DURAND (Charles) – THE AUDITORS AT THE COUNCIL OF STATE from 1803 to 1

DURAND (Charles)

The auditors at the Council of State from 1803 to 1814

Édition :

Aix-en-Provence

Date :

1958

octavo, paperback, uncut, fairly good condition, 197 p.

"Professor Charles Durand, along with State Councillor Sauvel, is today the leading expert on the Napoleonic Council of State. His studies, always meticulously researched, share a common thread: their great relevance, both from a historical perspective and in terms of contemporary issues, since we must constantly draw useful lessons from the past for the present. Furthermore, while the author pursues a purely scholarly aim, and succeeds fully in this endeavor, he has the skill to present the fruits of his research in a clear and engaging style that makes it a compelling read even for non-specialists. Many readers have already appreciated and admired 'Studies on the Napoleonic Council of State,' 'The Functioning of the Napoleonic Council of State,' and 'Cooperation between the Government under the Consulate and the First Empire,' the author's previous works." They will read with equal satisfaction "The Auditors at the Council of State from 1803 to 1814," one of the most original institutions of the First Empire, which certainly deserved the in-depth study that Mr. Durand so fortunately provides us today. After a first chapter that gives us an overview of the auditor and their evolution, Mr. Durand successively examines the recruitment of auditors (chapter II), their personal circumstances (chapter III), their ordinary duties (chapter IV), the employment of auditors with the armies and in militarily occupied countries (chapter V), and their permanent positions outside the Council of State (chapter VI). Certainly, the auditor at the Council of State in 1959 will undoubtedly read with some melancholy the brilliant portrait that the eminent author paints of the auditor of Year X at the very beginning of his work: "a charming young man who evokes much more the atmosphere of salons than the dust of offices." “One day, almost as soon as he left the theater, he got into a car and drove by post to Prussia, Poland, Austria, where the cannons of the Grande Armée were roaring; he stayed there for a few months, railing against the country, while managing some administrative post as best he could, longing for the Champs-Élysées, the ice cream at the Café Foy, his ballroom successes, or some actress from the Opéra Buffa. Then he reappeared, a little sunburnt, in the capital and indulged, in the words of the auditor Victor de Broglie, ‘in the distractions of the official world and of society at large,’ unless he rushed off to occupy a sub-prefecture, or even a prefecture, somewhere between Brest and Rome, between Barcelona and Lübeck.” But Mr. Durand focused primarily on elucidating the philosophy of the institution, on showing Napoleon I’s aims in creating the auditors. Leaving aside the concern to attract young men from the wealthy bourgeoisie or even the old aristocracy into the administration, it becomes clear that the First Consul, and later the Emperor, essentially intended, on the one hand, to avoid the dangers to general development posed by a long stay in the lower ranks of the administration, and on the other hand, to train promising young men in the rigorous discipline of the Council of State in order to make them, subsequently, capable of holding high-ranking positions in the active administration. The idea was excellent and, 150 years later, has lost none of its value. But useful conclusions can also be drawn from the results obtained. What were these results? Professor Durand writes: “The system of the office is therefore very well designed.” Unfortunately, the realization of this fruitful concept was flawed almost from the outset, and especially from December 1809 onwards. And he brilliantly demonstrates that if some auditors were subsequently unable to succeed in their active roles, it was because they had been appointed to these positions after barely a year of service at the Council of State, a single year often spent half at the Council and half on distant temporary assignments. Those who had actually performed their duties at the Council of State, who had been "trained" there, accomplished, on the contrary, the most delicate administrative tasks with talent and complete success. (M. Letourneur, RIDC no. 4/1959, p. 801 et seq.)

Référence : 54536

150,00 €

Mots-clés : Council of State