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42-742: The dignity was created on 27 April 1800 under the French Consulate to unify the command of harbours (civil administrator) and the command of the Navy (admiral). Two additional maritime prefects were based in Rochefort until 1927 and Lorient until 1941. Maritime prefectures exist in each of the five overseas departments of France , but are administered by the departments' respective prefects : Cayenne for French Guiana , Basse-Terre for Guadeloupe , Fort-de-France for Martinique , Saint-Denis for Réunion and Mamoudzou for Mayotte . The prefect maritime

84-720: A geographer until 1788. When the Revolution began in 1789, he volunteered for the Paris National Guard. His pro-revolutionary sentiment developed into a solid political affiliation, and he became widely considered a steady and reliable member of the Jacobins . Moulin served the French First Republic as a general during the French Revolutionary Wars . Promoted to adjutant major in 1791, he rapidly advanced to

126-579: A public referendum confirmed the new constitution. It vested all of the real power in the hands of the First Consul, leaving only a nominal role for the other two consuls. A full 99.9% of voters approved the motion, according to the released results. While this near-unanimity is certainly open to question, Bonaparte was genuinely popular among many voters, and after a period of strife, many in France were reassured by his dazzling but unsuccessful offers of peace to

168-548: A law of 6 October 1791, to wit, "Any conspiracy and plot aimed at disturbing the State by civil war, and arming the citizens against one another, or against lawful authority, will be punished by death." He was executed in the ditch of the fortress of Vincennes. The aftermath caused hardly a ripple in France, but abroad, it produced a storm of anger. Many of those who had favoured or been neutral to Bonaparte now turned against him, but Bonaparte always assumed full responsibility for allowing

210-783: A military officer serving France in the Royal Army of King Louis XVI , the Garde Nationale of the French Revolution , and the Grande Armée of Napoleon Bonaparte . Moulin was born in Caen , Calvados . In his youth he was educated at the Collège des Jésuites at Caen, eventually taking employment as an engineer . He briefly joined an infantry regiment in Brittany, and then found employment as

252-517: A reaction which, in fact if not in law, restored to a submissive Church, despoiled of her revenues, her position as the religion of the state. The March 1802 Peace of Amiens with the United Kingdom, of which France's allies, Spain and the Batavian Republic , paid all the costs, gave Napoleon a pretext for endowing himself with a consulate, not for ten years but for life, as a recompense from

294-402: A well-disciplined labour force. France enjoyed a high level of peace and order under Bonaparte that helped to raise the standard of comfort. Prior to this, Paris had often suffered from hunger and thirst, and lacked fire and light, but under Bonaparte, provisions became cheap and abundant, while trade prospered and wages ran high. In strengthening the machinery of the state, Bonaparte created

336-567: Is full of daggers", the First Consul came to the conclusion that the Duke must be dealt with. Two hundred French soldiers crossed the border, surrounded the Duke's home in Baden and arrested him. On the way back to France, d'Enghien stated that "he had sworn implacable hatred against Bonaparte as well as against the French; he would take every occasion to make war on them." After three plots to assassinate him and

378-528: Is the representative of the State at sea, government delegate and direct representative of the Prime Minister and each of the ministers. It is vested with "authority in all areas where State action is exercised at sea". The maritime prefect has general police powers and oversees the defense of sovereign rights and the interests of the Nation, the maintenance of public order, the safeguarding of persons and property,

420-556: The Légion d'honneur (Legion of Honour), the Concordat , and restored indirect taxes, an act seen as a betrayal of the Revolution. Bonaparte was largely able to quell dissent within government by expelling his more vocal critics, such as Benjamin Constant and Madame de Staël . The Saint-Domingue expedition reduced the republican army to a nullity. Constant war helped demoralise and scatter

462-538: The Battle of Marengo on 14 June 1800, what briefly seemed like a potential defeat for France was ultimately secured by the generals Louis Desaix and François Christophe de Kellermann . This offered a further opportunity to Napoleon's ambitions by increasing his popularity. The royalist plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise on 24 December allowed Napoleon to make a clean sweep of the democratic republicans, who despite their innocence, were deported to French Guiana . Napoleon annulled

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504-552: The Civil Code . The Concordat of 1801 , drawn up not in the Catholic Church's interest but in that of his own policy, by giving satisfaction to the religious feeling of the country, allowed him to put down the constitutional democratic Church, to rally round him the consciences of the peasants, and above all to deprive the royalists of their best weapon. The Organic Articles hid from the eyes of his companions-in-arms and councillors

546-796: The Constitution of the Year III , ordained the consulate, and legalised the coup in favour of Bonaparte with the Constitution of the Year VIII . Initially, the 18 Brumaire coup seemed to be a victory for Sieyès, rather than for Bonaparte. Sieyès was a proponent of a new system of government for the Republic, and the coup initially seemed certain to bring his system into force. Bonaparte's cleverness lay in counterpoising Pierre Claude François Daunou 's plan to that of Sieyès, and in retaining only those portions of each which could serve his ambition. The new government

588-656: The Coup of 30 Prairial Year VII . Presented as an acceptable alternative to the Directors who were purged in the coup, Moulin was supported by his friend the vicomte de Barras , and he was appointed to the Directory in June 1799. Moulin did not remain in office for very long. With his appointment – and the simultaneous elevation of Roger Ducos , a Council deputy supported by the Abbé Sieyès –

630-568: The Assemblies and made the Senate omnipotent in constitutional matters. The Treaty of Lunéville with Austria, which restored peace to Europe, was signed in February 1801. Austria, which had been disarmed by Moreau's victory at the Battle of Hohenlinden , gave nearly the whole of Italy to France, and permitted Bonaparte to eliminate from the Assemblies all the leaders of the opposition in the discussion of

672-542: The Directory assumed its final incarnation. Moulin, Ducos, Barras, Sieyès, and Louis-Jérôme Gohier led the Directory until its dissolution after the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire . When the coup d'état occurred, the senior member Barras submitted and the Directory officially resigned. Moulin strongly protested the abrogation of the Directory's powers by the ascendant supporters of Napoleon Bonaparte, but his efforts were ignored. Moulin and Gohier were held prisoners by troops led by General Jean Victor Marie Moreau until

714-627: The Directory, and eventually shattered it in November 1799. Historians sometimes date the start of the political downfall of the Directory to 18 June 1799 ( Coup of 30 Prairial VII by the French Republican calendar ). This was when anti- Jacobin Director Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès , after only a month in office, with the help of the Directory's only surviving original member, Paul Barras , also an anti-Jacobin, successfully rid himself of

756-478: The Year XII , which recognised Bonaparte as the French sovereign, but their respective powers were greatly diminished. Bonaparte vetoed Sieyès's original idea of having a single Grand Elector as supreme executive and head of state . Sieyès had intended to reserve this important position for himself, and by denying him the job Bonaparte helped reinforce the authority of the consuls, an office which he would assume. Nor

798-473: The anti-Jacobin elite of France as non-entities, but that same elite could take some comfort in knowing that the five man Directory was still in anti-Jacobin hands, but with a reduced majority. Additional military disasters, royalist insurrections in the south, Chouan disturbances in a dozen departments of the western part of France (mainly in Brittany , Maine , and eventually Normandy ), royalist intrigues, and

840-470: The consulate. The French government sought more details of this plot by arresting and torturing Louis Picot, Cadoudal's servant. General Joachim Murat ordered the city gates of Paris to be closed from 7 pm to 6 am while Pichegru and Moreau were arrested during the next month. These further arrests revealed that the Royalist conspiracy would eventually involve the active participation of the Duke of Enghien, who

882-459: The draft bills and directly advised the First Consul on the implications of such bills. Ultimate executive authority was vested in three consuls, who were elected for ten years. Popular suffrage was retained, though mutilated by the lists of notables (on which the members of the Assemblies were to be chosen by the Senate). The four aforementioned governmental organs were retained under the Constitution of

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924-555: The end became certain. In order to soothe the populace and protect the frontier, more than the French Revolution 's usual terrorist measures (such as the Law of Hostages ) was necessary. The new Directory government, led by Sieyès, decided that the necessary revision of the constitution would require "a head" (his own) and "a sword" (a general to back him). With General Jean Victor Marie Moreau being unattainable as his sword, Sieyès favoured General Barthélemy Catherine Joubert ; but, when Joubert

966-589: The execution and continued to believe that, on balance, he had done the right thing. The ministers under the Consulate were: Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois-Auguste Moulin Jean-François-Auguste Moulin ( French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ fʁɑ̃swa oɡyst mulɛ̃] ; 14 March 1752 – 12 March 1810) was a general of the French Revolution and member of the French Directory . He had a long career as

1008-498: The feelings in the two councils. The next day, 18 June 1799, anti-Jacobins Philippe-Antoine Merlin de Douai and Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux were also driven to resign, although one long time anti-Jacobin, popularly known for his cunning, survived the day's coup; they were replaced by the Jacobin baron Jean-François-Auguste Moulin and by non-Jacobin, or "weak" Jacobin, Roger Ducos . The three new directors were generally seen by

1050-513: The further financing of a supposed insurrection in Strasbourg , Bonaparte had enough. Based on d'Enghien's who were seized at his home in Germany and the material from the police, d'Enghien was charged as a conspirator in time of war and was subject to a military court. He was ordered to be tried by a court of seven colonels at Vincennes . D'Enghien during his questioning at the court told them that he

1092-470: The head of a more autocratic and centralised republican government in France while not declaring himself sole ruler. Due to the long-lasting institutions established during these years, Robert B. Holtman has called the consulate "one of the most important periods of all French history." By the end of this period, Bonaparte had engineered an authoritarian personal rule now viewed as a military dictatorship . French military disasters in 1798 and 1799 had shaken

1134-413: The military's leaders, who were jealous of their "comrade" Bonaparte. The last major challenge to Bonaparte's authority came from Moreau, who was compromised in a royalist plot; he too was sent into exile. In contradistinction to the opposition of senators and republican generals, the majority of the French populace remained uncritical of Bonaparte's authority. No suggestion of the possibility of his death

1176-484: The nation. Bonaparte's path to emperor began with the Constitution of the Year X dated 4 August 1802 (16 Thermidor). On 2 August 1802 (14 Thermidor, X), a second national referendum was held, this time to confirm Bonaparte as "First Consul for Life." Once again, a vote claimed 99.7% approval. As Bonaparte increased his power, he borrowed many techniques of the ancien régime in his new form of one-man government. Like

1218-411: The old monarchy, he re-introduced plenipotentiaries ; over-centralised, strictly utilitarian administrative and bureaucratic methods, and a policy of subservient pedantic scholasticism towards the nation's universities. He constructed or consolidated the funds necessary for national institutions, local governments, a judiciary system, organs of finance, banking, codes, and traditions of conscientious of

1260-540: The other three then-sitting directors. The elections held for the two councils in March and April had produced a new "Neo-Jacobin" majority in the two bodies, and being unhappy with the existing five man Directory, by 5 June 1799, these councils had found an irregularity in the election of the Director Jean Baptiste Treilhard , who thus retired in favour of Louis-Jérôme Gohier , a Jacobin more "in tune" with

1302-463: The position of divisional general by 1793. He commanded Republican forces during the war in the Vendée , and served with distinction at the Battle of Saumur . Although he was not a figure of national stature, Moulin was nonetheless elevated to the French executive branch of government by fortuitous circumstances. He happened to be in the capital with his army at a critical moment of political upheaval,

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1344-506: The prestige of his victories in the East , and now, after General Lazare Hoche 's death (1797), appearing as sole master of the armies. On 9 November 1799 (18 Brumaire VIII), Bonaparte led the coup of 18 Brumaire , seizing French parliamentary and military power and forcing the sitting directors of the government to resign. On the night of 10 November, a remnant of the Council of Ancients abolished

1386-471: The protection environment and the coordination of the fight against illicit activities. The maritime prefect is a flag officer in the French Navy , who combines this civil function with the military powers of "commander of the maritime zone" (operational control of the forces deployed in the maritime zone) and "commander of the maritime district" (commands naval units not under another command). As of 2019,

1428-482: The ship of Captain John Wesley Wright ) to the conspirators Georges Cadoudal and General Jean-Charles Pichegru for their return to France from England. Pichegru met Moreau, one of Bonaparte's generals and a former protege of Pichegru, on 28 January 1804. The next day, a British secret agent named Courson was arrested and he, under torture, confessed that Pichegru, Moreau, and Cadoudal were conspiring to overthrow

1470-685: The three maritime prefects in metropolitan France are: French Consulate The Consulate ( French : Consulat ) was the top-level government of the First French Republic from the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire on 9 November 1799 until the start of the French Empire on 18 May 1804. By extension, the term The Consulate also refers to this period of French history . During this period, Napoleon Bonaparte , with his appointment as First Consul, established himself as

1512-515: The victorious Second Coalition, his rapid disarmament of the Vendée , and his talk of stability of government, order, justice, and moderation. He gave everyone a feeling that France was governed once more by a real statesman, and that a competent government was finally in charge. Bonaparte needed to rid himself of Sieyès and of those republicans who had no desire to hand over the republic to one man, particularly Moreau and Masséna, his military rivals. At

1554-448: Was Bonaparte content simply to be part of an equal triumvirate . As the years progressed he would move to consolidate his own power as First Consul, and leave the two other consuls, Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès and Charles-François Lebrun , as well as the Assemblies, weak and subservient. By consolidating power, Bonaparte was able to transform the aristocratic constitution of Sieyès into an unavowed dictatorship. On 7 February 1800,

1596-557: Was a relatively young Bourbon prince and thus another possible heir to a restored Bourbon monarchy. The Duke, at that time, was living as a French émigré in the Electorate of Baden , but he also kept a rented house in Ettenheim , which was close to the French border. Possibly at the urging of Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périogord , Bonaparte's foreign minister, and Joseph Fouché , Bonaparte's minister of police who had warned that "the air

1638-469: Was being paid 4,200 pounds per year by Britain "in order to combat not France but a government to which his birth had made him hostile." Further, he stated that "I asked England if I might serve in her armies, but she replied that that was impossible: I must wait on the Rhine, where I would have a part to play immediately, and I was in fact waiting." D'Enghien was found guilty of being in violation of Article 2 of

1680-574: Was composed of three parliamentary assemblies: the Council of State which drafted bills, the Tribunate which could not vote on the bills but instead debated them, and the Corps législatif , whose members could not discuss the bills but voted on them after reviewing the Tribunate's debate record. The Sénat conservateur was a governmental body equal to the three aforementioned legislative assemblies and verified

1722-531: Was killed at the Battle of Novi ] on 15 August, he turned to General Napoleon Bonaparte. Although Generals Guillaume Brune and André Masséna won battles at Bergen and Zurich , and the Allies of the Second Coalition lingered on the frontier as they had done after the Battle of Valmy , the fortunes of the Directory were still not restored. Success was reserved for Bonaparte, suddenly landing at Fréjus with

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1764-652: Was tolerated. Because Bonaparte's hold on political power was still tenuous, French royalists devised a plot that involved kidnapping and assassinating him and inviting Louis Antoine de Bourbon , the Duke of Enghien , to lead a coup d'état that would precede the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy with Louis XVIII on the throne. The British government of William Pitt the Younger had contributed to this royalist conspiracy by financing one million pounds and providing naval transport (with

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