LOUIS

See also:

• JOSEPH
• JOSEPH, COMTE DE (1785-1870)
• JOSEPH, FATHER (FRANCOIS LECLERC DU TREMBLAY) (1577-1638)

JOSEPH ERNEST

See also:

• LOUIS JOSEPH ERNEST PICARD (1821-1877)

PICARD (1821-1877)  , French politician, was born in Paris on the 24th of December 1821 . After taking his doctorate in law in 1846 he joined the Parisian bar . Elected to the corps legislatif in 1858, he joined the group of Emile 011ivier . But as 011ivier approximated to the government standpoint, Picard, one of the members of the group known as Les Cinq, veered more to the left . He founded in 1868 a weekly Iemocratic journal, L'Electeur libre, and in 1869 was elected both for Herault and Paris, electing to sit for the former . From the 4th of September 187o he held the portfolio of finance in the government of National Defence . In January 1871 he accompanied Jules Favre to Versailles to arrange the capitulation of Paris, and in the next month he became minister of the interior in Thiers's cabinet . Attacked both by the Monarchist and the Republican press, he resigned in May . Later in the year he was sent as ambassador to Brussels, where he remained for two years . On his return to Paris he resumed his seat in the Left centre, and in 1875 became life senator . He died in Paris on the 13th of May 1877 .