Félix Milliet, born on July 19, 1811, in Valence and died on October 22, 1888, in the

5th arrondissement of Paris The 5th arrondissement of Paris (''Ve arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of Paris, the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''le cinquième''. The arrondisseme ...

, was a French

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

and then republican activist,

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

chansonnier A chansonnier (, , Galician and , or ''canzoniéro'', ) is a manuscript or printed book which contains a collection of chansons, or polyphonic and monophonic settings of songs, hence literally " song-books"; however, some manuscripts are call ...

. He campaigned alongside his wife Louise Milliet, who was born on January 28, 1822, in

Le Mans Le Mans (; ) is a Communes of France, city in Northwestern France on the Sarthe (river), Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the Provinces of France, province of Maine (province), Maine, it is now the capital of ...

and died on July 10, 1893, in the 5th district of Paris. An orphan from

Drôme Drôme (; Occitan: ''Droma''; Arpitan: ''Drôma'') is the southernmost department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. Named after the river Drôme, it had a population of 516,762 as of 2019.

, Félix Milliet developed his republican ideas after the

July Revolution The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution (), Second French Revolution, or ("Three Glorious ays), was a second French Revolution after French Revolution, the first of 1789–99. It led to the overthrow of King Cha ...

in 1830. He pursued a military career, which led him to

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

, and practised the art of

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

. There he met Louise de Tucé, a teenager from a wealthy noble family. They married and moved to

. It was in Le Mans that Félix Milliet's political career reached its peak. He rubbed shoulders with important republicans in town, such as Auguste Savardan,

Marie Pape-Carpantier Marie Pape-Carpantier (1815–1878) was a French people, French educator born on 11 September 1815 in Sarthe, France and died in Villiers-le-Bel (Val-d'Oise) on 31 July 1878. She grew to play a major part in revolutionizing education in French sc ...

and Jacques François Barbier. After leaving the army, he became known for his politically committed songs, which he published in newspapers that were regularly banned by the

July monarchy The July Monarchy (), officially the ''Kingdom of France'' (), was a liberalism, liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 9 August 1830, after the revolutionary victory of the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 26 Februar ...

and then by the republican regime of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte. He described himself as a

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

, although in practice he was very moderate, and shared the

anti-clerical Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historically, anti-clericalism in Christian traditions has been opposed to the influence of Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, ...

and Fourierist ideas of his friends. He supported the Parisian insurrection of the June days in 1848 and then stood in the

legislative elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

the following year among the candidates of the Montagne. After the coup of December 2, 1851, he was implicated in an attempted insurrection in the Manche region and condemned to exile in

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, brought his family back to him and continued his commitment. He continued to write and publish songs, until one of them, ''Chansonnier impérial pour l'an de grâce 1853'', led to him being sentenced to exile again, this time to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Félix Milliet took refuge in

Savoie Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè'' or ''Savouè-d'Avâl''; English: ''Savoy'' ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population o ...

, which was then attached to the

kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia, also referred to as the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica among other names, was a State (polity), country in Southern Europe from the late 13th until the mid-19th century, and from 1297 to 1768 for the Corsican part of ...

. He stopped his political publications and devoted himself to painting and his family. Still a Fourierist, he considered joining the Phalansterian project of La Réunion in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, before the project collapsed; he saw in these small communities the possibility of a utopian "world harmony". He did not return to France until 1866, seven years after the amnesty law for politically convicted people and fourteen years after the beginning of his exile. He spent the last twenty years of his life retired in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, then at La Colonie, a phalanstery located in

Condé-sur-Vesgre Condé-sur-Vesgre () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. See also *Communes of the Yvelines department A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comun� ...

(

Seine-et-Oise Seine-et-Oise () is a former department of France, which encompassed the western, northern and southern parts of the metropolitan area of Paris. Its prefecture was Versailles and its administrative number was 78. Seine-et-Oise was disbanded in ...

). His wife Louise Milliet took an active part in the organisation of the community, but he was not very active. He died in 1888. He owes his fame in part to his son

Paul Milliet Paul Milliet (14 February 1848 – 21 November 1924) was a French playwright and librettist of the Parisian Belle Époque. His opera librettos include Jules Massenet's ''Hérodiade'' (1881) and ''Werther'' (1892), Alfred Bruneau's ''Kérim'' ( ...

, who recounts his life in a family biography published in

Charles Péguy Charles Pierre Péguy (; 7 January 1873 – 5 September 1914) was a French poet, essayist, and editor. His two main philosophies were socialism and nationalism; by 1908 at the latest, after years of uneasy agnosticism, he had become a believing ( ...

's Cahiers de la Quinzaine in 1910.

Family life

Studies and the beginning of the republican commitment

Jean Joseph Félix Milliet was born in 1811 in Valence to Élisabeth Vialet and Joseph Milliet, a doctorActe de mariage de Joseph Milliet et Élisabeth Vialet
at Valence, . and landowner from

Cluses Cluses (; ) is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France. Citizens are known as ''Clusiens''. The commune is situated in the Arve Valley, on the river which bears the same name. Cluse ...

(

Haute-Savoie Haute-Savoie () is a Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its Prefectures in France, prefecture is Annecy. To the north is Lake Gene ...

) who had been living in Valence since the year IX. He was orphaned at the age of nine and his only family was a sister, Célie Milliet, five years older than him, and a maternal uncle, an artillery colonel and director of the arms factory in

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

, who had retired to the family property in Saint-Flour (on the banks of the

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Ròse''; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Rôno'') is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and Southeastern France before dischargi ...

and in the municipality of

Guilherand-Granges Guilherand-Granges (; Vivaro-Alpine: ''Guilharand e las Granjas'', before 1991: ''Guilherand'')). He was brought up by family friends and studied at the college of Valence, then at that of

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. He obtained his ''

baccalauréat The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...

ès lettres'' on October 16, 1829, at the age of eighteen. The following year, Félix Milliet went to Paris to study at the Law school. The first performance of

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

's play ''Hernani'' on February 15, 1830, made a political impression on him; he admired Hugo and was enthusiastic about his ideas. However, a republican, he took part in the

and, according to his son

, more particularly in the "

Rambouillet Rambouillet (, , ) is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region of France. It is located beyond the outskirts of Paris, southwest of its Kilometr ...

expedition". Taken by surprise by the political events, he stopped his law studies, in which he had little interest, in order to start a military career. He studied at Saint-Cyr, then at the Cavalry School of Saumur. He became a second lieutenant in the ''

chasseurs à cheval ''Chasseur'' ( , ), a French term for "hunter", is the designation given to certain regiments of French and Belgian light infantry () or light cavalry () to denote troops trained for rapid action. History This branch of the French Army o ...

''.

Wedding with Louise de Tucé

Having joined the regiment of the 7th Lancers, Félix Milliet was sent to garrison in

Vendôme Vendôme (, ) is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Departments of France, department of Loir-et-Cher, France. It is also the department's third-biggest Communes of France, commune with 15,856 inhabitants (2019). It is one of th ...

and

Montoire-sur-le-Loir Montoire-sur-le-Loir (, literally ''Montoire on the Loir''), commonly known as Montoire, is a commune near Vendôme, in the Loir-et-Cher department in Centre-Val de Loire, France. History Montoire-sur-le-Loir is known as the location where, ...

(

Loir-et-Cher Loir-et-Cher (, ) is a Departments of France, department in the Centre-Val de Loire Regions of France, region of France. It is named after two rivers which run through it, the Loir in its northern part and the Cher (river), Cher in its southern p ...

). It was there that he met Louise de Tucé, a sixteen-year-old girl, in 1838. He wished to marry her, and during that year wrote many poems praising his budding love.Read on line
ou o
Wikisource
However, her social background blocked their possible union for a time. Louise de Tucé descended from a wealthy family from the provincial nobility of

, whereas Félix Milliet had no title of nobility and only a few modest properties. Tucé's mother, Aimée Hüe de Montaigu, did not want her daughter to be married until she was eighteen and to a wealthy, highborn man; so she wrote to Félix Milliet on December 8, 1838, that her "daughter belongs to one of the oldest families in Maine, who would find it inappropriate for me to make Louise form an alliance in which she would find neither birth nor title". In spite of this, she took into consideration the love that Félix Milliet had for her daughter. She then demands that he wait, and that he acquires a

title of nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the rea ...

on his marriage. He had the possibility of doing this by adding the name of his property in Saint-Flour to his own. He refused because of his political convictions. Louise de Tucé and Félix Milliet finally became engaged in January 1839. Their wedding took place three months later, on 13 April in

; he was twenty-seven years old, she was seventeen.

Family man

Félix and Louise Milliet had their first child in 1840, on 6 August, named Fernand. He was followed less than two years later by Alix, on May 18, 1842. When he married, Félix Milliet was in garrison at Vendôme and a second lieutenant in the 8th Lancers. He continued his military career and in the following years became a cavalry officer. With his regiment, he changed garrisons several times, joining

Pontivy Pontivy (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Morbihan Departments of France, department in Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in north-western France. It lies at the confluence of the river Blavet and the Canal de Nantes à Brest. ...

Morbihan The Morbihan ( , ; ) is a departments of France, department in the administrative region of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Gulf of Morbihan, Morbihan (''small sea'' in Breton ...

Alençon Alençon (, , ; ) is a commune in Normandy, France, and the capital of the Orne department. It is situated between Paris and Rennes (about west of Paris) and a little over north of Le Mans. Alençon belongs to the intercommunality of Alen� ...

Orne Orne (; or ) is a département in the northwest of France, named after the river Orne. It had a population of 279,942 in 2019. However, he suffers from a larynx disease and wishes to be closer to his family and to devote himself fully to poetry. He resigned from the army and joined his wife and children in Le Mans. Their third child,

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

, was born on 6 March 1844, followed by their fourth, Jeanne, in 1848. Until then, Louise Milliet had been living near her mother Aimée Hüe de Montaigu in Le Mans. When they got back together, the couple moved into a house that they had built, with a courtyard and garden, near her mother's house. They took advantage of a house she had built in Montoire-sur-le-Loir for their holidays. Félix Milliet regularly writes poems about his life and paintings. He participates in the education of his children. Louise Milliet abandoned her religious practices and became involved in the arts, literature, philosophy and politics. She develops a political thought similar to that of her husband.

Republican activism in Le Mans

Progressive group of friends

During the first years of their marriage, the young couple settled in

, the capital of

Sarthe Sarthe () is a department of the French region of Pays de la Loire, and the province of Maine, situated in the '' Grand-Ouest'' of the country. It is named after the river Sarthe, which flows from east of Le Mans to just north of Angers. It ha ...

. This was a republican department, which was conducive to his making friends with republican and liberal activists. His circle of friends included the pedagogue and feminist Marie Carpantier, then director of the salle d'asile, an early form of nursery school, the writer Louis Clément Silly, the Phalanstrian couple Trahan, the radical publicist Napoléon Gallois, the republican Édouard Prudhomme de La Boussinière, director of a workers' reading circle, Julien Chassevant, a fervent follower of

Charles Fourier François Marie Charles Fourier (; ; 7 April 1772 – 10 October 1837) was a French philosopher, an influential early socialist thinker, and one of the founders of utopian socialism. Some of his views, held to be radical in his lifetime, have be ...

, and Dr. Jacques François Barbier. With the families of the latter two, the Milliets met regularly at picnics where they developed their republican and Fourierist ideas - the latter being mainly transmitted by Julien Chassevant. Considering himself "liberated" from the dogmas of religion and under the influence of the theses of Charles Fourier, Félix Milliet was initiated into

Freemasonry Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

on May 25, 1846. He became a speaker at the Manche lodge "des Arts et du Commerce". Dr Barbier joined him a few years later; Paul Milliet described him as his father's "most intimate" friend.

Activities

A new revolution broke out in Paris in 1848, the so-called

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

, in which King Louis-Philippe I and his regime of the

July Monarchy The July Monarchy (), officially the ''Kingdom of France'' (), was a liberalism, liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 9 August 1830, after the revolutionary victory of the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 26 Februar ...

, established after the 1830 Revolution, were overthrown in favour of a Second Republic.

Presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The ...

on the basis of universal male suffrage were held and

Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

's nephew, took power. Under this new Republic under construction, Félix Milliet became a committed republican figure in Le Mans alongside Barbier. They were so-called "advanced" republicans, supporters of the left-wing parliamentary group La Montagne and its leader Alexandre Ledru-Rollin, a candidate in the presidential election. A Republican Central Committee of the Sarthe was founded in 1848, with Barbier as its chairman and Milliet as its secretary. Milliet was a candidate, along with a man named Silly, in the 1849

in Sarthe, where the members of the sole legislature of the National Legislative Assembly of the Second Republic were elected. There were twenty-seven candidates for ten deputies to be elected and 3,118 voters. Milliet obtained 1,113 votes, Silly 1,115, but they withdrew to leave the seat to Ledru-Rollin. Félix Milliet was particularly active as a

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

. He had his collections published in Le Mans, where they were successful. Others were published through ''Bonhomme Manceau, democratic sentinel of Sarthe, Orne and La Mayenne'',; a weekly newspaper published from 1849 to 1850 and regularly seized, co-founded by Édouard Prudhomme de La Boussinière and Jean Silly, and edited by Napoléon Gallois. He was succeeded in 1851 by the more moderate ''Jacques Bonhomme'',; within which Félix Milliet, Doctor Barbier and a Silly wrote. Montagnard newspaper, it claimed to denounce the "dynastic and dictatorial pretensions that dared to threaten the Republic"; however, its publication was short-lived, from February to April 1851, and it only had eight issues. The reason for this was a conviction by the

Correctional court In France, the correctional court () is the court of first instance that has jurisdiction in criminal matters regarding offenses classified as (middling-level crimes) committed by an adult. In 2013, French correctional courts rendered 576,859 ...

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

on 29 March 1851. It was then recreated under the name ''Le Petit Bonhomme manceau''.; In his verses, Félix Milliet confirmed his commitment to the

Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

and his anti-monarchist,

and

ideas. During the first months of the Second Republic, he defended the defeated workers of the

national workshops National Workshops () refer to areas of work provided for the unemployed by the French Second Republic after the Revolution of 1848. The political crisis which resulted in the abdication of Louis Philippe caused an industrial crisis adding to t ...

, notably through his song
Courage and faith
', written after the deadly repression of the June Days in 1848 in Paris; a "cry for mercy", in the words of his son Paul.Read online
On April 15, 1849, he dedicated one of his texts to one of the most popular songwriters,

Pierre-Jean de Béranger Pierre-Jean de Béranger (; 19 August 1780 – 16 July 1857) was a prolific France, French poet and Chansonnier (singer), chansonnier (songwriter), who enjoyed great popularity and influence in France during his lifetime, but faded into obscurity ...

, then at the end of his career. Béranger wrote an encouraging letter back to him on 18 April. In the preface to a collection published in 1850 by Propagande Démocratique et Sociale, in which Félix Milliet included the letter Béranger had sent him, Napoléon Gallois described his friend's songs as an expression of "hatred of tyranny, pity for those who suffer, aspiration towards a more equitable organisation of society, faith in a future of peace and world harmony". In the same year, Félix Milliet published a song, ''Marchons en frères'', with music by P. Garreaud, dedicated to Doctor Auguste Savardan, an important Fourierist from the Sarthe region with whom he was in contact.; Félix Milliet was also elected captain of the

National Guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...

artillery in Le Mans, which shared his opinions. When a reactionary newspaper published an article insulting the Guard, he challenged its director to a duel and beat him.

Political exile in Savoie

Direct consequences of December Two

On December 2, 1851, the President of the Republic Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, who was prevented by the constitution from renewing his mandate, proclaimed himself Prince-President in a coup. He established an authoritarian state in which the republicans suffered considerable repression. A year later, he restored the

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

and became Emperor of the French under the name of Napoleon III. In the days following the coup, Félix Milliet was accused by the Bonapartist forces of having participated in an attempted insurrection which took place in the commune of La Suze. Three hundred workers from a tannery were armed by their boss

Ariste Jacques Trouvé-Chauvel Ariste Jacques Trouvé-Chauvel (; 8 November 1805 – 14 October 1883) was a French businessman, banker and politician. He was briefly Minister of Finance towards the end of 1848. Early years Ariste Jacques Trouvé-Chauvel was born in La Su ...

, a former republican politician. They took the town hall on 4 December, but the affair was short-lived and they surrendered on the 6th. During the following January, Félix Milliet was the target of a wanted notice published in the press and on posters, which announced : "The government has just given the order to search for and arrest wherever they are found the following persons: ..Milliet, ex-captain of the national guard, aged 50 ..Warrants have been issued for these nine persons, who have fled and who are accused of being authors or accomplices of the insurrection which took place in La Suze (Sarthe). His name appears alongside those of Trouvé-Chauvel and his close companions as well as Jean Silly and Philippe Faure, both members of the ''Bonhomme Manceau'' team. The Sarthe Commission condemned Félix Milliet to expulsion, along with twelve other men judged for the same acts - including Édouard Prudhomme de La Boussinière and Philippe Faure - who were the following: "They have all been affiliated for a long time, as directors or principal agents, with the political society which, under various titles, had given itself the mission of spreading demagogic or socialist principles in the department of La Sarthe; That at all times they were seen drafting or distributing the writings of this society, convening or presiding over its meetings, ensuring the execution of its decisions and, in a word, striving to direct public opinion in the direction of its doctrines, as attested by all the documents seized at the home of Mr Bouteloup. That at the time of the events of December 2, they were at the head of an organization whose goal was to change the form of the Government, except to wait for the time and to seize the pretext which the circumstances would provide, and that during the moment which came, they endeavoured to ensure the execution of the plans by them for a long time meditated; that, disregarding the comings and goings of the first few days as well as the attempt made on the night of December 3 against the town hall of Le Mans, it appears from the investigation that on the 5th, at one o'clock in the afternoon, the above-mentioned assembled at the home of Sieur ylvainFameau, one of them, whom they designated as president, and that they opened a deliberation; that the object of this deliberation was: Will we take up arms? On what day and at what time shall we do so? That it was resolved to wait until the following day, the 5th, at four o'clock in the afternoon; that the plan was to violently replace all the authorities then in office; to install in their place provisional administrations and thus paralyse all governmental action by the President of the Republic.

Sentence to exile

On March 27, 1852, Félix Milliet received an exile order from French territory for Nice (then a province of the

). A total of 250 Republicans were arrested in La Sarthe. His close comrades also suffered repression: Auguste Savardan was kept under surveillance at his home, Napoleon Gallois was sought by the police and took refuge in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, Jacques François Barbier, who was present at the famous meeting of the 5th December at Sylvain Fameau's house, fled to the

island of Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gover ...

before the end of the judicial investigation; with Félix Milliet, there were nine Freemasons from the "Lodge of Arts and Commerce" who were prosecuted. Only

and Julien Chassevant were not seriously concerned. When he took the road to exile in the direction of Nice, Félix Milliet did not obey and took refuge in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, which he preferred to Nice. He left alone at first, but Louise Milliet joined him later that year. She was in charge of the removal, the sale of the non-moveable goods, the renting of their house and taking the children. She arrived in Geneva at the end of May 1852 with Fernand, aged eleven, Alix, aged ten, and Paul, aged eight; little Jeanne, aged four, was left with her grandmother. Her grandmother was also in charge of managing the affairs of their estate, travelling between Valence and Maine. The couple was very well received in Geneva, where they were received by the Freemasons. Family life was well organised and Félix Milliet resumed publishing his songs.

In Geneva, the case of the ''Imperial Songwriter''

The publication of a collection of violent songs almost led to Félix Milliet's downfall. ''Le Chansonnier impérial pour l'an de grâce 1853'' was published anonymously with the false location "

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

and

", but was in fact printed in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

. One of its printers wrote to a friend of Félix Milliet: "I hesitated for a few days, because I'll be damned if I'm not going to be hanged if I find out about such strong coffee things. So I beg you not to spread the word and let no one know that this was printed in Switzerland. It must have come from London or New York". But Milliet was not the most cautious and distributed his work around him. He had it printed in small formats, in order to send them in letters, and asked other French refugees to distribute them in Geneva. Thus, his name was quickly known and recognised; the ''Journal de Genève'' presented him as a conspirator, an agent provocateur "allied with the French nobility" and the Geneva police minister Abraham Louis Tourte, politically a radical, wrote of him on 9 May 1853 that he was one of the "

ultramontanes Ultramontanism is a clerical political conception within the Catholic Church that places strong emphasis on the prerogatives and powers of the Pope. It contrasts with Gallicanism, the belief that popular civil authority—often represented b ...

" who, according to him, were manoeuvring jointly with the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

in order to confuse Geneva and France, that he was a "socialist ..allied with legitimist families! captain of the

hussar A hussar, ; ; ; ; . was a member of a class of light cavalry, originally from the Kingdom of Hungary during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely adopted by light cavalry ...

s at 34! brother of the colonel of the 7th Lancers! friend of the count of Arnonville and the marquis Laboussière and whose furious songs were peddled by Lombards now on the run." As soon as his name became known as the author of the collection, Félix Milliet was arrested by Abraham Louis Tourte and taken to prison. The police seized several papers which they took from his secretary. The authorities wanted to exclude him from Geneva, and why not from Switzerland, but the popular support for him was feared. Indeed, Milliet was appreciated and had several supporters in the town, notably that of Colonel Alexandre Humbert, who threatened a riot and to go and get his comrade by force; he was in turn arrested and expelled to Bern. Louise Milliet went to

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

e to plead her husband's case to the federal authorities. Even Tourte wrote in a report to Federal Councillor Daniel-Henri Druey on 5 May 1853 "Mr. Milliet is recommended by the most honourable citizens. ..I beg you .. not to expel him from Switzerland but only to intern him with his family in another canton." then "I have just questioned Mr. Milliet who seems to me a very reasonable man and more imprudent than ill-intentioned. As his children are here at the Collège e Genève I beg you ..to intern him on parole and not to send him away from Switzerland. Removals indignantly upset our population and make it almost impossible to get the refugees to leave for Bern, and it is said that if they knew they were interned, no one would take their side." This was not enough to convince the authorities. The

Federal Council Federal Council may refer to: Governmental bodies * Federal Council of Australasia, a forerunner to the current Commonwealth of Australia * Federal Council of Austria, the upper house of the Austrian federal parliament * Federal Council of German ...

expelled Félix Milliet in May 1853 to

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

, where he embarked for

. After his departure, Abraham Louis Tourte wrote: "Everyone now agrees with me in the Milliet affair, ..except however 100 to 150 socialists and a few traitors. ..There is talk in some quarters of prosecuting me for violating the law on the inviolability of the home, but I will not be intimidated. ..We he radicalswill defend ourselves by all means.

Settlement in Sardinia

However, Félix Milliet did not want to settle in London, and neither did Louise Milliet. She found asylum in

(then a territory under the control of the

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia, also referred to as the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica among other names, was a State (polity), country in Southern Europe from the late 13th until the mid-19th century, and from 1297 to 1768 for the Corsican part of ...

as was Nice) with Dr Pollet, another French exile. Thanks to a fake passport and the help of the Freemasons, Félix Milliet reached Savoy and found his family. This became known in August 1853 in Geneva; Abraham Louis Tourte wrote to Daniel-Henri Druey on 11 August: "It is certain that his children are still at the Collège de Genève. Orders have been given to arrest him if he returns to the canton". Doctor Pollet is established with his wife in the commune of

Samoëns Samoëns (; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Samouens'') is an alpine Communes of France, commune on the France–Switzerland border, Swiss border in the Haute-Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, r ...

. He owned a large house in the Bérouze, in the mountains, where he lived with the Milliets for over a year. Their life was calm and pleasant; it was in Samoëns that his last child, Louise, was born on January 15, 1854. Alix and Paul made their first communion there on April 4, 1854. In order to carry out their economic affairs, Louise Milliet regularly went to France, to visit her mother, or to Valence, near her husband's land. All their children went to school, including their daughters, as recommended by Fourierist principles, and to religious instruction classes. Alix went to the nuns, Fernand was a boarder at the Collège Royal de Bonneville and Paul was taught by a young

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

. However, they were growing up and needed a more complete education. Félix Milliet, who has meanwhile taken up painting again, is asked to teach drawing at the Collège de Bonneville. The Milliet family moved to Bonneville and he began his work in November 1854. Their daughter Jeanne, whom Louise Milliet had been able to repatriate to Bonneville a few months earlier, died at the age of six in November 1854, carried off by an unknown illness.

The Phalansterian project of La Réunion

Félix and Louise Milliet found it increasingly difficult to cope with the authoritarian policies of Napoleon III. He found hope in a project led by an "excellent friend", the Fourierist Victor Considerant. The latter planned to start a Fourierist community in

. The first settlers embarked in 1854 and founded La Réunion. Félix Milliet saw himself as a horse breeder, running a

stud farm A stud farm or stud in animal husbandry is an establishment for selective breeding of livestock. The word "stud (animal), stud" comes from the Old English ''stod'' meaning "herd of horses, place where horses are kept for breeding". Historically, ...

with his wife and children. To do this, the Milliets needed substantial funds. Louise Milliet sold their house in Le Mans, their property in Saint-Flour, and made her dowry cash. However, in 1857, Victor Considerant announced his failure and the liquidation of his company. He lost a large part of his funds, and the Milliets important sums of money.

Voluntary exile to Geneva

The Milliets returned to Geneva in 1858 with government permission to complete their children's education and settled there for eight years. Paul took art classes and Fernand joined the army in 1859, leaving without even telling his parents. That same year, a law granting amnesty to politically convicted prisoners allowed Félix Milliet to return to France. Having sold their properties in Saint-Flour and Le Mans, and in the absence of family ties on French territory (Louise Milliet's mother died in 1855 and her sister Noémie de Tucé was a noblewoman opposed to their ideas), the Milliets preferred Geneva. They felt comfortable there and met their friends. It was only after Alix married a Parisian, Henri Payen, in 1861, and Paul joined the Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1863, that they returned to France in 1866, and settled in Paris. Their exile lasted a total of fourteen years.

Return to France at the Colony

Early years

In Paris, the Milliet couple acquired a flat at 95

boulevard Saint-Michel The Boulevard Saint-Michel () is one of the two major streets in the Latin Quarter of Paris, France, the other being the Boulevard Saint-Germain. It is a tree-lined boulevard which runs south from the Pont Saint-Michel on the Seine and Place ...

, on the

left bank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrain alongsid ...

, provided by their daughter Alix Payen, who was living in the 10th arrondissement on the other bank. They joined the Fourierist community of La Colonie, organised around a phalanstery in the

forest of Rambouillet The forest of Rambouillet (, ), also known as the forest of Yveline ( ) is a large forest covering some 200 km² (77 square miles), located to the west of Paris, in the Île-de-France region of France. The town of Rambouillet, after which it ...

, in

, with which they had been in contact since the early 1860s. They visited it regularly and spent their summers there. Of Félix Milliet's activity at the Colony during these early years, there is a testimony from his daughter Louise Milliet. In a letter dated September 21, 1868, she wrote: "every morning, Papa, Mr de Curton, Mme

arie Arie is a masculine given name. As a Dutch name, Arie * Arie Altman (Plant Biology and AgBiotech) (born 1937), Israeli Professor of Agriculture * (1903–1982), Dutch composer * Arie van Beek (born 1951), Dutch music teacher and conductor *Arie B ...

de Boureulle and Mr ugèneNus discuss philosophy, but I do not listen to them, because they are materialistic except for Mr Nus". Félix and Louise Milliet found some of their friends from Le Mans at Condé, such as Julien Chassevant, a shareholder since 1863 who was a director there for six years in the 1880s, and

, whom they introduced to the community. According to Paul Milliet's texts, life there is made up of games, reading, music, paintings, walks and conversations. Félix Milliet kept a garden which he cultivated. During the 1860s, the Colony benefited from major developments, such as the construction of buildings and a vegetable garden covering half a hectare, and the creation of a school. In particular, Félix Milliet was responsible for the construction of an artistic

kiosk Historically, a kiosk () was a small garden pavilion open on some or all sides common in Iran, Persia, the Indian subcontinent, and in the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century onward. Today, several examples of this type of kiosk still exist ...

in 1869, and Louise Milliet had an orchard planted.

Warfare in Paris

From then on, when Louise Milliet and their children moved, Félix Milliet did not leave the colony. Thus, when Paris was under

siege A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...

during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 and the whole family was in town, he was not there. Louise Milliet and her daughter Louise had to flee the bombardment of their neighbourhood in January 1871 and took refuge with friends or with Alix Payen, while Paul Milliet and Henri Payen took part in the fighting. The capitulation of the

provisional government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revoluti ...

- captured by the enemy, Napoleon III was defeated and a Third Republic was proclaimed on 4 September 1870 - was signed on January 28, 1871, which allowed the whole Milliet family to meet again at Condé-sur-Vesgre, until they were separated again due to the siege of the French army on the insurrection of the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (, ) was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard (France), Nation ...

. Paul Milliet and Alix Payen joined the armed ranks of the

communards The Communards () were members and supporters of the short-lived 1871 Paris Commune formed in the wake of the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. After the suppression of the Commune by the French Army in May 1871, 43,000 Communards we ...

, the former as a member of the

military engineer corps A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily Weapon, armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable ...

of the

and the latter as an ambulance driver; Henri Payen, also a National Guard, was killed. Louise Milliet chose to stay in Paris to be with her children. With her daughter Louise and their friend Marie Delbrouck (daughter of Joseph Louis Delbrouck), they regularly visited the wounded

in the

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

and then Saint-Sulpice ambulance. They managed to maintain a regular correspondence with Félix Milliet, sharing the events they attended, their activities and their communard opinions. The mother, Louise Milliet, was the most divided, the youngest daughter the most radical. Alix Payen reports a concert where a mobile guard sings a song by Félix Milliet, ''Anathema to the coward criminal'', written after the December 2.

Retirement

The Milliets managed to get out of Paris and escape the repression. Their life resumed in Condé-sur-Vesgre, in Paris, where Louise Milliet and her two daughters Alix and Louise were living, and in Geneva, where they all three regularly visited Paul, who was a refugee there. Indeed, he was sentenced in absentia to deportation. Louise Milliet took numerous steps to obtain his pardon, which was only obtained in 1879. The death of Henri Payen caused Félix Milliet to lose funds, as he had advanced him money to set up as a self-employed artisan. In 1872, their great friend Jacques François Barbier returned from his exile in

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

and then in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, and settled in La Sarthe. The Milliet and Barbier families thus renewed their relationship. They went so far as to form an alliance, with the marriage in October of the same year of Fernand Milliet and Euphémie Barbier, daughter of Jacques François Barbier. Alix Payen returned to the Colony in the 1880s, after being widowed for a second time. She regularly visited her father. Félix Milliet spent his last fifteen years in the Colony, "surrounded by a few friends", he wrote. He no longer wrote political songs and devoted his life to literature, painting and horticulture, a life he described as "quite useless". In 1879, he had a series published by the newspaper ''Publicateur'', called ''Laure d'Arona''. In 1882, he translated the dramatic play The Triumph of Love by the Italian

Giuseppe Giacosa Giuseppe Giacosa (21 October, 1847 – 1 September, 1906) was an Italian poet, playwright and librettist. Regarded at the turn of the 20th century as one of Italy’s leading playwrights, Giacosa is remembered chiefly for his association with P ...

, inspired by the work of the 15th-century poet Pétrarque, which was published in Le Mans. Julien Chassevant's daughter, Marie Chassevant, was a composer and wrote a collection of ''Scènes enfantines pour chant et piano'' with Félix Milliet in 1885.

Louise Milliet's role within the Colony

Louise Milliet played a very important role in the colonny. A member since 1862 from Geneva, she was, like her husband, a shareholder and held five shares in the capital of the ''Société civile immobilière'' of Condé. The company owned the land and buildings of the community, which it rented to the settlers. Louise was a member of the society's organisation for ten years, from 1865 to 1875, in which she served as vice-president twice, from 1866 to 1868 and from 1869 to 1872, before becoming president from 1873 to 1875. Between the springs of 1868 and 1869, as well as those of 1872 and 1873, she was not a member of the society. She was also the director of the Societary Household, an organisation that brought together the members of the Colony at an unknown date and for an unknown duration, and was responsible for organising their daily life. In 1872, she was a member of an interim executive committee responsible for responding to the projects decided during a phalanstery congress held the same year and managing a periodical entitled ''Bulletin du mouvement social'', which lasted until 1879. Louise and Marie de Boureulley were the only women. She also participated in various banquets between Phalansterians, such as in 1875 alongside Marie de Boureulle, Victor Considerant, Eugène Nus, Édouard de Pompéry and

Eugène Bonnemère Joseph-Eugène Bonnemère (21 February 1813, Saumur – 1 November 1893, Louerre) was a French historian and writer. The grandson of Joseph Toussaint Bonnemère (1746–1794), the mayor of Saumur, Bonnemère began his literary career, in 1841, t ...

Death and posterity

Félix Milliet died on October 22, 1888, in the

. Louise Milliet followed him five years later, on July 10, 1893. At his funeral, Gustave Chatelet read a eulogy by Eugène Nus: "In the name of the Colony, which she loved with all her heart and all her intelligence for the seed of progress that she saw in the future, the members of this societary household, to which she was so useful and where she leaves such a great void, send to the one they have just lost the homage of their profound regrets and their ineffaceable memory. Only their last daughter, Louise Milliet, had any offspring. Although her parents lost most of their fortune in their misadventures, she inherited the assets of the whole family and of an uncle general, which enabled her to lead a wealthy and capitalist life. Following in her parents' footsteps, she is a member of the community of La Colonie, where she raises her two children. In 1904,

published posthumously in Paris a last collection of verses written by his father, entitled ''Rimes intimes''. After contacting the writer

, he published a family biography in the latter's periodic, ''Cahiers de la Quinzaine'', which appeared between 1910 and 1911. As an introduction, Péguy wrote his essay ''Notre Jeunesse'', one of his major works. The biography, which ensures that the Milliet family is not forgotten, is not well received by the readership, and Péguy does not continue the contract beyond eleven books. Paul Milliet nevertheless wrote two more, which he had published by Georges Crès. His biography includes extracts from letters and diaries, and retraces the life of each member of the family; his sister Alix Payen's letters written during the

enjoy a little notoriety. Concerning the biographical account of Félix and Louise Milliet, the researcher Colette Cosnier notes that Paul Milliet "embellishes reality, making his father's banishment into a rocky tale that is contradicted by the file kept in the Departmental Archives of Sarthe", that his account of La Colonie remains succinct and that "his memory is very selective: the Milliets were living in Le Mans at the time when Doctor ugusteSavardan wanted to change the lives of the Sarthe peasants through Fourierism, yet his name never appears in this book; the failure of Reunion is barely mentioned. So many "omissions" or gaps that may be attributed to the friendship between the Milliets and ictorConsiderant", Auguste Savardan and Victor Considerant having fallen out.

Political ideas

Félix Milliet was, throughout his life, deeply republican. He became politically active as soon as he began his studies in Paris during the Three Glorious Years in 1830. Even when he could not be active, during his military career, he respected his values, refusing, for example, to add the name of his property in Saint-Flour to his name, which was a condition for his marriage to Louise de Tucé. He was introduced to the

utopian socialist Utopian socialism is the term often used to describe the first current of modern socialism and socialist thought as exemplified by the work of Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, Étienne Cabet, and Robert Owen. Utopian socialism is often ...

theses developed by

, called

Fourierism Fourierism () is the systematic set of economic, political, and social beliefs first espoused by French intellectual Charles Fourier (1772–1837). It is based on a belief in the inevitability of communal associations of people who work and live t ...

, by his friends in Le Mans, in particular Julien Chassevant. The songs he wrote demonstrate this republicanism, but they only hint at his Fourierism, and few written records confirm his belief in Fourier's theories. His son Paul Milliet writes of him and Louise Milliet that "The phalanstery, with its harmonious organisation of attractive work by means of series, seemed to them to be the remedy that would regenerate the world. With the logic of a deep conviction, they always put these doctrines into practice and allowed their children the greatest freedom in the choice of work and pleasure. If my brother was a soldier, if I was a painter, it is because the attractions are proportional to the destinies", but this testimony, taken from the family biography, is based on a partisan account that embellishes reality. During his lifetime, Napoléon Gallois described Félix Milliet's texts as "faith in a future ..of world harmony", Fourierist terminology characterising the utopian idea shared by Milliet, where the happiness of each individual is in harmony with that of humanity. Félix Milliet supported the June Days uprising, in which Parisian workers confronted the army of the Second Republic in 1848, with his poems. He declared himself a

, but did not wish to give up the privileges granted to him by his bourgeois status, and enjoyed them. Consequently, he opposed the

class conflict In political science, the term class conflict, class struggle, or class war refers to the economic antagonism and political tension that exist among social classes because of clashing interests, competition for limited resources, and inequali ...

. According to Alfred Saffrey in the Cahiers de l'Amitié Charles Péguy, approved and taken up by Colette Cosnier, Milliet developed from Fourier's writings a "socialism in his own measure", in which the social question was resolved "by distributing to each person the work that he does with pleasure". The harmony and social system he wanted to develop was based on the phalanstery system; he saw exile to a phalanstery in Texas as a personal solution to the authoritarianism of Napoleon III. On religious matters, Félix Milliet opposed the

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

. Thus, in the years following his marriage, his wife Louise Milliet - who also became a republican -, with a Catholic education, no longer practised. When he joined

at the "Lodge of Arts and Commerce" in Le Mans, he proclaimed himself "liberated from the false doctrines of an ascetic spiritualism". This reversion was particularly pronounced in 1855, due to the sequestration of an aunt of Louise Milliet in a convent and the attempt by the abbot to monopolise her inheritance. Towards the end of his life, he affirmed his support for his daughter when she refused a marriage to the politician Étienne Dujardin-Beaumetz because he wanted to marry in church.

Works

Poetry

* * * * * * * * * *

Theatre

* * * * * * *

Novel

Appendices

* Republicanism in France in the 19th century * Phalanstery *

Alix Payen Alix Payen (born Milliet on May 18, 1842, in Le Mans and died on December 24, 1903, in Paris) was a French Communards, Communard Emergency medical technician, ambulance driver. She is known for her letters to her family, which were published afte ...