Pierre Charles Chesnelong (24 April 1820 – 22 July 1899) was a French politician, born at Orthez in the '' département'' of the Basses-Pyrénées.

In the Second Empire

In 1848, during the French uprising, he proclaimed himself a Republican; but, after the establishment of the Second Empire, he changed his views, and in 1865 was returned to the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

as the official candidate for his native place. He at once became conspicuous, both for his eloquence and for his uncompromising clericalism, especially in urging the necessity for maintaining the

temporal power Temporal power is a term of art in medieval and early modern political philosophy to refer to worldly power, as contrasted with spiritual power. * The temporal power (simply), the state (polity) or secular authority, in contrast to the Church or sp ...

of the

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. In 1869 he was again returned, and, devoting himself to financial questions, was in 1870 appointed to report the

budget A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environmenta ...

. During and after the Franco-Prussian War, for which he voted, he retired for a while into private life; but in 1872 he was again elected deputy, this time as a Legitimist, and took his seat among the conservative Right of the French Third Republic.

In the Republic

He was the soul of the

reactionary In political science, a reactionary or a reactionist is a person who holds political views that favor a return to the ''status quo ante'', the previous political state of society, which that person believes possessed positive characteristics abse ...

opposition that led to the fall of

Adolphe Thiers Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers ( , ; 15 April 17973 September 1877) was a French statesman and historian. He was the second elected President of France and first President of the French Third Republic. Thiers was a key figure in the July Rev ...

; in 1873, it was he who, with

Lucien Brun Lucien Henri Louis Brun (2 June 1822 – 28 November 1898) was a French politician. Brun was born in Gex, Ain, on 2 June 1822. After graduating from the Faculty of Law of Paris, Brun practiced law in Lyon until his 1871 election to the National Ass ...

, carried the proposals of the Chambers to the

Bourbon Bourbon may refer to: Food and drink * Bourbon whiskey, an American whiskey made using a corn-based mash * Bourbon barrel aged beer, a type of beer aged in bourbon barrels * Bourbon biscuit, a chocolate sandwich biscuit * A beer produced by ...

claimant Comte de Chambord. Through some misunderstanding, he reported on his return that the count had accepted all the terms offered, including the retention of the '' drapeau tricolore'' - the Count published a formal denial, which brought about his own downfall. Chesnelong now devoted himself to the establishment of Roman Catholic universities and to the formation of Roman Catholic working-men's clubs (to combat the trade unionism of various socialists). In 1876 he was again returned for Orthez, but was unseated, and then beaten by the Republican candidate. On November 24, however, he was elected to a seat in the French Senate, where he continued his vigorous polemic against the progressive attempts of the republican government to secularize the educational system of France until his death in 1894.

References

;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chesnelong, Pierre Charles 1820 births 1894 deaths People from Orthez Politicians from Nouvelle-Aquitaine Legitimists Members of the 3rd Corps législatif of the Second French Empire Members of the 4th Corps législatif of the Second French Empire Members of the National Assembly (1871) Members of the 1st Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic French life senators Officers of the Legion of Honour