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Émile Combes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Prime Minister of France | |
| In office 7 June 1902 – 24 January 1905 | |
| President | Émile Loubet |
| Preceded by | Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau |
| Succeeded by | Maurice Rouvier |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 6 September 1835 |
| Died | 25 May 1921(1921-05-25) (aged 85) |
| Party | Radical Party |
| Spouse | Angèle-Maria Dussaud |
Émile Justin Louis Combes (French:[emilkɔ̃b]; 6 September 1835 – 25 May 1921) was a French politician andfreemason[1][2][3] who led theLefts Bloc (French:Bloc des gauches) cabinet from June 1902 to January 1905.
Émile Combes was born on 6 September 1835, inRoquecourbe, Tarn, the sixth child of Jean Combes, a dressmaker, and Marie-Rose Bannesborn.
He first learned Latin from his public schoolteacher and then from his godfather and cousin, apriest named Jean Gaubert. Gabriel Merle, biographer of Émile Combes, describes Jean Gaubert: "He has the prestige and authority of the priesthood and education. He is obeyed. And if he demands sacrifices, he also imposes them on himself. His insistence that one of his younger cousins should become a priest is astonishing. Having failed with Philippe around 1840 and Émile in 1847, he missed his last attempt with Henri around 1860."[4]
Thanks to his knowledge ofLatin, twelve-year-old Émile Combes entered the fourth year of the minor seminary inCastres. His godfather supported him financially through his studies, first at the seminary; then at theÉcole des Carmes, an ecclesiastical school where future priests wishing to study at theSorbonne were trained; and finally at theGrand Séminaire d'Albi, where Émile Combes wore thecassock and wastonsured. Here, his vocation to the priesthood was seen as unserious, and despite initial efforts to persist, he would abandon the idea before ordination.
Hisanti-clericalism would later lead him into becoming a Freemason.[5][6] He was also in later life aspiritualist.[7] He later took a diploma as a doctor of letters (1860). He then studied medicine and graduated in 1867, and setting up in practice at Pons inCharente-Inférieure. In 1881, he presented himself as a political candidate forSaintes, but was defeated. In 1885, he was elected to the senate by thedépartement of Charente-Inférieure. He sat in the Democraticleft, and was elected vice-president in 1893 and 1894. The reports which he drew up upon educational questions drew attention to him, and on 3 November 1895, he entered theLeon Victor Auguste Bourgeois cabinet as minister of public instruction, resigning with his colleagues on 21 April following.[8]
He actively supported theWaldeck-Rousseau ministry, and upon its retirement in 1902, he was himself charged with the formation of a cabinet. In this, he took the portfolio of the Interior, and the main energy of the government was devoted to an anti-clerical agenda.[9] The parties of the Left united upon this question in theBloc republicain, supported Combes in his application of the law of 1901 on the religious associations, and voted the new bill on the congregations (1904). Under his guidance, Francetook the first definite steps toward the separation of church and state.[8] By 1904, through his efforts, nearly 10,000 religious schools had been closed, and thousands of priests and nuns left France rather than be persecuted.[10]
Combes was vigorously opposed by all the conservative parties, who saw the mass closure of church schools as a persecution of religion. Combes led the anti-clerical coalition on the left, facing opposition primarily organized by the pro-Catholic partyAction libérale populaire (ALP). ALP had a stronger popular base, with better financing and a stronger network of newspapers, but had far fewer seats in theChamber of Deputies.[11]
Among people who looked with favor on his stubborn enforcement of the law, he was familiarly calledle petit père.[8] In October 1904, his Minister of War, General André, was uncovered 'republicanizing' the army. He took the promotion process out of the hands of senior officers and handled it directly as a political matter. He used Freemasons to spy on the religious behavior of all 19,000 officers; they flagged the observant Catholics and André made sure they would not be promoted. Exposed as theAffaire Des Fiches, the scandal undermined support for the Combes government. It also undermined morale in the army, as officers realized that hostile spies examining their private lives were more important to their careers than their own professional accomplishments.[12]
Finally, the defection of the Radical and Socialist groups induced him to resign on 17 January 1905, although he had not met an adverse vote in the Chamber. His policy was still carried on; and when thelaw of the separation of church and state was passed, all the leaders of the Radical parties entertained him at a noteworthy banquet in which they openly recognized him as the real originator of the movement.
The campaign for the separation of church and state was the last big political action in his life. While still possessed of great influence over extreme Radicals, Combes took but little public part in politics after his resignation from the premiership in 1905. He joined theAristide Briand ministry in October 1915 as one of the five Elder Statesmen, but without portfolio.[13]
According to Geoffrey Kurtz, the years of Émile Combes' administration were a period of social reform "without equal" during the era of the Third Republic, which included such reforms as an eight-hour day for miners, a ten-hour day for many workers, the lowering of mandatory military service from 3 to 2 years, the elimination of certain middle-class draft exemptions, and some modest public assistance for the chronically ill, the disabled, and the elderly.[14] In 1903, safety standards were extended to shops and offices.[15] In addition, a 1904 law "pioneered assistance to the children of single mothers, ignoring invidious distinctions between married and single mothers, in order to prevent abandonment."[16]
Combes died on 25 May 1921 inPons, Charente-Maritime.
Changes
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Combes, Émile".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 751–752.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922). "Combes, Justin Louis Émile".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 30 (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company. p. 729.| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Prime Minister of France 1902–1905 | Succeeded by |
