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Aloysius Huber and May 15, 1848
New Insights into an old mystery
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2008
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One of the memorable days in the French revolution of 1848 occurred on May 15. Several extraordinary events happened on that date. The first was the overrunning of the legislative chamber by an unruly crowd. Next, and most important, a person named Aloysius Huber, after several hours had elapsed, unilaterally declared the National Assembly dissolved. In the resultant confusion, the legislators and the crowd dispersed. Third, shortly afterwards, an attempt took place at the City Hall to set up a new revolutionary government. It failed completely. As the result of these happenings, a number of people thought to be, or actually, implicated in them were imprisoned on charges of sedition.
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References
1 Many studies of the Revolution of 1848 exist in which these events are explored. Two good recent ones are Roger Price, The French Second Republic. 'A Social History (London, 1972), chs 3–4, and Peter, H. Amann, Revolution and Mass Democracy. The Paris Club Movement in 1848 (Princeton, 1975), chs 6–9.Google Scholar
2 The three views may be found in their original form in Le Moniteur Universel, 1849, pp. 1133–35, 3047; Annales de I'Assemblée Nationale, XXI (1874), p. 282. That LedruRollin's view was incorrect is evident from the fact that Huber publicly supported Ledru-Rollin for the Presidency in December 1848, Aloysius Huber, Au peuple, lettres sur Ia présidence (Paris, 1848), passim. Ledru-Rollin's notion arose out of his retrospective application of Louis Napoleon's pardon of Huber in 1852 to the latter's behavior in1848.Google Scholar
3 Georges, Renard, La République de 1848 [Histoire Socialiste, IX] (Paris, n.d.), p. 52;Google Scholar Henri, Guilemin, La Tragédie de quarante-huit (Geneva, 1948), pp. 240–57;Google Scholar Georges, Duveau, 1848. The Making of a Revolution (New York, 1967), pp. 115–16;Google Scholar Priscilla, Robertson, Revolutions of 1848. A Social History (Princeton, 1952), p. 81;Google Scholar George, W. Fasel, “The French Moderate Republicans, 1839–48” (Ph.D. thesis, Stanford, 1965), pp. 344–45;Google Scholar Talmon, J. L., Political Messianism. The Romantic Phase (New York, 1960), p. 452.Google Scholar
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49 Procès, de Huber, p.81.Google Scholar
50 Dictionnaire de biographie française, I, p. 1057 (Louis Alibaud). Alibaud's attempted shooting of Louis-Philippe and his trial and execution occurred a couple of the Neuilly trial.
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52 Ibid., 1836, pp. 644, 677.
53 Procès de Huber, p. 42.
54 Ibid., pp. 12, 21, 25, 41, 43.
55 At the trial, Huber offered an utterly unconvincing explanation of how it was possible to be so careless as to leave a very suspicious letter at a friend's, Le Droit, May 14, 1838. The reason why he did so becomes clear from the Delessert letter, Le Moniteur Universel, 1849, P. 1032. He had written the Prefect under the name of Eugène Manay inviting his arrest, so that leaving a dubious letter at a friend's – since he was under police surveillance – was bound to increase the chances of his apprehension.
56 Procès de Huber, pp. 13, 23, 45, 50.
57 Le Moniteur Universel, 1849, p. 1032. Amann, “The Huber Enigma”, p. 201, contending that in his letter to Delessert Huber was only pretending that he was trying to get arrested, points out that he wrote a letter, 12 9, to Laure Grouvelle. warning her of his arrest. If he forewarned her, then he could not have been helping Delessert. It is important to observe that he had not mailed this letter. He was arrested December 10, and searched by the police December 13, at which time, since he had neither mailed nor destroyed it, they found it on his person, Procès de Huber, p. 13.Google Scholar
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68 Ibid., 1852, p. 251; Le Moniteur des Communes, February 23, 1852; Alfred, Darimon, A travers Ia révolution (Paris, 1884), Pp. 303–04.Google Scholar All the people named except Laure Grouvelle were from five to twenty-five years- older than Huber. For this pattern in hysterics, see Angyal, , Neurosis and Treatment, p. 144,Google Scholar and especially Krohn, , Hysteria, pp. 256–57: “the hysterical neurosis may revolve around a pattern of relationships with men, particularly older men in positions of authority. This very common male hysterical pattern shows itself in a tendency to behave obsequiously”.Google Scholar
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70 Longepied, and Laugier, , Comité; révolutionnaire, Club des clubs et de Ia commission, p. 57;Google Scholar Amann, , Revolution and Mass Democracy, Pp. 127–28. Exactly which ones among the Club of Clubs members met with Ledru-Rollin is not clear, but the president must have been kept informed, and perhaps attended meetings. Another thread linking Huber to Ledru-Rollin exists. The former was part of a delegation that visited the Justice Ministry, in Ledru-Rollin's name, to obtain a collection of material that included an 1839 pardon request of Huber's and that was not returned. Huber's request for a pardon, 0210, 1852, Archives Nationales, BB21, 545–49, Register S, Dossier 3322.Google Scholar
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77 Ibid., p. 1135. It is not clear whether the dossier and other dossiers to which Raspail referred would have been deposited at the Prefecture of Police or at the Archives. At any rate, they do not exist today. In the case of the Archives Nationales, the appropriate place would be as part of C 932 A, Commission d'enquête sur les évééements de mai and juin 1848, documents et correspondance au 2e volume publié par la Commission, I le dossier. Evidently the reports of Marrast's police and the most telling of the post-May- 15 evidence that was in dossiers has disappeared. Another possibility is C 908, but they are not there either. No scholar has ever found them. That they existed is obvious from Raspail's testimony. He referred at various times to dossier 11, listing numerous specific pages: 31, 60, 63, 64, 72, 75, 76, 81, 321, 368, 480,488. He also mentioned dossiers 63 and 76, pp. 56, 59 and 64. He could not have manufactured such exact nu bers. That the printed record was deliberately left incomplete is shown by how Raspail is quoted in relation to whom he referred. At p. 1135 he referred to Marrast himself as saying that he heard regularly from Huber. Turn to p. 963, and Marrast is not quoted as saying any such thing. Again, Raspail quoted from a dossier something that Huber's Club of Clubs companion, Danduran, said. We look at Danduran's testimony, p. 823, and no such statement is found. It is al soclear that the independent newspapers, as distinguished from the Moniteur, were not allowed a transcript of the testimony, because they reported Raspail's statements in only truncated form, without the dossier numbers or pages. See, as examples, Gazette, des Tribunaux, 03 30, 1849, Journal des Débats, 03 30, 1849, La Révolution Démocratique et Sociale, 03 30, 1849, and Le Constitutionnel, 03 31, 1849.Google Scholar
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