Everything about Charles De Freycinet totally explained
Charles Louis de Saulces de Freycinet (
November 14,
1828 -
May 14 1923) was a
French statesman and
President of the Council during the
Third Republic, part of the
Opportunist Republicans faction.
Early career
He was born at
Foix (
Ariège) and educated at the
École Polytechnique. He entered the government service as a mining engineer (see
X-Mines). In 1858 he was appointed traffic manager to the
Compagnie de chemins de fer du Midi, a post in which he showed a remarkable talent for organization, and in
1862 returned to the engineering service, attaining in 1886 the rank of inspector-general. He was sent on several special scientific missions, including one to the UK, on which he wrote a notable
Mémoire sur le travail des femmes et des enfants dans les manufactures de l'Angleterre (1867).
On the establishment of the Third Republic in September
1870, he offered his services to
Léon Gambetta, was appointed prefect of the department of Tarn-et-Garonne, and in October became chief of the military cabinet. It was mainly his powers of organization that enabled Gambetta to raise army after army to oppose the invading Germans. He showed himself a strategist of no mean order; but the policy of dictating operations to the generals in the field wasn't attended with happy results. The friction between him and
General d'Aurelle de Paladines resulted in the loss of the advantage temporarily gained at Orleans, and he was responsible for the campaign in the east, which ended in the destruction of
Bourbaki's army.
In Government
In
1871 he published a defence of his administration under the title of
La Guerre en province pendant le siège de Paris. He entered the Senate in
1876 as a follower of Gambetta, and in December 1877 became minister of public works in the
Dufaure cabinet. He carried a great scheme for the gradual acquisition of the railways by the state and the construction of new lines at a cost of three milliards, and for the development of the canal system at a further cost of one milliard. He retained his post in the ministry of
Waddington, whom he succeeded in December 1879 as president of the council and minister for foreign affairs. He passed an amnesty for the communards, but in attempting to steer a middle course on the question of the religious associations, lost Gambetta's support, and resigned in September
1880.
In January
1882 he again became president of the council and minister for foreign affairs. His refusal to join England in the bombardment of
Alexandria was the death-knell of French influence in
Egypt. He attempted to compromise by occupying the
Isthmus of Suez, but the vote of credit was rejected in the Chamber by 417 votes to 75, and the ministry resigned. He returned to office in April 1885 as foreign minister in
Henri Brisson's cabinet, and retained that post when, in January 1886, he succeeded to the premiership.
He came to power with an ambitious programme of internal reform; but apart from settling the question of the exiled pretenders, his successes were chiefly in the sphere of colonial extension. In spite of his unrivalled skill as a parliamentary tactician, he failed to keep his party together, and was defeated on
December 3 1886. In the following year, after two unsuccessful attempts to construct new ministries, he stood for the presidency of the republic; but the radicals, to whom his opportunism was distasteful, turned the scale against him by transferring the votes to
Sadi Carnot.
Minister of War
In April
1888 he became minister of war in
Charles Floquet's cabinet--the first civilian since 1848 to hold that office. His services to France in this capacity were the crowning achievement of his life, and he enjoyed the conspicuous honour of holding his office without a break for five years through as many successive administrations--those of Floquet and
Pierre Tirard, his own fourth ministry (March 1890-February 1892), and the
Loubet and
Ribot ministries. To him were due the introduction of the three-years' service and the establishment of a general staff, a supreme council of war, and the army commands. His premiership was marked by heated debates on the clerical question, and it was a hostile vote on his Bill against the religious associations that caused the fall of his cabinet. He failed to clear himself entirely of complicity in the
Panama scandals, and in January
1893 resigned the ministry of war.
In November 1898 he once more became minister of war in the
Dupuy cabinet, but resigned office on
May 6 1899.
Writings
He published, besides the works already mentioned:
- Traité de mécanique rationnelle (1858)
- De l'analyse infinitésimale (1860, revised ed., 1881)
- Des pentes économiques en chemin de fer (1861)
- Emploi des eaux d'égout en agriculture (1869)
- Principes de l'assainissement des villes (1870)
- Traité d'assainissement industriel (1870)
- Essai sur la philosophie des sciences (1896)
- La Question d'Égypte (1905)
- some remarkable Pensées contributed to the Contemporain under the pseudonym of "Alceste."
In
1882 he was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences, and in
1890 to the
French Academy in succession to
Émile Augier. He died in
1923.
Charles de Freycinet - President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs
Jean Joseph Frédéric Farre - Minister of War
Charles Lepère - Minister of the Interior and Worship
Pierre Magnin - Minister of Finance
Jules Cazot - Minister of Justice
Jean Bernard Jauréguiberry - Minister of Marine and Colonies
Jules Ferry - Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts
Henri Varroy - Minister of Public Works
Adolphe Cochery - Minister of Posts and Telegraphs
Pierre Tirard - Minister of Agriculture and Commerce
Changes
17 May 1880 - Ernest Constans succeeds Lepère as Minister of the Interior and Worship.
Charles de Freycinet - President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs
Jean-Baptiste Billot - Minister of War
René Goblet - Minister of the Interior
Léon Say - Minister of Finance
Gustave Humbert - Minister of Justice and Worship
Jean Bernard Jauréguiberry - Minister of Marine and Colonies
Jules Ferry - Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts
François de Mahy - Minister of Agriculture
Henri Varroy - Minister of Public Works
Adolphe Cochery - Minister of Posts and Telegraphs
Pierre Tirard - Minister of Commerce
Charles de Freycinet - President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs
Georges Boulanger - Minister of War
Ferdinand Sarrien - Minister of the Interior
Sadi Carnot - Minister of Finance
Charles Demôle - Minister of Justice
Théophile Aube - Minister of Marine and Colonies
René Goblet - Minister of Public Instruction, Fine Arts, and Worship
Jules Develle - Minister of Agriculture
Charles Baïhaut - Minister of Public Works
Félix Granet - Minister of Posts and Telegraphs
Édouard Locroy - Minister of Commerce and Industry
Changes
4 November 1886 - Édouard Millaud succeeds Baïhaut as Minister of Public Works
Charles de Freycinet - President of the Council and Minister of War
Alexandre Ribot - Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ernest Constans - Minister of the Interior
Maurice Rouvier - Minister of Finance
Armand Fallières - Minister of Justice and Worship
Jules Roche - Minister of the Colonies and of Commerce and Industry
Édouard Barbey - Minister of Marine
Léon Bourgeois - Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts
Jules Develle - Minister of Agriculture
Yves Guyot - Minister of Public Works
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