Louis Stanislas de Girardin (19 January 1762 - February 1827) was a French general, prefect, and deputy, who was close to Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte.

Biography

Born in

Lunéville Lunéville ( ; German, obsolete: ''Lünstadt'' ) is a commune in the northeastern French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle. It is a subprefecture of the department and lies on the river Meurthe at its confluence with the Vezouze. History Lun ...

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gr ...

, Girardin was the son of René-Louis, Marquis de Girardin, a sponsor of

Stanisław Leszczyński Stanisław I Leszczyński (; lt, Stanislovas Leščinskis; french: Stanislas Leszczynski; 20 October 1677 – 23 February 1766), also Anglicized and Latinized as Stanislaus I, was twice King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and at v ...

, the reigning

Duke of Lorraine The rulers of Lorraine have held different posts under different governments over different regions, since its creation as the kingdom of Lotharingia by the Treaty of Prüm, in 855. The first rulers of the newly established region were kings of t ...

and deposed

King of Poland Poland was ruled at various times either by dukes and princes (10th to 14th centuries) or by kings (11th to 18th centuries). During the latter period, a tradition of free election of monarchs made it a uniquely electable position in Europe (16t ...

, as well as for tutor

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

. Having embraced a career as an army officer, he very quickly achieved the rank of captain in the regiment of

Chartres Chartres () is the prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 170,763 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Chartres (as d ...

while still very young. Enthusiastic supporter of the Revolution, he wrote the

cahiers de doléances The Cahiers de doléances (or simply Cahiers as they were often known) were the lists of grievances drawn up by each of the three Estates in France, between January and April 1789, the year in which the French Revolution began. Their compilation w ...

of the bailiwick of Senlis, but was not elected to the

National Assembly (French Revolution) During the French Revolution, the National Assembly (french: Assemblée nationale), which existed from 17 June 1789 to 29 September 1791, was a revolutionary assembly of the Kingdom of France formed by the representatives of the Third Estate (c ...

. Instead, he was appointed President of the department of the

Oise Oise ( ; ; pcd, Oése) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 ...

(1790). He was elected to the Legislative Assembly (1791). He presided over its sessions 24 June - 8 July 1792, in the turbulent period following the Protests of 20 June 1792. He was sent on a mission to London after the fall of the French Monarchy, Under the

French Consulate The Consulate (french: Le Consulat) was the top-level Government of France from the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire on 10 November 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire on 18 May 1804. By extension, the term ''The Con ...

, Girardin sat on the

corps législatif The was a part of the French legislature during the French Revolution and beyond. It is also the generic French term used to refer to any legislative body. History The Constitution of the Year I foresaw the need for a ''corps législatif''. ...

of which he became president in 1802. Girardin was always close to

Joseph Bonaparte it, Giuseppe-Napoleone Buonaparte es, José Napoleón Bonaparte , house = Bonaparte , father = Carlo Buonaparte , mother = Letizia Ramolino , birth_date = 7 January 1768 , birth_place = Corte, Corsica, Republic of ...

, and he joined his service among his troops, first in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, then in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. He became prefect of the Seine-Inferieure in 1812, and was not ejected by the first restoration of the French Monarchy, instead passing to the prefecture of the

Seine-et-Oise Seine-et-Oise () was the former department of France encompassing the western, northern and southern parts of the metropolitan area of Paris.Hundred Days The Hundred Days (french: les Cent-Jours ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration ...

, he sat in the House of Representatives, and fell in disgrace to the second restoration of the French Monarchy, yet received the prefecture of the

Côte-d'Or Côte-d'Or (; literally, "Golden Slope") is a département in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 534,124.Seine-Inferieure, who had retained the best recollection of the former administrator of their department, elected him as their deputy to the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

. Girardin came to sit at the left side, with which he voted consistently. The independence of which he made evidence, especially on the occasion of the laws of exception proposed following the assassination of the duke of Berry, strongly led the department, which withdrew its-prefecture the April 3, 1820. Free of any attached, Stanislas of Girardin became, from that moment, one of the heads and of the main speakers of the Liberal opposition; without ceased it arose a courageous voice against all laws of exception, in favor of the liberal measures, and distinguished himself in the gallery by the variety and strength of its knowledge. It would quite often to express his views with the greater energy. When in 1823 Spain rebelled to regain their constitutional freedoms, of Stanislas Girardin descended, in full House, this insurrection of heroic, and as the right-hand side him shouting that it was the apology of the revolt: "Know, gentlemen, he said, that the peoples who are returning to their rights are not of peoples revolts." {{DEFAULTSORT:Girardin, Louis Stanislas 1762 births 1827 deaths People from Lunéville French generals Commanders of the Legion of Honour Prefects of Seine-Maritime Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery 19th-century French civil servants 18th-century French civil servants 18th-century French military personnel