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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: NUM-ORC |
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OLLIVIER, OLIVIER EMILE (1825 ) , French statesman, was born at Marseilles on the 2nd of July 1825. His father, Demosthenes 011ivier (17991884), was a vehement opponent of the July monarchy, and was returned by Marseilles to the Constituent Assembly in 1848. His opposition to Louis Napoleon led to his banishment after the coup d'etat of December 1851, and he only returned to France in 186o. On the establishment
the civil service to take up practice at the bar, where his brilliant abilities assured his success. He re-entered political life in 1857 as deputy for the 3rd circumscription of the Seine. His candidature had been sup-ported by the Siecle, and he joined the constitutional opposition. With Alfred Darimon, Jules Favre, J. L. flexion and Ernest Picard he formed the group known as Les Cinq, which wrung from Napoleon III. some concessions in the direction of constitutional government. The imperial decree of the 24th of November, permitting the insertion of parliamentary reports in the Moniteur, and an address from the Corps Legislatif in reply to the speech from the throne, were welcomed by him as a first instalment of reform. This acquiescence marked a consider-able change of attitude, for only a year previously a violent attack on the imperial government, in the course of a defence of Etienne Vacherot, brought to trial for the publication of La Democratic, had resulted in his suspension from the bar for three months. He gradually separated from his old associates, who grouped themselves around Jules Favre, and during the session of 18661867 011ivier formed a third party, which definitely supported the principle of a Liberal Empire. On the last day of December 1866, Count A. F. J. Walewski, acting in continuance of negotiations already begun by the duc de Morny, offered 011ivier the ministry of education with the function of representing the general policy of the government in the Chamber. The imperial decree of the 19th of January 1867, together with the promise inserted in the Moniteur of a relaxation of the stringency of the press laws and of concessions in respect of the right of public meeting, failed to satisfy 011ivier's demands, and he refused office. On the eve of the general election of 1869 he published a manifesto, Le Ig janvier, in justification
ordinary parliamentary rights, and was followed by the dismissal of Rouher and the formation in the last week of 1869 of a responsible ministry of which M. 011ivier was really premier, although that office was not nominally recognized by the constitution. The new cabinet, known as the ministry of the 2nd of January, had a hard task before it, complicated a week after its formation by the shooting
Victor Noir by Prince Pierre Bonaparte. 011ivier immediately summoned the high court of justice for the judgment of Prince Bonaparte and Prince Joachim Murat. The riots following on the murder were suppressed without bloodshed; circulars were sent round to the prefects forbidding them in future to put pressure on the electors in favour of official candidates; Baron Haussmann was dismissed from the prefecture of the Seine; the violence of the press campaign against the emperor, to whom he had promised a happy old age, was broken by the prosecution of Henri Rochefort; and on the 20th of April a senatus-consulte was issued which accomplished the transformation of the Empire into a constitutional monarchy. Neither concessions nor firmness sufficed to appease the " Irreconcilables " of the opposition, who since the relaxation of the press laws were able to influence the electorate. On the 8th of May, however, the amended constitution was submitted, on Rouher's advice, to a plebiscite, which resulted in a vote of nearly seven to one in favour of the government. The most distinguished members of the Left in his cabinetL. J. Buffet, Napoleon Daru and Talhouet Roy-resigned in April on the question of the plebiscite. 011ivier himself held the ministry of foreign affairs for a few weeks, until Daru was replaced by the duc de Gramont, destined to be 011ivier's evil genius. The other vacancies were filled by J. P. Mege and C. I. Plichon, both of them of Conservative tendencies.The revival of the candidature of Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen for the throne of Spain early in 187o disconcerted 011ivier's plans. The French government, following Gramont's advice, instructed Benedetti to demand from the king of Prussia a formal disavowal of the Hohenzollern candidature. 011ivier allowed himself to be gained by the war party. The story of Benedetti's reception at Ems and of Bismarck's manipulation of the Ems telegram is told elsewhere (see BISMARCK). It is unlikely that 011ivier could have prevented the eventual outbreak of war, but he might perhaps have postponed it at that time, if he had taken time to hear Benedetti's account of the incident. He was outmanoeuvred by Bismarck, and on the 15th of July he made a hasty declaration in the Chamber that the Prussian government had issued to the powers a note announcing the rebuff received by Benedetti. He obtained a war vote of 500,000,000 francs, and used the fatal words that he accepted the responsibility of the war " with a light heart," saying that the war had been forced on France. On the gth of August, with the news of the first disaster, the 011ivier cabinet was driven from office, and its chief
refuge
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