Baron René Charles Reille-Soult-Dalmatie (4 February 1835 – 21 November 1898) was a French soldier, industrialist and politician.
He came from a wealthy military family with mining interests in the south of France.
He served in the army until 1869, then went into national politics.
He aligned with the right wing Bonapartist group during the French Second Republic.
Early years
René Charles Reille-Soult-Dalmatie was born on 4 February 1835 in Paris, the third son of Marshal
Honoré Charles Reille.
His mother was Victoire Masséna, daughter of Marshal
André Masséna
André Masséna, Prince of Essling, Duke of Rivoli (born Andrea Massena; 6 May 1758 – 4 April 1817) was a French military commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.Donald D. Horward, ed., trans, annotated, The Fre ...
.
He enrolled in the
École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr and became a second lieutenant at the Staff College on 1 January 1856.
He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1856 and captain in 1858.
Reille served as a captain in the
Second Italian War of Independence
The Second Italian War of Independence, also called the Franco-Austrian War, the Austro-Sardinian War or Italian War of 1859 ( it, Seconda guerra d'indipendenza italiana; french: Campagne d'Italie), was fought by the Second French Empire and t ...
in 1859, and was aide-de-camp to Marshal
Jacques Louis Randon
Jacques Louis César Alexandre Randon, 1st Count Randon (25 March 1795 – 16 January 1871) was a French military and political leader, also Marshal of France and governor of Algeria.
Early life
He was born at Grenoble in Dauphiné, of a Protesta ...
and then to Marshal
Adolphe Niel
Adolphe Niel (4 October 180213 August 1869) was a French Army general and statesman.
He was born at Muret, Haute-Garonne and entered the École Polytechnique in 1821. Niel entered the engineer school at Metz, became lieutenant in the Engineer ...
, whom he followed to the Ministry of War.
Count Reille married Geneviève Soult in December 1860.
She was daughter of the last Duke of Dalmatia, Napoléon Hector Soult, who died on 31 December 1857.
Her grandfather was Marshal
Jean-de-Dieu Soult
Marshal General Jean-de-Dieu Soult, 1st Duke of Dalmatia, (; 29 March 1769 – 26 November 1851) was a French general and statesman, named Marshal of the Empire in 1804 and often called Marshal Soult. Soult was one of only six officers in Frenc ...
.
Reille was the direct heir of a family that had profited from political connections since the
First French Empire
The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental E ...
, and was one of the leading capitalists of the
Midi
MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and ...
.
He was one of the founders of the
Comité des forges, the French iron masters' association.
He was a member of the Comité des houillères, the coal mine owners' association, and president of the board of directors of the
Carmaux mining company
Carmaux (; oc, Carmauç) is a commune in the Tarn department in southern France.
Industries
The Compagnie minière de Carmaux has its origins in a coal mining concession granted in 1852 to Gabriel de Solages, which became the Compagnie miniè ...
.
His opponents called him the "King of the Black Mountain."
Marshal Niel died on 13 August 1869, and Reille resigned from the army on 3 December 1869.
During the
Franco-Prussian War of 1870 he commanded the mobile forces of Tarn-et-Garonne.
Political career
While still in the army and aide to Niel, Reille became a member of the General Council of Tarn for the canton of
Saint-Amans-Soult in 1867, and was elected deputy for the second district of Tarn as the government's candidate on 24 May 1869.
During the
Second French Empire
The Second French Empire (; officially the French Empire, ), was the 18-year Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the Second and the Third Republic of France.
Historians in the 1930 ...
Reille was deputy for
Tarn until 4 September 1870, sitting on the center right.
Under 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 19 ...
Reille was made a Commander of the
Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
on 7 February 1871, and was reelected to the Tarn General Council, where he was vice-president.
Reille was elected deputy for Tarn on 20 February 1876 on the
Appel au peuple platform and reelected on the same platform on 14 October 1877.
His election on 14 October 1877 was subject to the thorough and lengthy investigation due to the fact the Reille had been an assistant of
Oscar Bardi de Fourtou.
Although cleared by the official inquiry, his election was invalidated due to official pressure on 1 December 1878.
Reille was reelected on 2 February 1879 and resumed his place with the imperialist majority.
After being reelected on 21 August 1881 he continued to vote with the conservative minority, and participated in debates on military subjects.
In April 1884 he was rapporteur of the colonial army project.
In June 1885 he submitted a counter-proposal to the military law to return to a mixed system of a permanent army with a mobile lagar.
He was reelected for Tarn on the Union des Droites platform on 4 October 1885.
He voted against the
Lisbonne law defining freedom of the press, and against the prosecution of General
Georges Ernest 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 ...
.
In the election of 22 September 1889 Reille was elected for the 2nd district of Castres, presenting himself as a "resolute conservative and a sincere Catholic."
During this legislative session a prolonged strike broke out at the Carmaux mines, of which he chaired the board of directors.
The anarchists made an attempt on his life on the avenue de l'Opéra, from which he escaped although there were other victims.
He was reelected on 18 March 1894 and 8 May 1898, holding office until his death on 21 November 1898.
Reille was President of the Comité des forges from 1890 until his death.
René Reille died in Paris on 21 November 1898.
He was survived by three sons, André, Xavier et Amédée, to represent the department of Tarn after him.
His widow, the baronne Reille, became the second president of the ''Ligue patriotique des Françaises'' (League of Patriotic French Women).
Notes
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Reille-Soult-Dalmatie, Rene Charles
1835 births
1898 deaths
Politicians from Paris
French Roman Catholics
Appel au peuple
Members of the 4th Corps législatif of the Second French Empire
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
Members of the 6th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic
Members of the 7th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic
French military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War