ROUHER, EUGENE (1814-1884)

This article appears in Volume V23, Page 771 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: RON-SAC

ROUHER, EUGENE (1814-1884) , French statesman, was born at Riom (Puy de

Dome

DOME (Lat domus,
house
- HOUSE
- HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in Gothic it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)
; Ital. duomo, cathedral)

) on the 3oth of November 1814. He practised law in his native place after taking his degree in Paris in 1835, and in 1846 sought election by his fellow-citizens to the Chamber of Deputies as an official candidate of the Guizot ministry. It was only after the revolution of 1848, however, that he became deputy for the department of Puy de

Dome

DOME (Lat domus,
house
- HOUSE
- HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in Gothic it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)
; Ital. duomo, cathedral)

. Re-elected to the Legislative Chamber in 1849 he succeeded Odilon Barrot as minister of justice, with the additional office of keeper of the seals, which he retained with short intervals until January 1852. From the tribune of the Chamber he described. the revolution of February as a " catastrophe," and he supported reactionary legislation, notably the bill (May 31, 18.50) for the limitation of the suffrage. After the-coup d'etat of December 2, 1851, he was entrusted with the redaction of the new constitution, and on his resignation of office in January became vice-president of the Council of State. After the formal

establishment

ESTABLISHMENT (0. Fr. establissement, Fr. etablissement,
late
- LATE
Norm. Fr. establishement, from O. Fr. establir, Fr. etablir, Lat. stabilire, to make stable)

of the Empire, Napoleon III. rewarded him by a grant of 40,000 and the estate of Cirey. In 1855 he became minister of agriculture, commerce and public works, and in 1856 senator. He secured for France an excellent system of railways without making them a state monopoly, and he conducted the complicated negotiations for the treaty of commerce with England which was concluded in January 186o, and subsequently arranged similar treaties with Belgium and Italy. In 1863 he became minister president of the Council of State, and on the death of A. A. M. Billault minister of state and

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

spokesman of the emperor. before the Corps Legislatif. Although the government had a great majority in the Chamber, the opposition counted the redoubtable names of

Thiers

THIERS

Berryer

BERRYER, ANTOINE PIERRE (179o-1868)

and Jules Favre, and government measures were only passed by frequent resort to the closure. Rouher had to defend Napoleon's foreign adventures as well as the free-trade treaties and the extravagances of Baron Haussmann for which.he was directly responsible. After an attempted defence of the foreign policy which had aided the aggrandizement of Prussia at the expense of Austria,

Thiers

THIERS

told him in the Chamber that there were " no more blunders left for him to make." He opposed the abortive Liberal concessions of January 1867, announced in a personal

letter

LETTER (through Fr. lettre from Lat. littera or litera, letter of the alphabet; the origin of the Latin word is obscure; it has probably no connexion with the root of linere, to smear, i.e. with wax, for an inscription with a stilus)

from Napoleon III. to himself, and resigned with the rest of the cabinet, only to resume office after a short interval as minister of finance. When concessions became inevitable Rouher, the " vice-empereur," resigned
to make way after six months' interval for Emile 011ivier. He still fought for reaction in his new office of president of the Senate. After the fall of the Empire he fled to England, but returned to France a year later to work for the fortunes of the prince imperial. After serious disturbances he was elected member for Ajaccio on the 11th of February 1872, his election being characterized by the prefect of Corsica as a regular conspiracy in favour of the Empire. In the Chamber, where he subsequently represented Riom, he formed the group of the Appel au Peuple. His first speech in the House was the occasion (May 21, 1872) of violent attacks by Audiffret-Pasquier and

Gambetta

GAMBETTA, LEON (1838-1882)

. The death of the prince imperial in 1879 put an end to the serious chances of the Bonapartists, although Rouher sought to secure the recognition of Prince Napoleon, son of the ex-king Jerome, as

heir

HEIR (Lat. heres, from a root meaning to grasp, seen in heres or erus, master of a house, Gr. xeip, hand, Sans. hat ana, hand)

to the imperial honours. Rouher lost his reason after a stroke of paralysis in 1883, and died on the 3rd of February 1884.
For an estimate of Rouher, see marquis de Castellane, LesHommes d'etat franfais du xix'. siecle (1888), and generally the literature dealing with the Second Empire.

End of Article: ROUHER, EUGENE (1814-1884)

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/RON_SAC/ROUHER_EUGENE_1814_1884_.html">
ROUHER, EUGENE (1814-1884)
</a>

(Previous)
ROUGH CAST (the French equivalent is crepis)

(Next)
ROULERS (Flemish Roeselaere)

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email