Maurice Rouvier | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Prime Minister of France | |
| In office 24 January 1905 – 12 March 1906 | |
| President | Émile Loubet Armand Fallières |
| Preceded by | Émile Combes |
| Succeeded by | Ferdinand Sarrien |
| In office 30 May 1887 – 12 December 1887 | |
| President | Jules Grévy Sadi Carnot |
| Preceded by | René Goblet |
| Succeeded by | Pierre Tirard |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 17 April 1842 |
| Died | 7 June 1911 (aged 69)[1] |
| Spouse | Marie-Noémi Cadiot |
Maurice Rouvier (French:[mɔʁisʁuvje,moʁ-]; 17 April 1842 – 7 June 1911) was a French statesman of the "Opportunist" faction, who twice served as thePrime Minister of France. He is best known for his financial policies and his unpopular policies designed to avoid a rupture withGermany.
He was born inAix-en-Provence, and spent his early career in business atMarseille. He supportedLéon Gambetta's candidature there in 1867, and in 1870 he founded an anti-imperial journal,L'Egalité. He also belonged to the same masonic lodge as Gambetta, "La Réforme" inMarseille.[2][3] Becoming secretary general of the prefecture of Bouches-du-Rhône in 1870–71, he refused the office of prefect. In July 1871 he was returned to the National Assembly for Marseille at a by-election, and voted steadily with the Republican party. He became a recognized authority on finance, and repeatedly served on the Budget Commission as reporter or president.
At the general elections of 1881, after the fall of theJules Ferry cabinet he was returned to the chamber on a programme which included the separation of Church and State, a policy of decentralization, and the imposition of an income tax. He then joined Gambetta's cabinet as minister of commerce and the colonies, and in the 1883-85 cabinet of Jules Ferry he held the same office. He became premier and minister of finance on 31 May 1887, with the support of the moderate republican groups, the Radicals holding aloof in support ofGeneral Boulanger, who began a violent agitation against the government.
Then came the scandal of the decorations in which PresidentGrévy's son-in-law Daniel Wilson figured, and the Rouvier cabinet fell in its attempt to screen the president. Rouvier's opposition in his capacity of president of the Budget Commission was one of the causes of the defeat ofCharles Floquet's cabinet in February 1889. In the new Tirard ministry formed to combat the Boulangist agitation, he was minister of finance. He kept the same post in theFreycinet,Loubet andRibot cabinets of 1890–93. Accusations that he accepted bribes fromCornelius Herz and the baron de Reinach compelled his resignation from the Ribot cabinet during thePanama scandals in December 1892. He became a successful banker and was known for his thorough familiarity with financial and budgetary issues.
In 1902, he once again became minister of finance, after nearly ten years of exclusion from office, in the Radical cabinet ofÉmile Combes; and on the fall of the Combes ministry in January 1905 he was invited by the president to form a new ministry. In this cabinet he at first held the ministry of finance. In his initial declaration to the chamber the new premier had declared his intention of continuing the policy of the previous cabinet, pledging the new ministry to a policy of conciliation, to the consideration of old age pensions, an income-tax, and separation of Church and State. Under a law passed in April 1905, for instance, a certain credit was earmarked in the French budget for the purpose of public subsidies for unemployment benefit funds.[4]
Public attention, however, was chiefly concentrated on foreign policy. During the Combes ministryTheophile Delcassé had come to a secret understanding with Spain on the Moroccan question, and had established an understanding with Britain. His policy had aroused German jealousy, which became evident in the asperity with which the question ofMorocco was handled in Berlin.
At a cabinet meeting on 6 June Rouvier reproached the Foreign Minister with imprudence over Morocco, and after a heated discussion, Delcassé resigned. Rouvier himself took the portfolio of foreign affairs at this crucial point. After critical negotiations, he secured on 8 July an agreement with Germany accepting the international conference proposed by the sultan of Morocco on the assurance that Germany would recognize the special nature of the interest of France in maintaining order on the frontier of her Algerian empire. Lengthy discussions resulted in a new convention in September, which contained the programme of the proposed conference, and in December Rouvier was able to make a statement about the whole proceedings in the chamber, which received the assent of all parties. Rouvier's government did not long survive the presidential election of 1906.
In 1905, the government introduced thelaw on the separation of Church and State, heavily supported byEmile Combes, who had been strictly enforcing the 1901voluntary association law and the 1904 law on religious congregations' freedom of teaching (more than 2,500 private teaching establishments were by then closed by the State, causing bitter opposition from the Catholic and conservative population). On 10 February 1905, the Chamber declared that "the attitude of the Vatican" had rendered the separation of Church and State inevitable and thelaw of the separation of church and state was passed in December, 1905. Thedisturbances arising in connection with the Separation Law were skillfully handled byGeorges Clemenceau to discredit the ministry, which gave place to a cabinet under the direction of Sarrien.[citation needed]He died inNeuilly-sur-Seine.[citation needed]
Changes
Changes
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of Colonies 1881–1882 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Commerce 1881–1882 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Commerce 1884–1885 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of France 1887 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Finance 1887 | |
| Preceded by | Minister of Finance 1889–1892 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Finance 1902–1905 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of France 1905–1906 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Foreign Affairs 1905–1906 | Succeeded by |
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Rouvier, Maurice".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 781.
