Bonapartist chief of staff who kept the National Guard from turning out against the coup
Born in Paris in 1804 into a family of Portuguese Jewish origin, he made a large fortune as a stockbroker in Paris. As a National Guard battalion commander devoted to Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, on 13 June 1849 he was charged with wrecking and looting three printing works that produced newspapers hostile to Bonaparte. Later colonel and chief of the general staff of the National Guard, he contributed greatly to the coup of 2 December 1851 by preventing the Guard from taking up arms; family tradition has it that he had the Guard's drums slashed so no alarm could be beaten. He was afterwards made director of the tobacco warehouse of the Chaussée-d'Antin, and died in Paris in 1889.
Activities and affiliations
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1849–1851
France state institutionsChief of the general staff of the National GuardMain
Military command -
Economy, finance and planning
Career Timeline
- 1849National Guard battalion commander; wrecks democratic printing works (13 June)
- 1851Chief of staff of the National Guard; takes part in the December coup