Daru

COMTE PIERRE-ANTOINE-NOEL-BRUNO DARU

French military administrator and organizer during the Napoleonic period.

Born on 12 January 1767 at Montpellier, France, the son of Noel Daru and

Suzanne Peries, Daru attended the Touron Oratory School, where he proved

himself a brilliant student, showing a particular talent for poetry and

history. On 1 December 1782, he became assistant to the Supply Corps of

Languedoc. On 10 April 1784 - on payment of 100,000 livres by his father -

he obtained the office of chief provincial war administrator, and took up

this post at Montpellier while continuing to fulfill his duties at the

Supply Corps. On 1 October 1791, it was discovered that he was under age and

was removed from the post, but he was then reinstated on 13 January 1792.

Later the same year he was appointed Ordnance Officer (1 June 1792), and

served under the command of Claude Petiet, who became his friend. While

working as Ordnance Officer to the head of army on the coast of Brest and

Cherbourg he was stopped, having been suspected of having English

sympathies. He was first jailed in Rennes, before being sent Orleans where

he was kept under house arrest. During his captivity, in order to distract

his thoughts from his imprisonment, he began a translation of Horace and

wrote his 'Épître à mon sans-culotte' ('Epistle to my sans-culotte'). Having

finally succeeded in clearing his name, he was reinstated on 25 April 1795

and became, in 1796, head of division of the Ministry of War while

continuing to fulfil his duties as Ordnance Officer to the commanders of the

armies of Mainz (1798), Switzerland (Massena, 1799) and the Danube (1799).

His conspicuous administrative talents led to this continuous succession of

advancements, and on 8 May 1800 he was appointed secretary-general of the

war ministry. He employed his cousin Henri Beyle in his offices, and himself

addressed in particular the major reorganization of the army.

A member of the Tribunat (6 July 1802), he defended the law of recruitment

during various interventions, successfully dealt with the production

currency and the breaking of the Treaty of Amiens, and supported the cause

of state education. He was then named imperial councillor of state (1803),

intendant general of the house of the Emperor (1805) intendant general of

Austria (1806) and of the Grand Army (1806), and on 17 April 1881 minister

of war. He apparently enjoyed the complete confidence of Napoleon, who

charged him with the administration of conquered Prussian and Austrian

territories in 1807. He was made a Count of the Empire (23 May 1809), and on

17 April 1811 reached the zenith of his career when he was appointed

Minister of War. In this capacity, he prepared the necessary provisions for

the campaign of 1812 and, while being opposed to the war, accompanied

Napoleon to Russia; while there, owing to the illness of General Mathieu

Dumas, he took over the duties of intendant general to the Grand Army and

was "particularly remarked for his steadfastness" during the retreat from

Russia. Of remarkable probity, he had moreover an extraordinary capacity for

work which Napoleon greatly admired.

Not having been able to prevent, in 1814, the departure from Paris of his

wife, Marie-Louise, he followed her to Blois. After the fall of the Empire

in 1814, he reluctantly sided with the Bourbons and lived in retirement

until the Hundred Days, when he became minister of state in Napoleon's war

administration (26 March 1815). However, with the restoration of Louis

XVIII, he was forced to withdraw to Bourges and saw his goods sequestered by

the state, although these were soon returned to him. On 5 March 1819, he was

named a peer of France, and sat in the Upper House where he opposed the

reactionary policies of the ultra-royalists. In particular, he took an

active part in the debates concerning the state's finances and military

administration, fought censorship and the law of indemnity (1825), argued

against the right of seniority (1826) and the war with Spain, and defended

the freedom of the press.

Daru had always retained his interest in literature, despite his multiple

occupations, and with the restoration of the Bourbons he increasingly

devoted his his energies to his historical and literary studies. He produced

a notable collection of poems, including "Cléopédie ou la théorie des

réputations en littérature" (1794), "Le Poème des Alpes; Discours en vers

sur les facultés de l'homme" (1824), and "L'Astronomie" (1830). He also

translated Cicero's 'Orateur' (1787) and translated into French verse the

complete works of Horace (published in four volumes, 1804), for which he was

elected a member of the French language and literature section of the

Institut de France (26 March 1806). He was also made a member, on 21 March

1816, of the Academie francaise when this body was reinstated. Other notable

works include 'L'Épitre à Jacques Delille' (1801), 'Observations . . . sur

Le Génie du christianisme' (1817), his seven-volume 'Histoire de la

République de Venise' ('History of the Republic of Venice', 1819), the

three-volume 'Histoire de la Bretagne' ('History of Brittany', 1826), and a

large collection of speeches. He is also remembered as the stalwart patron

of the writer Stendhal, and it was the result of his efforts that the latter

was appointed first cavalry officer, then intendant of the Brunswick region,

and finally an official of the Council of State, and throughout his life

Stendhal paid tribute to Daru's influence and unfailing support. Daru died

of an attack of apoplexy in Bécheville, close to Meulan (Seine-and-Oise), on

4 September 1829, aged 62.