Paul Devaux (10 April 1801, in

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the country by population. The area of the whole city a ...

– 30 January 1880, in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

) was a liberal Belgian politician, deeply involved in the unionist movement.

Life

He began life as a lawyer in Liège, where he met

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and

Charles Rogier Charles Latour Rogier (; 17 August 1800 – 27 May 1885) was a Belgian liberal statesman and a leader in the Belgian Revolution of 1830. He served as the prime minister of Belgium on two occasions: from 1847 to 1852, and again from 1857 to ...

, with whom he refounded the '' Matthieu Lansbergh'' (later renamed ''le Politique'') as a pro-unionist publication. Elected to the

National Congress of Belgium The National Congress (french: Congrès national, nl, Nationaal Congres) was a temporary legislative assembly in Belgium, convened in 1830 in the aftermath of the Belgian Revolution. Its purpose was to devise a national constitution for the ...

, he and Lebeau defended the candidature of Auguste de Beauharnais, 2nd Duke of Leuchtenberg against that of

Prince Louis, Duke of Nemours Prince Louis of Orléans, Duke of Nemours (Louis Charles Philippe Raphaël d'Orléans; 25 October 1814 – 26 June 1896) was the second son of King Louis-Philippe I of France, and his wife Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily. Life Childhoo ...

. In 1831 he took part in Lebeau's cabinet as minister without portfolio – it was Devaux who suggested Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha as a candidate for the throne of Belgium. {{DEFAULTSORT:Devaux, Paul 1801 births 1880 deaths Politicians from Bruges Members of the National Congress of Belgium