Emmanuel Francois

Emmanuel François was born in 1784 in Virton, in the current province of Luxembourg. He undergoes a law training which allows him to become a lawyer and to exercise the function of lawyer until 1830.

In 1830, he is elected, At the age of forty-six, at the National Congress to represent the Neufchâteau district. During meetings, He intervenes thirty -once on different subjects, especially during debates on the fate of Orange's house, of the province of Luxembourg as well as the protocol of 20 janvier 1831 who puts Luxembourg and Limburg in the Netherlands. You can also cite your opinions on rights (especially press freedom) and the constitution. His interventions therefore portray him as a liberal, Anti-Dandloris We Pro-Luxembourg Wought.

in mai 1831, a month after the resignation ofIsidore Plaisant, Director of the security 1830 to 1831, François is appointed to succeed him at the head of the administration.

Not surrounded, He strives to put the security back on his feet. At that time, the administration consists only of two clerks, two expeditionaries and a bailiff.

At the beginning of his career, The administrator denounces the tumults of the revolution that persist (e.g : Brussels looting, 1834) To point the finger at the inability of local fonts (Mainly from Brussels) to maintain public order. He does not hesitate to issue doubts about the patriotism of several commissioners whom he suspects of supporting the Dutch King. He then proposed to the Belgian government the creation of a "director of public security" whose powers would bring together those of the political police, judicial and administrative. This director, that his powers would raise the rank of minister, could correspond with all public officials as well as to issue orders for the application of laws. What's more, He wants this director to be invested in the prefect's charge within the city of Brussels and that he can designate the commissioners who would be loyal to him himself. This colossal project does not arouse adherence within the government which sees in such powers a danger for a country which is based on the separation of powers and whose municipalities are attached to their franchises.

During the eight years of his mandate as administrator, Emmanuel François engages in the supervision of foreigners ; But his policy attracts strong criticisms.

First of all, The administrator is accused of blindness to April looting 1834 in Brussels ; he is accused of not having been able to predict the disorders in the capital. Several parliamentarians invective the administrator who is accused of inventing conspiracies to increase his power and set his sights on the Republicans, Saint-Simonians and family secrets.

Two cases tarnish the end of his mandate :

• The 1^is july 1838, The Belgian independent reports reports reported by the Liège Journal. A Prussian ex-sixty-year-old, François Fisws, is renewed on the border on the order of the administrator François under the Passport Act. A few days later, the 10 july, The same newspaper explains that the gendarmes responsible for arrest are charged for committing, Following corruption acts, arbitrary acts affecting individual freedom. It is the Minister of Justice himself who orders prosecution against them. In their defense, The accused argued that "the expulsion had been ordered from them by their immediate chief, which had received the order of his commander and the latter from the administrator ". This system was greeted by the jury and the accused defendants.
• "The Souillard affair" in October 1838. In October 1838, Observer reports the story of a stranger named Chirett, Say Souillard, Coming to Belgium with rules in rules and staying in Brussels. The latter receives the visit of two security agents who, On behalf of the administrator, ask him to follow them. Chirett refuse. The day after, The agents come back and, Faced with the absence of souillard, Take his eighteen and pregnant wife his wife. A person who visited the young woman in prison then informed the newspaper to report the conditions of her treatment. Observer says he is shocked by the treatment suffered by Ms. Chirett who refuses to denounce her husband. The newspaper accuses Emmanuel François of having violated the law and outraged public morality. Afterwards, the Monitor offer another version of the facts, Discultant the administrator.

During his mandate as administrator, Emmanuel François maintains complicated relationships with those around him and cultivates a fairly unfavorable opinion on him. The Souillard case illustrates the disapproving look of the press towards it, which judges its violent and shocking actions.

In terms of policies and government, François is perceived with a bad eye. The Chamber denounces its "harassment" against foreigners and question the administrator's exclusion power. What's more, Brouckère representatives, Gendebien and Robaulx accuse him of "spying" and accuses him of wanting to penetrate the intimacy of harmless personalities. Gendebia, MP for the House of Representatives, reproach the administrator his "conspiratorial" inclinations : "Whenever Mr. François is afraid, He invents conspiracies, and Mr. François is always afraid ”.

Note, Moreover, that he is one of the 1031 people proposed to obtain the iron cross by the honorary awards committee and that he actually receives it.

After eight years at the head of the administration of public security, Emmanuel François is replaced, by royal decree of 5 janvier 1839, through Alexis Hody, Prosecutor of the King of Brussels. He occupies, Until February 1 of the same year, The post of commissioner of the Neufchâteau district, Then replaces Simony to the "Sambre recipe" (financial management). He died on 11 janvier 1840 In a Liège health center.

Sources:

• Carl BEYAERT, Biographies of members of the National Congress, Brussels, National Bookstore of Art and History, 1930. (https://unionisme.be/cnFrancois.htm)
• Nicolas CUPAIN, “The expulsion of foreigners in Belgium (1830 and 1914) », in Belgian Journal of New History, 2003, p.5-48.
• Luke KUNINGS, The police in Brussels in the 19th century : Biographical data illustrated on police officers, civic guard and gendarmerie (1830-1914), Brussels, Archives of the City of Brussels, 2007.
• Luke KUNINGS, Relations between the administration of public security and the Brussels police (1830-1839). Contribution to the history of maintaining order in Brussels, Acts of the conference of archaeological circles of Nivelles, t. III, Nivelles, 1986, p. 43-54.
• We also consulted the press of the time a lot (Observer, The Belgian independent, The monitor, etc.…)

Louis Green

Notice written as part of the Seminar on the History of the Contemporary Period of the Catholic University of Louvain (LHIST2280, teacher Emmanuel Debruyne).