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OLIVIER EMILE OLLIVIER (1825— )

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 90 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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OLIVIER EMILE See also:OLLIVIER (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: OLIVIER EMILE OLLIVIER (1825— )
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