|
See also:GRAMONT, See also:ANTOINE AGENOR See also:ALFRED , Duc DE, Duc DE GUICHE, See also:PRINCE DE BIDACHE (1819-1880), See also:French diplomatist and statesman, was See also:born at See also:Paris on the 14th of See also:August 1819, of one of the most illustrious families of the old noblesse, a See also:cadet See also:branch of the viscounts of Aure, which took its name from the seigniory of Gramont in See also:Navarre. His grandfather, Antoine See also:- LOUIS
- LOUIS (804–876)
- LOUIS (893–911)
- LOUIS, JOSEPH DOMINIQUE, BARON (1755-1837)
- LOUIS, or LEWIS (from the Frankish Chlodowich, Chlodwig, Latinized as Chlodowius, Lodhuwicus, Lodhuvicus, whence-in the Strassburg oath of 842-0. Fr. Lodhuwigs, then Chlovis, Loys and later Louis, whence Span. Luiz and—through the Angevin kings—Hungarian
Louis See also:Marie, duc de Gramont (1755-1836), had emigrated during the Revolution, and his See also:father, Antoine See also:Heraclius See also:Genevieve Agenor (1789=1855), duc de Gramont and de Guiche, fought under the See also:British See also:flag in the See also:Peninsular See also:War, became a See also:lieutenant-See also:general in the French See also:army in 1823, and in 183o accompanied See also:Charles X. to See also:Scotland. The younger See also:generation, however, were Bonapartist in sympathy; Gramont's See also:cousin Antoine Louis See also:Raymond, See also:comte de Gramont (1787-1825), though also the son of an emigre, served with distinction in See also:Napoleon's armies, while Antoine Agenor, duc de Gramont, owed his career to his See also:early friendship for Louis Napoleon.
Educated at the Ecole Polytechnique, Gramont early gave up the army for See also:diplomacy. It was not, however, till after the coup d'etat of the 2nd of See also:December 1851, which made Louis Napoleon supreme in See also:France, that he became conspicuous as a diplomat. He was successively See also:minister plenipotentiary at See also:Cassel and See also:Stuttgart (1852), at See also:Turin (1853), See also:ambassador at, See also:Rome (1857) and at See also:Vienna (1861). On the 15th of May 1870 he was appointed minister of See also:foreign affairs in the 011ivier See also:cabinet, and was thus largely, though not entirely, responsible for the bungling of the negotiations between France and See also:Prussia arising out of the candidature of Prince See also:Leopold of See also:Hohenzollern for the See also:throne of See also:Spain, which led to the disastrous war of 1870-71. The exact See also:share of Gramont in this responsibility has been the subject. of much controversy. The last word may besaid to have been uttered by M. Emile 011ivier himself in his L'See also:Empire liberal (tome xii., 1909, passim). The famous See also:declaration read by Gramont in the Chamber on the 6th of See also:July, the " See also:threat with the See also:hand on the See also:sword-hilt," as See also:Bismarck called it, was the See also:joint See also:work of the whole cabinet; the See also:original draft presented by Gramont was judged to be too " elliptical" in its conclusion and not sufficiently vigorous; the reference to a revival of the empire of Charles V. was suggested by 011ivier; the See also:paragraph asserting that France would not allow a foreign See also:power to disturb to her own detriment the actual See also:equilibrium of See also:Europe was inserted by the See also:emperor. So far, then, as this declaration is concerned, it is clear that Gramont's responsiblity must be shared with his See also:sovereign and his colleagues (011ivier op. cit. xii. 1o7; see also the two projets de declaration given on p. 570). It is clear, however that he did not share the " See also:passion " of his colleagues for " See also:peace with See also:honour," clear also that he wholly misread the intentions of the See also:European See also:powers in the event of war. That he reckoned upon the active See also:alliance of See also:Austria was due, according to M. 011ivier, to the fact that for nine years he had been a persona grata in the aristocratic society of Vienna, where the See also:necessity for revenging the humiliation of 1866 was an See also:article of faith. This confidence made him less disposed than many of his colleagues to make the best of the renunciation of the candidature made, on behalf of his son, by the prince of Hohenzollern-See also:Sigmaringen. It was Gramont who pointed out to the emperor, on the evening of the 12th, the dubious circumstances of the See also:act of renunciation, and on the same See also:night, without informing M. 011ivier, despatched to See also:Benedetti at See also:Ems the fatal telegram demanding the See also:- KING
- KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated into cyng, cing; cf. O. H. G. chun- kuning, chun- kunig, M.H.G. kiinic, kiinec, kiinc, Mod. Ger. Konig, O. Norse konungr, kongr, Swed. konung, kung)
- KING [OF OCKHAM], PETER KING, 1ST BARON (1669-1734)
- KING, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818-1888)
- KING, CLARENCE (1842–1901)
- KING, EDWARD (1612–1637)
- KING, EDWARD (1829–1910)
- KING, HENRY (1591-1669)
- KING, RUFUS (1755–1827)
- KING, THOMAS (1730–1805)
- KING, WILLIAM (1650-1729)
- KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)
king of Prussia's See also:guarantee that the candidature would not be revived. The supreme responsibility for this act must See also:rest with the emperor, " who imposed it by an exercise of See also:personal power on the only one cf his ministers who could have See also:- LENT (0. Eng. lenclen, " spring," M. Eng. lenten, lente, lent; cf. Dut. lente, Ger. Lenz, " spring," 0. H. Ger. lenzin, lengizin, lenzo, probably from the same root as " long " and referring to " the lengthening days ")
lent himself to such a forgetfulness of the safeguards of a See also:parliamentary regime." As for Gramont, he had " no conception of the exigencies of this regime; he remained an ambassador accustomed to obey the orders of his sovereign; in all See also:good faith he had no See also:idea that this was not correct, and that, himself a parliamentary minister, he had associated himself with an act destructive of the authority of See also:parliament."' " On his See also:part," adds M. 011ivier, " it was the result only of obedience, not of warlike premeditation " (op. cit. p. 262). The See also:apology may be taken for what it is See also:worth. To France and to the See also:world Gramont was responsible for the policy which put his See also:country definitely into the wrong in the eyes of Europe, and enabled Bismarck to administer to her the " slap in the See also:face " (soufflet)—as Gramont called it in the Chamber—by means of the mutilated " Ems telegram," which was the immediate cause of the French declaration of war on the 15th.
After the defeat of See also:Weissenburg (August 4) Gramont resigned See also:- OFFICE (from Lat. officium, " duty," " service," a shortened form of opifacium, from facere, " to do," and either the stem of opes, " wealth," " aid," or opus, " work ")
office with the rest of the 011ivier See also:ministry (August 9), and after the revolution of See also:September he went to See also:England, returning after the war to Paris, where he died on the 18th of See also:January 1880. His See also:marriage in 1848 with See also:Miss Mackinnon, a Scottish See also:lady, remained without issue. During his retirement he published various apologies for his policy in 187o, notably La France et la Prusse avant la guerre. (Paris, 1872).
Besides M. 011ivier's work quoted in the See also:text, see L. Thouvenel, Le See also:Secret de l'empereur, correspondance . . . echangee entre M. Thouvenel, le duc de Gramont, et le general comte de Flahaut 186o-1863 (2nd ed., 2 vols., 1889). A small pamphlet containing his Souvenirs 1848-1850 was published in 1901 by his See also:brother Antoine See also:Leon Philibert Auguste de Gramont, duc de Lesparre.
End of Article: GRAMONT, ANTOINE AGENOR ALFRED
Additional information and Comments
There are no comments yet for this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.
|
del.icio.us it!