Eugène Rouher was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 statesman

Statesman

A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...

 of the Second Empire

Second French Empire

The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...

.

He was born at Riom

Riom

Riom is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-History:Until the French Revolution, Riom was the capital of the province of Auvergne, and the seat of the dukes of Auvergne. The city was of Gaulish origin, the Roman Ricomagus...

 (Puy-de-Dôme

Puy-de-Dôme

Puy-de-Dôme is a department in the centre of France named after the famous dormant volcano, the Puy-de-Dôme.Inhabitants were called Puydedomois until December 2005...

), where he practised law

Law

Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

 after taking his degree in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 in 1835. In 1846 he sought election to the Chamber of Deputies as an official candidate of the Guizot

François Guizot

François Pierre Guillaume Guizot was a French historian, orator, and statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics prior to the Revolution of 1848, a conservative liberal who opposed the attempt by King Charles X to usurp legislative power, and worked to sustain a constitutional...

 ministry. It was only after the Revolution of 1848, however, that he became deputy for the department of Puy-de-Dôme. Re-elected to the Legislative Chamber in 1849 he succeeded Odilon Barrot

Odilon Barrot

Camille Hyacinthe Odilon Barrot was a French politician.-Early life:Barrot was born at Villefort Lozère. He belonged to a legal family, his father, an advocate of Toulouse, having been a member of the Convention who had voted against the death of Louis XVI. Odilon Barrot's earliest recollections...

 as minister of justice

Minister of Justice (France)

The Ministry of Justice is controlled by the French Minister of Justice , a top-level cabinet position in the French government. The current Minister of Justice is Michel Mercier...

, with the additional office of keeper of the seals (20 December 1848 to 26 October 1851 and 3 December 1851 to 22 January 1852).

From the tribune of the Chamber he described, the revolution of February as a "catastrophe," and he supported reactionary legislation, notably the bill (31 May 1850) for the limitation of the suffrage. After the coup d'état

Coup d'état

A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...

of 2 December 1851, he was entrusted with the redaction of the new constitution, and on his resignation of office in January became vice-president of the Council of State. After the formal establishment of the Empire, Napoleon III rewarded him with a grant of £40,000 and the estate of Cirey.

In 1855 he became minister of agriculture, commerce

Minister of Commerce and Industry (France)

The Minister of Commerce and Industry was a cabinet member in the Government of France.The position was sometimes combined with Minister of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones...

 and public works

Minister of Public Works (France)

The Minister of Public Works was a cabinet member in the Government of France. Formerly known as "Ministre des Travaux Publics" , in 1870, it was largely subsumed by the position of Minister of Transportation. Since the 1960s, the positions of Minister of Public Works has reappeared, often...

, and in 1856 senator. He created France's excellent system of railways without making them a state monopoly, and he conducted the complicated negotiations for the treaty of commerce with England which was concluded in January 1860, and subsequently arranged similar treaties with Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 and Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. In 1863 he became minister president of the Council of State, and on the death of AAM Billault minister of state

Minister of State

Minister of State is a title borne by politicians or officials in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a "minister of state" is a junior minister, who is assigned to assist a specific cabinet minister...

 and chief spokesman of the emperor. before the Corps Législatif.

Although the government had a great majority in the Chamber, the opposition counted the redoubtable names of Adolphe Thiers

Adolphe Thiers

Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers was a French politician and historian. was a prime minister under King Louis-Philippe of France. Following the overthrow of the Second Empire he again came to prominence as the French leader who suppressed the revolutionary Paris Commune of 1871...

, Berryer

Antoine Pierre Berryer

Antoine Pierre Berryer was a French advocate and parliamentary orator. He was the twelfth member elected to occupy seat 4 of the Académie française in 1852.-Early years:...

 and Jules Favre

Jules Favre

Jules Claude Gabriel Favre was a French statesman. After the establishment of the Third Republic in September 1870, he became one of the leaders of the Opportunist Republicans faction.- Early life :...

, and government measures were only passed by frequent resort to the closure. Rouher had to defend Napoleon's foreign adventures as well as the free trade treaties and the extravagances of Baron Haussmann for which he was directly responsible. After an attempted defence of the foreign policy which had aided the aggrandizement of Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

 at the expense of Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, Thiers told him in the Chamber that there were "no more blunders left for him to make."

He opposed the abortive Liberal concessions of January 1867, announced in a personal letter from Napoleon III to himself, and resigned with the rest of the cabinet, only to resume office after a short interval as minister of finance

Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry (France)

The Minister for the Economy, Industry and Employment , or Minister of Finance for short, is one of the most prominent positions in the cabinet of France after the Prime Minister....

 from 20 January to 13 November 1867. When concessions became inevitable Rouher, the "vice-empereur," resigned to make way after six months' interval for Emile Ollivier

Émile Ollivier

Olivier Émile Ollivier was a French statesman. Although a republican, he served as a cabinet minister under Emperor Napoleon III and led the process of turning his regime into a "liberal Empire".-Early life and career:Émile Ollivier was born in Marseille...

. He still fought for reaction in his new office of President of the French Senate from 20 July, to 4 September 1870. After the fall of the Empire he fled to England, but returned to France a year later to work for the fortunes of the prince imperial. After serious disturbances he was elected member for Ajaccio

Ajaccio

Ajaccio , is a commune on the island of Corsica in France. It is the capital and largest city of the region of Corsica and the prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud....

 on 11 February 1872, his election being characterized by the prefect of Corsica

Corsica

Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....

 as a regular conspiracy in favour of the Empire.

In the Chamber, where he subsequently represented Riom, he formed the group of the Appel au Peuple. His first speech in the House was the occasion (21 May 1872) of violent attacks by Audiffret-Pasquier and Léon Gambetta

Léon Gambetta

Léon Gambetta was a French statesman prominent after the Franco-Prussian War.-Youth and education:He is said to have inherited his vigour and eloquence from his father, a Genovese grocer who had married a Frenchwoman named Massabie. At the age of fifteen, Gambetta lost the sight of his right eye...

. The death of the prince imperial in 1879 put an end to the serious chances of the Bonapartists, although Rouher sought to secure the recognition of Prince Napoleon, son of the ex-king Jerome, as heir to the Imperial honours. Rouher lost his reason after a stroke of paralysis in 1883, and died a few months later.

Further reading

• Marquis de Castellane, Les Hommes d'État français du XIXe siècle (1888), and generally the literature dealing with the Second Empire.

family