Jean Antoine Ernest Constans (3 May 1833 – 7 April 1913) was a French politician and

colonial administrator Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...

Biography

Born in

Béziers Béziers (; oc, Besièrs) is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Every August Béziers hos ...

Hérault Hérault (; oc, Erau, ) is a department of the region of Occitania, Southern France. Named after the Hérault River, its prefecture is Montpellier. It had a population of 1,175,623 in 2019.law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

. In 1876 he was elected deputy for

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

to the

French Third Republic The French Third Republic (french: Troisième République, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940 ...

's Chamber, and sat in the

Left Centre The Left Centre ( hu, Balközép) was a political party in Hungary in the 1860s and 1870s led by Kálmán Tisza and Kálmán Ghyczy.Vincent E McHale (1983) ''Political parties of Europe'', Greenwood Press, p505 History The Left Centre finished se ...

as one of the 363 of 16 May 1877. Re-elected in October 1877, he joined

Louis de Freycinet Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet (7 August 1779 – 18 August 1841) was a French Navy officer. He circumnavigated the earth, and in 1811 published the first map to show a full outline of the coastline of Australia. Biography He was born at ...

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

in May 1880, holding this portfolio until 14 November 1881. In 1887–1888, he was the first

Governor-General of French Indochina European (as well as Japanese and Chinese) colonial administrators had historically been responsible for the territory of French Indochina, an area equivalent to modern-day Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and the Chinese city of Zhanjiang. List o ...

. On 22 February 1889 he assumed the same office in

Pierre Tirard Pierre Emmanuel Tirard (; 27 September 1827 – 4 November 1893) was a French politician. Biography He was born to French parents in Geneva, Switzerland. After studying in his native town, Tirard became a civil engineer. After five years of go ...

's cabinet. He became prominent as a stalwart opponent of the

Boulangist Georges Ernest Jean-Marie Boulanger (29 April 1837 – 30 September 1891), nicknamed Général Revanche ("General Revenge"), was a French general and politician. An enormously popular public figure during the second decade of the Third Repub ...

party, constituting the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

as a high court of justice, and taking police measures against the ''

Ligue des patriotes The League of Patriots (french: Ligue des Patriotes) was a French far-right league, founded in 1882 by the nationalist poet Paul Déroulède, historian Henri Martin and politician Félix Faure. The Ligue began as a non-partisan nationalist league ...

''. He resigned on 1 March 1890 but his resignation involved the fall of the cabinet, and he resumed his portfolio in the Freycinet cabinet on 11 March. On 29 December 1889 he was elected senator by the '' départment'' of the

Haute-Garonne Haute-Garonne (; oc, Nauta Garona, ; en, Upper Garonne) is a department in the Occitanie region of Southwestern France. Named after the river Garonne, which flows through the department. Its prefecture and main city is Toulouse, the country's ...

. He was violently attacked by the press and the Boulangist deputies but did not resign until the whole cabinet withdrew, on 26 February 1892. In December 1898 he was appointed

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

to the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

and remained in office until 1909.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Constans, Jean Antoine Ernest 1833 births 1913 deaths People from Béziers Politicians from Occitania (administrative region) French republicans French interior ministers Members of the 1st Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 2nd Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 3rd Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 4th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 5th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic French Senators of the Third Republic Senators of Haute-Garonne Governors-General of French Indochina Ambassadors of France to the Ottoman Empire 19th-century French diplomats 20th-century French diplomats Governors of Cochinchina