François-Régis de La Bourdonnaye, Comte de La Bretèche, (19 March 1767 – 28 July 1839) was a French national deputy from 1815 to 1830. He sat on the extreme right, and was known for his violent attacks on the governments of the Bourbon Restoration. In 1829 he was briefly Minister of the Interior. In 1830 he was made a peer of France a few months before the July Revolution ended his political career.
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Early years
François-Régis de La Bourdonnaye was born in La Varenne, Maine-et-Loire, on 19 March 1767.
He was from a noble Breton family which participated in the crusades, and of which a branch had settled in Anjou a century before.
In 1786 he joined the Austrasia infantry regiment as an officer.
In the early days of the French Revolution 1789–1799 he was a member of the pro-monarchy Chevaliers du poignard (Knights of the dagger) who placed themselves at the service of King Louis XVI. He was arrested at the Tuileries on 28 February 1791 by the National Guard, and after a few days of detention was sent back to his regiment at Briançon.
La Bourdonnaye left France to join the army of Condé in October 1791, and spent several months in Switzerland after it was dissolved.
He returned to France under the Directory and stayed for a short period in Orléans under the name of Guibert.
On 23 Fructidor V he married Mlle Volaige de Vaugirauld at Angers.
He was forced to temporarily leave France again, and returned to Switzerland in Vendémiaire VI. He remained there until October 1802, when he returned to live at the Château de Mésangeau in the Drain commune of the Maine-et-Loire department.
First Empire
In 1802 La Bourdonnaye was called to the electoral college of the Maine-et-Loire department to represent the canton of Champtoceaux.
On 6 Fructidor XI he was appointed to the General Council of Maine-et-Loire by decree.
In the year XII he also became a member of the Angers Municipal Council, holding office until 1815. He proposed to the General Council in 1806 to make Napoleon the hereditary ruler, and was twice commissioned by the Municipal Council and General Council to carry to the foot of the throne the "tribute of gratitude and admiration of the department". In 1807 he ran as a candidate to the legislative body, but was not elected. He was Secretary of the General Council in 1807. He chaired the General Council in 1813 and 1814, and in this role in 1814 requested and received from his colleagues the oath of allegiance to the king.
Bourbon Restoration
On 22 August 1815 La Bourdonnaye was elected deputy of Maine-et-Loire in the National Assembly.
He soon took a position in the extreme right of the royalist party, and became seen as the leader of this group.
On 11 November 1815 he presented a proposal to extend the lists of proscribed people to include three categories.
The first was those who held important military or civil positions during the Hundred Days in 1815 when Napoleon regained power.
The second included generals, corps commanders, garrison commanders and prefects who went over to the usurper, flew his flag or obeyed his orders.
The third category included regicides who accepted positions from the usurper, sat in the Chambers or signed the Charter of 1815.
The first and second categories should be tried and sentenced to death, while the third should be condemned to civil death. The revenues of all three should be sequestered.
The Amnesty Bill tabled by the Duke of Richelieu on 8 December 1815 drew on La Bourdonnaye's proposal but was more lenient, and was accepted.
Now known as the "category man", La Bourdonnaye was reelected on 4 October 1816 despite opposition from the Decazes ministry.
He took the opportunity of the debate over the electoral laws to oppose the government. He first challenged the idea that 100,000 voters could represent the whole nation, but rather than propose enfranchising more voters, he proposed less, conjuring a picture of ambitious men using the mob to gain power. He also fought against laws on personal freedom, the press, recruitment and promotion by seniority. He gained the new nickname of the "Ajax of the Right".