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OLLIVIER, OLIVIER EMILE (1825— )

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 90 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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OLLIVIER, See also:OLIVIER EMILE (1825— ) , See also:French statesman, was See also:born at See also:Marseilles on the 2nd of See also:July 1825. His See also:father, See also:Demosthenes 011ivier (1799—1884), was a vehement opponent of the July See also:monarchy, and was returned by Marseilles to the Constituent See also:Assembly in 1848. His opposition to See also:Louis See also:Napoleon led to his banishment after the coup d'etat of See also:December 1851, and he only returned to See also:France in 186o. On the See also:establishment of the See also:short-lived Second See also:Republic his father's See also:influence with Ledru-See also:Rollin secured for Emile 011ivier the position of See also:commissary-See also:general of the See also:department of Bouches-du-See also:Rhone. 011ivier was then twenty-three and had just been called to the Parisian See also:bar. Less See also:radical in his See also:political opinions than his father, his repression of a socialist outbreak at Marseilles commended him to General See also:Cavaignac, who continued him in his functions by making him See also:prefect of the department. He was shortly afterwards removed to the comparatively unimportant prefecture of Chaumont (Haute-See also:Marne), a semi-disgrace which he ascribed to his father's enemies. He therefore resigned from the See also:civil service to take up practice at the bar, where his brilliant abilities assured his success. He re-entered political See also:life in 1857 as See also:deputy for the 3rd circumscription of the See also:Seine. His candidature had been sup-ported by the Siecle, and he joined the constitutional opposition. With See also:Alfred Darimon, Jules See also:Favre, J. L. flexion and Ernest See also:Picard he formed the See also:group known as See also:Les Cinq, which wrung from Napoleon III. some concessions in the direction of constitutional See also:government.

The imperial See also:

decree of the 24th of See also:November, permitting the insertion of See also:parliamentary reports in the Moniteur, and an address from the See also:Corps Legislatif in reply to the speech from the See also:throne, were welcomed by him as a first See also:instalment of reform. This acquiescence marked a consider-able See also:change of attitude, for only a See also:year previously a violent attack on the imperial government, in the course of a See also:defence of See also:Etienne See also:Vacherot, brought to trial for the publication of La Democratic, had resulted in his suspension from the bar for three months. He gradually separated from his old associates, who grouped themselves around Jules Favre, and during the session of 1866—1867 011ivier formed a third party, which definitely supported the principle of a Liberal See also:Empire. On the last See also:day of December 1866, See also:Count A. F. J. See also:Walewski, acting in continuance of negotiations already begun by the duc de See also:Morny, offered 011ivier the See also:ministry of See also:education with the See also:function of representing the general policy of the government in the Chamber. The imperial decree of the 19th of See also:January 1867, together with the promise inserted in the Moniteur of a relaxation of the stringency of the See also:press See also:laws and of concessions in respect of the right of public See also:meeting, failed to satisfy 011ivier's demands, and he refused See also:office. On the See also:eve of the general See also:election of 1869 he published a manifesto, Le Ig janvier, in See also:justification of his policy. The senatus-consulte of the 8th of See also:September 1869 gave the two See also:chambers the See also:ordinary parliamentary rights, and was followed by the dismissal of See also:Rouher and the formation in the last See also:week of 1869 of a responsible ministry of which M. 011ivier was really premier, although that office was not nominally recognized by the constitution. The new See also:cabinet, known as the ministry of the 2nd of January, had a hard task before it, complicated a week after its formation by the See also:shooting of See also:Victor Noir by See also:Prince See also:Pierre See also:Bonaparte.

011ivier immediately summoned the high See also:

court of See also:justice for the See also:judgment of Prince Bonaparte and Prince See also:Joachim See also:Murat. The riots following on the See also:murder were suppressed without bloodshed; circulars were sent See also:round to the prefects forbidding them in future to put pressure on the See also:electors in favour of See also:official candidates; See also:Baron See also:Haussmann was dismissed from the prefecture of the Seine; the violence of the press See also:campaign against the See also:emperor, to whom he had promised a happy old See also:age, was broken by the See also:prosecution of See also:Henri See also:Rochefort; and on the 20th of See also:April a senatus-consulte was issued which accomplished the transformation of the Empire into a constitutional monarchy. Neither concessions nor firmness sufficed to appease the " Irreconcilables " of the opposition, who since the relaxation of the press laws were able to influence the electorate. On the 8th of May, however, the amended constitution was submitted, on Rouher's See also:advice, to a See also:plebiscite, which resulted in a See also:vote of nearly seven to one in favour of the government. The most distinguished members of the See also:Left in his cabinet—L. J. See also:Buffet, Napoleon See also:Daru and Talhouet See also:Roy-resigned in April on the question of the plebiscite. 011ivier himself held the ministry of See also:foreign affairs for a few See also:weeks, until Daru was replaced by the duc de See also:Gramont, destined to be 011ivier's evil See also:genius. The other vacancies were filled by J. P. Mege and C. I.

Plichon, both of them of Conservative tendencies. The revival of the candidature of Prince See also:

Leopold of See also:Hohenzollern-See also:Sigmaringen for the throne of See also:Spain See also:early in 187o disconcerted 011ivier's plans. The French government, following Gramont's advice, instructed See also:Benedetti to demand from the See also:king of See also:Prussia a formal disavowal of the Hohenzollern candidature. 011ivier allowed himself to be gained by the See also:war party. The See also:story of Benedetti's reception at See also:Ems and of See also:Bismarck's manipulation of the Ems telegram is told elsewhere (see BISMARCK). It is unlikely that 011ivier could have prevented the eventual outbreak of war, but he might perhaps have postponed it at that See also:time, if he had taken time to hear Benedetti's See also:account of the incident. He was outmanoeuvred by Bismarck, and on the 15th of July he made a hasty See also:declaration in the Chamber that the Prussian government had issued to the See also:powers a See also:note announcing the rebuff received by Benedetti. He obtained a war vote of 500,000,000 francs, and used the fatal words that he accepted the responsibility of the war " with a See also:light See also:heart," saying that the war had been forced on France. On the gth of See also:August, with the See also:news of the first disaster, the 011ivier cabinet was driven from office, and its See also:chief sought See also:refuge from the general rage in See also:Italy. He returned to France in 1873, but although he carried on an active campaign in the Bonapartist Estafette his political See also:power was gone, and even in his own party he came into collision in 188o with M. See also:Paul de See also:Cassagnac. During his retirement he employed himself in See also:writing a See also:history of L'Empire liberal, the first See also:volume of which appeared in 1895.

The See also:

work really dealt with the remote and immediate causes of the war, and was the author's See also:apology for his blunder. The 13th volume showed that the immediate blame could not justly be placed entirely on his shoulders. His other See also:works include Democratic et liberte (1867), Le Ministere du 2 janvier, See also:mes discours (1875), Principes et conduite (1895), L'Eglise et l'Etat au concile du Vatican (2 vols., 1879), Solutions politiques et sociales (1893), Nouveau See also:Manuel du droll ecclesiastique See also:francais (1885). He had many connexions with the See also:literary and See also:artistic See also:world, being one of the early Parisian champions of See also:Wagner; Elected to the See also:Academy in 187o, he did not take his seat, his reception being indefinitely postponed. His first wife, Blandine See also:Liszt, was the daughter of the See also:Abbe Liszt by Mme d'See also:Agoult (See also:Daniel Stern). She died in 1862, and 011ivier married in 186g Mlle Gravier.

End of Article: OLLIVIER, OLIVIER EMILE (1825— )

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