Four Sergeants of La Rochelle

Sergeants Bories, Pommier, Gobin and Raoulx were associates of the revolutionary Charbonnerie, a French secret society modelled after the Italian Carbonari.

[1][2] After the 45th line regiment was formed in Chartres in 1816, Colonel Toustain replaced senior captains of the Empire with royalists.

[3] In 1821 under the Restoration, the 45th infantry regiment stationed in Paris worried the military and civil authorities because of its poor spirit.

Like many soldiers hostile to the Restoration, four young sergeants named Jean-François Bories, Jean-Joseph Pomier, Marius-Claude Raoulx and Charles Goubin, aged 26, 25, 24 and 20 respectively,[4] founded a secret society within their unit.

The trial opening was set on 21 August 1820, and was followed closely by the public as the liberal press [8] launched a large media campaign following the case.

[1] The Advocate General, Louis Antoine François de Marchangy, demanded their execution, starting with Bories, whom he considered to be the leader of the conspiracy.

It passed through the hands of Lieutenant-Colonel Caron, then to M. Dubourjal, then to Marquis d'Audan who finally offered it to Prince Napoleon in 1888.