CHARLES

See also:

• THOMAS
• THOMAS (c. 1654-1720)
• THOMAS (d. 110o)
• THOMAS, ARTHUR GORING (1850-1892)
• THOMAS, CHARLES LOUIS AMBROISE (1811-1896)
• THOMAS, GEORGE (c. 1756-1802)
• THOMAS, GEORGE HENRY (1816-187o)
• THOMAS, ISAIAH (1749-1831)
• THOMAS, PIERRE (1634-1698)
• THOMAS, SIDNEY GILCHRIST (1850-1885)
• THOMAS, ST
• THOMAS, THEODORE (1835-1905)
• THOMAS, WILLIAM (d. 1554)

THOMAS

See also:

• CHARLES THOMAS FLOQUET (1828—1896)

FLOQUET (1828—1896)  , French states-man, was born at St Jean-Pied-de-Port (Basses-Pyrenees) on the 2nd of October 1828 . He studied law in Paris, and was called to the bar in 1851 . The coup d'etat of that year aroused the strenuous opposition of Floquet, who had, while yet a student, given proof of his republican sympathies by taking part in the fighting of 1848 . He made his name by his brilliant and fearless attacks on the government in a series of political trials, and at the same time contributed to the Temps and other influential journals . When the tsar Alexander II. visited the Palais de Justice in 1867, Floquet was said to have confronted him with the cry " Vive la Pologne, monsieur ! " He delivered a scathing indictment of the Empire at the trial of Pierre Bonaparte for killing Victor Noir in 187o, and took a part in the revolution of the 4th of September, as well as in the subsequent defence of Paris . In 1871 he was elected to the National Assembly by the department of the Seine . During the Commune he formed the Ligue d'union republicaine des droits de Paris to attempt a reconciliation with the government of Versailles . When his efforts failed, he left Paris, and was imprisoned by order of Thiers, but soon released . He became editor of the Republique Francaise, was chosen president of the municipal council, and in 1876 was elected deputy for the eleventh arrondissement . He took aprominent place among the extreme radicals, and became president of the group of the " Union republicaine." In 1882 he held for a short time the post of prefect of the Seine . In 1885 he succeeded M .

Brisson as president of the chamber . This difficult position he filled with such tact and impartiality that he was re-elected the two following years . Having approached the Russian ambassador in such a way as to remove the prejudice existing against him in Russia since the incident of 1867, he rendered himself eligible for office; and on the fall of the Tirard cabinet in 1888 he became president of the council and minister of the interior in a radical ministry, which pledged itself to the revision of the constitution, but was forced to combat the proposals of General Boulanger . Heated debates in the chamber culminated on the 13th of July in a duel between Floquet and Boulanger in which the latter was wounded . In the following February the government fell on the question of revision, and in the new chamber of November Floquet was re-elected to the presidential chair . The Panama scandals, in which he was compelled to admit his implication, dealt a fatal blow to his career: he lost the presidency of the chamber in 1892, and his seat in the house in 1893, but in 1894 was elected to the senate . He died in Paris on the 18th of January 1896 . See Discours et opinions de M . Charles Floquet, edited by Albert Faivre (1885) .