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Émile Justin Louis Combes (; 6 September 183525 May 1921) was a French statesman and freemason who led the
Bloc des gauches The Lefts Bloc (french: Bloc des gauches, ) was a coalition of Republican political forces created during the French Third Republic in 1899 to contest the 1902 legislative elections. It initially supported Emile Combes's cabinet (June 1902-J ...
's cabinet from June 1902 to January 1905.


Career

Émile Combes was born in Roquecourbe, Tarn. He studied for the priesthood, but abandoned the idea before ordination. His anti-clericalism would later lead him into becoming a Freemason. He was also in later life a spiritualist.Bigots united
/ref> He later took a diploma as a doctor of letters (1860). Then he studied medicine, taking his degree in 1867, and setting up in practice at Pons in Charente-Inférieure. In 1881 he presented himself as a political candidate for Saintes, but was defeated. In 1885 he was elected to the senate by the ''départment'' of Charente-Inférieure. He sat in the Democratic left, and was elected vice-president in 1893 and 1894. The reports which he drew up upon educational questions drew attention to him, and on 3 November 1895 he entered the Leon Victor Auguste Bourgeois cabinet as minister of public instruction, resigning with his colleagues on 21 April following.


Prime minister

He actively supported the
Waldeck-Rousseau Pierre Marie René Ernest Waldeck-Rousseau (; 2 December 184610 August 1904) was a French Republican politician who served as the Prime Minister of France. Early life Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau was born in Nantes, Brittany. His father, René Wa ...
ministry, and upon its retirement in 1902 he was himself charged with the formation of a cabinet. In this he took the portfolio of the Interior, and the main energy of the government was devoted to an anti-clerical agenda."Emile Combes who boasted of taking office for the sole purpose of destroying the religious orders. He closed thousands of what were not then called 'faith schools'
Bigots united
in the Guardian, 9 October 2005
The parties of the Left, united upon this question in the ''Bloc republicain'', supported Combes in his application of the law of 1901 on the religious associations, and voted the new bill on the congregations (1904). Under his guidance France took the first definite steps toward the separation of church and state. By 1904, through his efforts, nearly 10,000 religious schools had been closed, and thousands of priests and nuns left France rather than be persecuted. Combes was vigorously opposed by all the conservative parties, who saw the mass closure of church schools as a persecution of religion. Combes led the anti-clerical coalition on the left, facing opposition primarily organized by the pro-Catholic party ''Action libérale populaire'' (ALP). ALP had a stronger popular base, with better financing and a stronger network of newspapers, but had far fewer seats in 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 ...
. Among people who looked with favor on his stubborn enforcement of the law, he was familiarly called ''le petit père''. In October 1904, his Minister of War, General André, was uncovered 'republicanizing' the army. He took the promotion process out of the hands of senior officers and handled it directly as a political matter. He used Freemasons to spy on the religious behavior of all 19,000 officers; they flagged the observant Catholics and André made sure they would not be promoted. Exposed as the ''
Affaire Des Fiches The Affair of the Cards (french: Affaire des Fiches), sometimes called the Affair of the Casseroles,The appellation is certified by Paul Naudon1. In the slang of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, “casserole” meant someone who cooked to ...
'', the scandal undermined support for the Combes government. It also undermined morale in the army, as officers realized that hostile spies examining their private lives were more important to their careers than their own professional accomplishments. Finally the defection of the Radical and Socialist groups induced him to resign on 17 January 1905, although he had not met an adverse vote in the Chamber. His policy was still carried on; and when the law of the separation of church and state was passed, all the leaders of the Radical parties entertained him at a noteworthy banquet in which they openly recognized him as the real originator of the movement.


Later life

The campaign for the separation of church and state was the last big political action in his life. While still possessed of great influence over extreme Radicals, Combes took but little public part in politics after his resignation of the premiership in 1905. He joined the Aristide Briand ministry of October 1915 as one of the five Elder Statesmen, but without portfolio. According to Geoffrey Kurtz, the years of Émile Combes' administration were a period of social reform "without equal" during the era of the Third Republic, which included such reforms as an eight-hour day for miners, a ten-hour day for many workers, the lowering of mandatory military service from 3 to 2 years, the elimination of certain middle-class draft exemptions, and some modest public assistance for the chronically ill, the disabled, and the elderly. In 1903, safety standards were extended to shops and offices. Combes died 25 May 1921 in
Pons, Charente-Maritime Pons () is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department in southwestern France. The city is known for its numerous national historic monuments dating from the 12th century on wards. One of the most well known is the 33 meter high Keep of Pons ...
.


Combes's Ministry, 7 June 190224 January 1905

*Émile Combes – President of the Council and
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 ...
and
Worship Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. It may involve one or more of activities such as veneration, adoration, praise, and praying. For many, worship is not about an emotion, it is more about a recogni ...
* Théophile Delcassé
Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...
*
Louis André Louis André (28 March 1838, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Côte-d'Or – 18 March 1913) was France's Minister of War from 1900 until 1904. Loyal to the secularist Third Republic, he was anti-Catholic, militantly anticlerical, a Freemason and was i ...
Minister of War * Maurice Rouvier
Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...
*
Ernest Vallé Ernest Vallé (19 September 1845 – 24 January 1920) was a French lawyer and politician who was Minister of Justice from 1902 to 1905. Early years (1845–89) Ernest Vallé was born on 19 September 1845 in Avize, Marne. For his secondary educa ...
Minister of Justice * Charles Camille Pelletan – Minister of Marine * Joseph ChaumiéMinister of Public Instruction and
Fine Arts In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwor ...
*
Léon Mougeot Léon Paul Gabriel Mougeot (10 November 1857 – 25 October 1928) was a French politician who was under-secretary of state for Posts and Telegraphs from 1898 to 1902, and Minister of Agriculture from 1902 to 1905. He was responsible for introduci ...
Minister of Agriculture *
Gaston Doumergue Pierre Paul Henri Gaston Doumergue (; 1 August 1863 in Aigues-Vives, Gard18 June 1937 in Aigues-Vives) was a French politician of the Third Republic. He served as President of France from 13 June 1924 to 13 June 1931. Biography Doumergue cam ...
Minister of Colonies * Émile MaruéjoulsMinister of Public Works *
Georges Trouillot Georges Marie Denis Gabriel Trouillot (7 May 1851 – 20 November 1916) was a French Radical politician. He played a central role in developing the law of 1901 that governed associations such as agricultural cooperative. He was Minister of the Co ...
Minister of Commerce, Industry, Posts, and Telegraphs Changes *15 November 1904 –
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- ...
succeeds André as Minister of War


Notes


Further reading

* Akan, Murat. ''The Politics of Secularism: Religion, Diversity, and Institutional Change in France and Turkey'' (2017). * Arnal, Oscar L. "Why the French Christian Democrats Were Condemned." ''Church History'' 49.2 (1980): 188–202
online
* Coffey, Joan L. "Of Catechisms and Sermons: Church-State Relations in France, 1890–1905." ''Church history'' 66.1 (1997): 54–66
online
* McManners, John. ''Church and State in France, 1870–1914'' (Harper & Row, 1972), pp. 125–55. * Mayeur, Jean-Marie Mayeur and Madeleine Rebérioux. ''The Third Republic from its Origins to the Great War, 1871-1914'' (1984), pp. 227–44 * Merle, Gabriel. ''Emile Combes'' (1995), p. 1, 662 p.; standard biography, in French * Partin, Malcolm. ''Waldeck-Rousseau, Combes, and the Church: the Politics of Anticlericalism, 1899–1905'' (1969) * Sabatier, Paul. ''Disestablishment in France'' (1906
online


External links



{{DEFAULTSORT:Combes, Emile 1835 births 1921 deaths Catholicism and Freemasonry French Freemasons French interior ministers French Senators of the Third Republic French spiritualists Government ministers of France Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order People from Tarn (department) Politicians from Occitania (administrative region) Politics of France Prime Ministers of France Radical Party (France) politicians Senators of Charente-Maritime State ministers of France