ) instead of saying king ( koning ). But this history is disputed. Moreover Louis the Dutch like official language of the administration promised to maintain, and although this decision was especially intended to obstruct in their task the French spies, it was worth the sympathy of the people to him.

Its rounds of inspection in the kingdom

King Louis was not locked up in his palate of $the Hague, but regularly made visits in his kingdom, even where the Stadhouder Guillaume V had been shown only seldom, even never. These rounds were not simply made to give the exchange: it kept up to date with the problems that it met and it tried to solve them. Thus in the the Brabant where a mysterious disease made rage, he did not hesitate to return visit to the patients to the risk to deteriorate his own health. Shocked by the suffering it made come immediately the drugs necessary, distributed money to cover the first needs and made come a doctor from Boxmeer. In a few weeks the epidemic was suppressed. Having come with the front from those which needed its assistance, always finding the solution necessary, it acquired the respect of the nation quickly.

Administrative reforms

The guiding line of Louis as long as he was king was to create the national unit in a country deeply marked by the regional feeling. The king reinforced the capacities of the central administration on the local governments. In its eyes, the Holland was of pieces and were to constitute an organic unit: they is that the cities and the areas followed their own policy most of the time and felt not very concerned by the decisions taken in a remote way, in $the Hague. Louis divided the country into ten Départements/Provinces, placing at the head of each one a Gouverneur ( Landdrost ) which, the following the example of Préfets French, supervised on its level the local policy. The Maires of the big cities from now on were named by the sovereign.

The legislation

Louis also occupied himself to disentangle the legal maquis because the lack of a uniform legislation had as a result which the sorrows varied considerably inside the country. In such village, for example, the flight could be punished of death, whereas the same offense did not incur that a fine in another village. The sovereign, for this reason, adopted the Civil code French and made moreover write a national code of criminal law which was completed in 1808. The liberal ideas of Louis showed through in the new code with the Abolition of the Torture and of the Forced labor and, although the Capital punishment had been maintained, the king could always make grace.

The religious minorities obtained more rights. Admittedly, the revolution Batave had granted the civil equality to the Juifs and the Catholiques, but in practice discrimination had absolutely not disappeared. This is why in 1808 it proclaimed officially the religious equality, inserted in all full knowledge of the facts of the Jews in the administration and irritated lack of interest of the catholics who continued to keep away. On order of the king, the Protestants returned even some places of worship to the catholics, like the cathedral Midsummer's Day with Wood-the-Duke.

Resistance to this king who disturbed the secular uses made wait. Louis had enough good sense not to attack the local leaders, as well the rural Noblesse as the urban Patriciat, insofar as they promised to him to conform to his policy. And then they hoped that a central capacity extremely could stop the decline of the République, formerly so powerful. They were certainly submerged by a flood of ordinances which came to them from $the Hague, but at least Louis was that which protected them from a more direct dependence. And they understood that their king would lose his throne without recourse if its reforms failed. If it were dissatisfied, Napoleon would annex the country; it would then be necessary to support the conscription and to contribute to fill of the cases of the State, hopelessly vacuums. Better a king was worth than an emperor: one was there.

Culture

Louis was interested much in the Culture and the Sciences. For this reason it founded various institutes which still exist in an unchanged form, like the royal Institut of Sciences, the royal Bibliothèque and the royal Musée. Itself was often going to visit the Musée Teylers with Haarlem and he did not forget to also encourage the liberal Arts by organizing different artistic exposures public.

National catastrophes

Two national catastrophes gave to Louis in an unexpected way the opportunity to act like a concerned king of its people. One afternoon icy of January 1807, a ship charged with powder exploded in the center of Leyde. One heard the detonation to $the Hague; cargo liner only the anchor was found, in pre outside the city. Louis went the very same day on the spot of the catastrophe and the caused devastations affected it deeply. Hundreds of houses had disappeared, a class of very whole school was buried under the debris and between the ruins blackened by fire one saw the remainders of the victims.

The king intervened effectively. He employed the royal guard to clear the debris, coordinated the activities of rescue, asked to the bakers Delft to make cook bread for the disaster victims, made come in Leyde his surgeon personal and made arrange the Bosch palate in hospital to look after the casualties. It is only the following day that it went back to $the Hague. Louis took care also in the future: he prohibits the transport of powder in the places densément populated, created funds for the catastrophes where he poured itself 30.000 Florins and he exempted taxes the town of Leyde for the ten following years.

The people appreciated his sovereign immediately. Everywhere one did not speak any more but about Louis the Good, the father of the unhappy one. The poet of court Willem Bilderdijk sang his praises, while the drawings, the engravings and the tables intended for glorifier multiplied the compassion of the king for his people.

The floods of 1809 again gave the opportunity to him to act. Whole villages had been submerged by the rivers in rising, the Betuwe had become an immense inland sea. Without letting see the least fear, Louis helped itself to reinforce the dams with sandbags, it coordinated the actions of help and went in the villages most isolated from the territory to give again courage with the population. Once again, Louis gave to the illustrators the opportunity to represent his acts of benevolence: an engraving celebrates shows it on a narrow dam, the feet in water, comforting its words of the disabled villagers.

This offensive of charm and its energy in the action had greatest success because, during a voyage in Holland of North, the population of Edam forgave him her French origin. He hoped at this time that the Dutchmen would forget one day that he had not been born in their country, while intending to say to an old man: “ Since Leyde we already forgot all that. ”

Criticisms against the sovereign

The subjects of Louis however did not lavish only praises to him. Its leaning for the luxury and the monarchical pump passed badly near the Dutchmen accustomed to the economy and who saw of an evil eye this king who was transported to high expenses of one palate to the other after having luxuriously made them arrange. Considering bad for its health the climate of $the Hague, too near to the sea, it decided to move with Utrecht in 1807, and it spent there of the enormous sums for the realization of a Royal palace with the downtown area. Moreover it did not live there a long time, because hardly a few months later it was installed with the palate of Amsterdam, on the stopping, where it did all to demolish to have a more beautiful sight. But in Amsterdam either it could not feel at ease, so that it preferably spent its time outside the city in shaded places as to Haarlem to the Soestdijk or Amelisweerd.

The conflict with Napoleon

The problem was that Napoleon did not appreciate the policy of his brother which it reproached for making pass the interests of Holland before those of France. Indeed, even if it had carried out the orders of his brother most of the time, by closing for example the Dutch ports with the British ships, it sought most of the time the advantage of its country.

What dissatisfied as of the beginning the Emperor, it was the refusal of Louis to introduce into his kingdom the Conscription, whereas Napoleon required always more soldiers. His/her brother estimated himself unable to answer his requests since, on a population of two million hearts, one could not provide a military contribution of 40.000 soldiers. He also refused authoritatively to reduce two thirds the national Debt, like asked him Napoleon: a similar measurement would have ruined many private individuals who had credits on the State and the economy, already weakened, would have received a new blow.

This is why Louis opposed the requirement of Napoleon to respect the continental Blocus strictly. To oblige the the United Kingdom, its enemy declared, have suddenly composed, Napoleon had prohibited any trade with her, which put Louis in anger because such a measurement could only give the blow of thanks to an economy already staggering. The system was in theory inflexible and the Ports were closed, but the king tried to close the eyes on the smugglers who benefitted from the length of the coast.

When in 1809 a British army unloaded in the island of Walcheren and had conquered the strategic fortress of Bath, thus opening the road towards Antwerp, Napoleon poured against his brother a new flood of criticisms. Although Louis had succeeded in stopping in time the walk of the Britanniques, which are transfered decimated by the fevers and which having gathered of the troops to haste it had taken again the fortress, Napoleon judged that his/her brother was an incompetent. According to him, it was the refusal of Louis to introduce in Holland the conscription, under pretext which it was unpopular, which had made it possible the the United Kingdom to make a success of its invasion.

Napoleon initially tried to allure his brother by proposing to him the throne of Spain, but Louis refused. The emperor then decided to take the command itself. During the summer 1809, Louis had, on the order of his/her brother, to go to Paris, although by trailing the feet and there, after months of quarrel, it was obliged to sign a treaty yielding to France the south of Holland. In 1810 Louis returned towards his subjects, but little time after the “French troops of monitoring” still extended their control on the cities of the west of the country. Louis realized that the business was lost; without consulting his brother he abdicated in favor of his young person wire Napoleon Louis Bonaparte and flees with Vienna. Holland was then annexed to the French Empire.

Publications

This prince Philosophe lived then in the retirement under the name of Count de Saint-Leu and remained foreign with the return of Napoleon in 1815.

He published historical Documents on the government of Holland (3 volumes in-8, Paris, 1820), essential work for the history of the Royaume of Holland.

Like his brothers Lucien and Joseph, it cultivated the Lettres.

It had in 1814 in a Essai on versification , suggested to substitute the rate/rhythm for the Rime by stressing the French worms according to the prosodic accent : he wanted to even apply this system and composed some poetries in rhythmic worms ( Lucrèce , tragedy, Ruth and Noémie , comic opera); but this attempt did not have any success.

One still has him:

of the Odes (Vienna, 1813).
of the various Poetries (Florence, 1828), where one finds, with a soft philosophy, noble feelings expressed into beautiful towards.
a novel Marie or sorrows of the love (published as of 1800, reprinted in 1814 under the title of Marie or the Dutchwomen ), a novel which appears to be its own history.

Marriage and children

In 1802, Napoleon i had married his Louis brother with his daughter-in-law Hortense de Beauharnais (1783 - 1837), resulting from the first marriage of Joséphine with Alexandre de Beauharnais, but this union was not happy. Hortense did not want to remain a long time with her husband in Holland which it found too cold and it returned in France. Then the couple separated. They had however three wire:

Napoleon Louis Charles Bonaparte (1802 - 1807)
Napoleon Louis Bonaparte (1804 - 1831), Large-duke of Mons, and transitory king of Holland under the name of Louis II.
Charles Louis Napoleon (1808 - 1873), which became the emperor of the French under the name of Napoleon III.

Louis Bonaparte had acquired in 1804 the castle of Saint-Leu-the-Forest. His/her son Napoleón III made there build in 1851 a church to join together the sepulchres of his family there. In the crypt rest the father Louis Bonaparte King de Hollande, and the two brothers of Napoleon III.

Partial sources

Simple: Louis Bonaparte

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