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Frédéric-César de LaHarpe
Born	April 6, 1754 Rolle, Vaud, Switzerland
Died	March 30, 1838 Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
Nationality	Swiss
Occupation(s)	Founder and Director of Helvetic Republic Tutor to Alexander I of Russia
Notable work	Essay on the Constitution of the Vaud

Frédéric-César de LaHarpe, 1754 (Rolle, Vaud, Switzerland)–30 March 1838 (Lausanne, Switzerland) was a Swiss politician, scholar, and legislator best known for his pivotal role in the formation of the Helvetic Republic, and for serving as a member of the Helvetic Directory.

Biography and Political Introduction

LaHarpe was born in 1754 in Rolle, Switzerland in the canton of Vaud, which was a subject land, and thus subject to the governing of the canton of Bern, at the time. LaHarpe studied at the University of Tübingen in 1774, graduating with a doctorate of Laws degree. Leaving Switzerland, LaHarpe travelled to Russia, where he became a tutor for the children of the Russian Emperor Paul I, including the future Alexander I with whom LaHarpe remained in contact well into his reign.

LaHarpe was a republican idealist, seeing the rule of the Bernese administration as oligarchical, and as an infringement on the natural rights of the people of Vaud and the other subject states, such as Fribourg. LaHarpe viewed the rule of the culturally dissimilar Bernese government and aristocracy as uncaring for the popular will, and contrary to the historical sovereignty of Vaud, in the tradition of the Swiss people. Because of this, LaHarpe attempted to achieve a return to the "Old Regime" of the Swiss, and to create a system wherein local governance was centralized in a representative structure, rather than the existing system of subject states within the region; this system he proposed would, he thought, preserve the natural rights and freedom of citizens.

Foundation of the Helvetic Republic

During his time in St. Petersburg, LaHarpe began to plan an uprising of the people of Vaud against the rule of Bern. LaHarpe returned to Switzerland in 1794, in the midst of the French Revolution of 1787-1799, to seek support for his planned uprising; with support gathered, LaHarpe continued to Paris, seeking French support to fight the control of Bern, publishing documents such as the Essay on the Constitution of the Vaud, and even addressing the French Directory in 1797.

LaHarpe's "Essai sur la Constitution du Pays de Vaud"

In the meantime, LaHarpe convinced the people of Vaud to rise against Bern, and they established their own Lemanic Republic. These forces, in combination with French aid sent in 1798, created the impulse for a broader movement throughout Switzerland, and the eventual formation of a centralized republic, called the Helvetic Republic, comprising of cantons Aargau, Basel, Bern, Fribourg, Léman, Lucerne, Oberland, Schaffhausen, Solothurn, and Zürich. The republic was ruled by a central Directory, of which LaHarpe was a member, as well as a Senate and some local governance.

However, this state would not last; the abolishing of the traditional cantons, as well as the overall structure of the Republic was unpopular with many of the Swiss people, and the republic's continued reliance on French troops, who were pillaging local resources, was also wildly unpopular. Invasions by Austrian and Russian troops opposing the spread of the French Revolutionary sentiment lead to further dissatisfaction. More trouble stirred internally with the Republican government, as LaHarpe deposed the leader of the Directory, and the Helvetic Repiblic’s co-founder, Peter Ochs in 1799. Only a year later, LaHarpe was himself deposed by a coup, fleeing Switzerland shortly thereafter.

Post-Republic Career and Legacy

A map of the Helvetic Republic, of which LaHarpe was a founder and leader, specifically in the Canton of Léman.

Following the reversion of the traditional canton system of Switzerland by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1803, LaHarpe continued to support the independence of Vaud, and other subject states in the Swiss confederation, along with his continued communication with Alexander I of Russia regarding the treatment of Switzerland by the Napoleonic government. At the collapse of Napoleon’s regime, LaHarpe encouraged Alexander I along with the other major powers of Europe opposing Napoleon to recognize the independence of Vaud. He further vouched for the independence of the Vaud region by attending the Congress of Vienna. Following the events of the Napoleonic Age, LaHarpe returned to Vaud, and served on its new legislative council until 1828.

LaHarpe died on March 30, 1838 in Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland. Although the Helvetic Republic was itself short-lived, many fragments of the republic live on in modern Swiss society. While the involvement of French troops in the republic, and the internal conflict involved are largely criticized, the structure of the government mirrors fairly closely the current Swiss government; in particular, the Swiss Directory, a committee of a few members, as the head of the government is an idea which was adopted in the Swiss Federal Constitution, and lives on in the current Swiss Federal Council.

Impact on the Revolutionary Period

LaHarpe, in addition to supporting the independence of subject states in Switzerland, also played a large part in shaping the French Revolutionary period. Republican government, having only recently taken root in France, was a very new part of the European political sphere, and the creation of the Helvetic Republic marked a continued spread of republican ideas in practice. While short lived, the work of LaHarpe contrasted the situations in the German states, and of the Austrian Hapsburg regime at the time. While this republic was met with poor response by the Swiss people, the ideas and structure of its government contributed to the shaping of the political conditions and respective governments of the nation-states of the 1800’s, especially Germany and Italy.

Bibliography

• Arnal, Sonia. "Frédéric-César Laharpe «fossoyeur» Puis Sauveur Des Suisses." Allez Savior! 28 (2004): 3-10. Feb. 2004. Web. 25 Nov. 2015. here.
• Zartoryski, Prince Adam. Memoirs of Prince Adam Czartoryski and His Correspondence with Alexander I.: With Documents Relative to the Prince's Negotiations with Pitt, Fox, and Brougham, and an Account of His Conversations with Lord Palmerston and Other English Statesmen in London in 1832. Ed. Adam Gielgud. London: Remington, 1888. Google Books. 20 Aug. 2014. Web. 05 Dec. 2015. here.

• De LaHarpe, Frédéric-César. Essai Sur LaConstitution Du Pays De Vaud. Paris: Batilliot, 1796. Google Books. 19 Apr. 2010. Web. 25 Nov. 2015. here.

• De LaHarpe, Frédéric-César. Biographie De Mr Frédéric César Laharpe, Ci-devant Directeur De La République Helvétique: Suivie D'extraits De Ses Ouvrages Politiques. N.p.: n.p., 1818. Google Books. University of Lausanne, 8 Jan. 2009. Web. 25 Nov. 2015. here .
• Lerner, Marc H. A Laboratory of Liberty: The Transformation of Political Culture in Republican Switzerland. Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2011. Google Books. Web. 08 Dec. 2015. here.