Maurice Rouvier (; 17 April 1842 – 7 June 1911) was a French statesman of the "Opportunist" faction, who served as the Prime Minister of France. He is best known for his financial policies and his unpopular policies designed to avoid a rupture with

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

Career

He was born in Aix-en-Provence, and spent his early career in business at

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

. He supported Léon 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" in

. 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 the Jules 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 of

General Boulanger 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 ...

, who began a violent agitation against the government. Then came the scandal of the decorations in which President Grévy'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 of Charles 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 the Freycinet, Loubet and Ribot cabinets of 1890-93. Accusations that he accepted bribes from Cornelius Herz and the baron de Reinach compelled his resignation from the Ribot cabinet during the

Panama scandals Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

in December 1892. He became a successful banker and was known for his thorough familiarity with financial and budgetary issues.

Prime minister

Again, in 1902, he became minister of finance, after nearly ten years in exclusion from office, in the Radical cabinet of Émile 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 late cabinet, pledging the new ministry to a policy of conciliation, to the consideration of old age pensions, an income-tax, 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.The Encyclopædia Britannica: a dictionary of arts, sciences, literature and general information, Volume 31 by Hugh Chisholm

Foreign policy

Public attention, however, was chiefly concentrated on foreign policy. During the Combes ministry Theophile 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 of

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

was handled in Berlin. At a cabinet meeting on 5 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 of 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.

Church and state

In 1905, the government introduced the law on the separation of Church and State, heavily supported by Emile Combes, who had been strictly enforcing the 1901 voluntary 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 the law of the separation of church and state was passed in December, 1905. The disturbances arising in connection with the Separation Law were skillfully handled by Georges Clemenceau to discredit the ministry, which gave place to a cabinet under the direction of Sarrien. He died in Neuilly-sur-Seine.

Rouvier’s First Ministry, 30 May – 12 December 1887

*Maurice Rouvier – President of the Council and Minister of Finance *

Émile Flourens Émile Flourens (27 April 1841, in Paris – 7 January 1920) was a French politician, who was Minister of Foreign Affairs during the Third Republic. He was son of the biologist Jean Pierre Flourens, and the younger brother of Gustave Flouren ...

– Minister of Foreign Affairs *

Théophile Adrien Ferron Theophilus is a male given name with a range of alternative spellings. Its origin is the Greek word Θεόφιλος from θεός (God) and φιλία (love or affection) can be translated as "Love of God" or "Friend of God", i.e., it is a theoph ...

– Minister of War * Armand Fallières – Minister of the Interior *

Charles Mazeau Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

– Minister of Justice *

Édouard Barbey Edouard Barbey (2 September 1831, Béziers Béziers (; oc, Besièrs) is a subprefecture of the Hérault department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Every August Béziers hosts the famous ''Feria de Béziers'', which is centred on ...

– Minister of Marine and Colonies * Eugène Spuller – Minister of Public Instruction, Fine Arts, and Worship *

François Barbé François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters" * Francis II of France, Kin ...

– Minister of Agriculture * Severiano de Heredia – Minister of Public Works *

Lucien Dautresme Lucien Dautresme (21 May 1826 – 18 February 1892) was a French politician of the French Third Republic. He was minister of commerce (9 November 1885 – 6 January 1886) in the government of Henri Brisson and minister of commerce and industry (3 ...

– Minister of Commerce and Industry Changes *30 November 1887 – Armand Fallières succeeds Mazeau as interim Minister of Justice, remaining also Minister of the Interior.

Rouvier's Second Ministry, 24 January 1905 – 13 March 1906

*Maurice Rouvier - President of the Council and Minister of Finance * Théophile Delcassé - Minister of Foreign Affairs *

Maurice Berteaux Henri Maurice Berteaux (3 June 1852 – 21 May 1911) was the Minister of War in France from 14 November 1904 to 12 November 1905, and from 2 March 1911 until his accidental death on 21 May 1911. Biography Berteaux was born at Saint-Maur-des- ...

- Minister of War * Eugène Étienne - Minister of the Interior * Joseph Chaumié - Minister of Justice * Gaston Thomson - Minister of Marine * Jean-Baptiste Bienvenu-Martin - Minister of Public Instruction, Fine Arts, and Worship *

Joseph Ruau Joseph Ruau (5 June 1865 – 29 September 1923) was a French lawyer and radical politician. He was deputy for Haute-Garonne from 1897 to 1914, and was Minister of Agriculture from 24 February 1905 to 2 November 1910. He was known for promoting agr ...

- Minister of Agriculture * Étienne Clémentel - Minister of Colonies *

Armand Gauthier de l'Aude Armand-Elzéar Gauthier de l'Aude (28 September 1850, Fitou – 10 May 1926, Paris) was a French politician. He was also known as Elzéar Gauthier. In 1886, he was elected to the General Council of the Aude, where he represented the canton of Si ...

- Minister of Public Works * Fernand Dubief - Minister of Commerce, Industry, Posts, and Telegraphs Changes *6 June 1905 - Rouvier succeeds Delcassé as Minister of Foreign Affairs. *17 June 1905 -

Pierre Merlou Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

succeeds Rouvier as Minister of Finance. *12 November 1905 - Eugène Étienne succeeds Berteaux as Minister of War. Fernand Dubief succeeds Étienne as Minister of the Interior. Georges Trouillot succeeds Dubief as Minister of Commerce, Industry, Posts, and Telegraphs

Cultural references

* Appears as a minor character in the historical-mystery novel '' Stone's Fall'', by Iain Pears.

References