Alexis Allet

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Alexis Allet (born April 9, 1820 in Leuk ; † February 1, 1888 there ) was a Swiss politician and judge . From 1851 to 1872 he was a member of the National Council, from 1855 to 1870 of the State Council of the Canton of Valais . He was also a member of the Federal Supreme Court . At the cantonal level, he had almost unlimited power, which ended with the bankruptcy of the Walliser Kantonalbank .

biography

He came from an influential Valais patrician dynasty that can be traced back to the year 1315 and in which Zehnde Leuk held a dominant position. His father Eugen was a member of the Valais State Council from 1827 to 1833, his brother Eugen jr. was the commander of the papal Zouaves . Alexis Allet, who inherited the title of Margrave de Augustini through his father-in-law , completed a law degree in Sion , Chambéry and Pisa . He then worked as a lawyer and notary , and from 1848 to 1851 as an appellate judge.

From 1845 to 1847, when the Canton of Valais belonged to the Sonderbund , Allet was State Chancellor. Also in 1847 he was elected to the Grand Council . After the end of the Sonderbund War , the radical liberals came to power. Allet distinguished himself in the Grand Council as a spokesman for the Catholic-conservative opposition, which turned against radical anti-clericalism and, five years later, forced the drafting of a more moderate canton constitution. In 1850, the radical majority of the Grand Council gave the Conservatives a seat in the State Council and voted for Allet, but he refused to accept the election. In 1855 the power of the radicals diminished noticeably and they were forced to make further concessions to the conservatives. This time Allet accepted the election to the State Council.

Allet ran in the National Council elections in 1851 and prevailed against the moderate liberal Joseph Anton Clemenz in the constituency of Upper Valais . He was re-elected six times in a row, the last time in 1869. While he was unable to achieve much in the National Council, Allet rose to become an undisputed leader in the canton of Valais, aided by the conservative takeover of power in 1857. During his entire tenure as State Councilor, he was in charge of the Finance Department controlled the other areas of administration. Alternately, he was always President or Vice-President of the Council of State. In addition, he served as mayor of Leuk and from 1865 as a federal judge . The historian Michel Rey called him a "dictator".

As a State Councilor, Allet introduced a finance law in 1856 to reorganize the state budget. In the Board of Directors of the way, founded the same year he initiated Walliser Kantonalbank he immediately took over as chairman. He promoted the construction of the Simplon railway line , which reached Martigny in 1859 and Sierre in 1868 . He also drove the expansion of the Furka road (1864–1866) and the first part of the Rhone correction (1863–1876). Allet stood out for his authoritarian leadership style; the radical opposition was systematically kept out of government and administration.

Technical and administrative incompetence, financial inadequacies, party politics, clientele economy and inadequate supervision by the board of directors plunged the Kantonalbank into such a serious crisis that Allet was forced to resign as State Councilor for the canton of Valais immediately on December 28, 1870. On January 12, 1871, the Kantonalbank had to file for bankruptcy; a new cantonal bank was not established again until 1917. The subsequent legal proceedings ended with an acquittal for Allet. Although he remained a member of the Grand Council, in 1872 he resigned as a national councilor and federal judge. From 1872 he was mayor of Agarn , from 1876 of Turtmann .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Arthur Fibicher: Allet. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  2. ^ Silvia Arlettaz: Wallis. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  3. ^ Beat Locher: The State Council Prospect in the Canton of Valais, 1848-1988 . Universitätsverlag, Friborg 1996, ISBN 3-7278-1094-7 , p. 142 .
  4. ↑ Alexis Allet au pouvoir. Valais libre, March 2, 2014, accessed December 26, 2014 (French).
  5. ^ Locher: The State Council Proporz in the canton of Valais. P. 143.
  6. ^ Locher: The State Council Proporz in the canton of Valais. P. 144.
  7. ↑ Faillite de la BCVS. Valais libre, January 12, 2014, accessed December 26, 2014 (French).
personal data
SURNAME Allet, Alexis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss politician and judge
DATE OF BIRTH April 9, 1820
PLACE OF BIRTH Leuk
DATE OF DEATH February 1, 1888
Place of death Leuk