Pierre Jules Baroche

Pierre Jules Baroche

Pierre Jules Baroche (born November 18, 1802 in La Rochelle , † October 29, 1870 in Jersey ( Channel Islands )) was a French statesman.

Life

Advocate and early political career

Pierre Jules Baroche, the son of a small businessman, studied law, became a lawyer in 1823 and subsequently achieved a great reputation in this profession. He became a lawyer at the Appellhof in Paris , where in 1841 he defended Colombier, who was involved in the assassination trial against Quénisset. Because of his ability to speak, he was elected chairman (Bâtonnier) by the Paris Bar Association in 1846. In 1847 he defended General Amédée Louis Despans de Cubières in the bribery trial against Minister Jean-Baptiste Teste before the Pairs Court, before which he had defended Joseph Henry the previous year, who was charged with attempting to assassinate King Louis-Philippe on July 29, 1846 was.

On November 27, 1847, Baroche was elected to the Chamber of Deputies by the Arrondissement of Rochefort , stood next to Odilon Barrot in the ranks of the dynastic opposition, took an active part in the reform movement from 1847-48 and on February 23, 1848 was one of the 54 deputies who signed the indictment against the Guizot Ministry .

After the February Revolution of 1848 , Baroche was elected to the constituent national assembly. There he became a member of the committee on foreign affairs, approached more and more the right, but gave his approval to the republican constitution. He then supported Louis Napoléon (later Emperor Napoleon III ) after his election as French President on December 10, 1848. As a result of the energetic manner in which he opposed all democratic aspirations in the Chamber, Louis Napoléon appointed him Procurator General at the Court of Appeal in Paris. In this role he played a spiteful role in the political processes of that time. So he worked in the trial against the participants in the uprising of May 15, 1848, then appeared as a public prosecutor at the trial of Bourges and a few months later at that of Versailles .

Elected by the Charente-Inférieure to the legislative assembly, Baroche became its first vice-president on May 30, 1849 and one of the most active members of the majority he wanted to reconcile with the president. On March 15, 1850, he took over the Ministry of the Interior as successor to Ferdinand Barrot . The restriction of universal suffrage , the suspension of the right of assembly , the closure of political clubs, the reintroduction of the newspaper stamp, the increase in bail, the law on the deportation of politically convicted persons and other measures were Baroche's work.

As a result of a vote of no confidence by the National Assembly, Baroche resigned with the entire ministry on January 18, 1851. After the president had formed a so-called transitional ministry, he presented a new cabinet to the National Assembly on April 10, 1851, in which Baroche took over the foreign office. When the President expected the ministers to request the withdrawal of the new electoral law of May 31, 1850 in the Chamber, Baroche took his dismissal on October 14, 1851.

Political role under Napoleon III, fall and death

As Vice-President of the Consultative Commission, Baroche presented Napoleon III on New Year's Eve 1851. the voting protocol through which his coup d'état of December 2, 1851 received the nation's sanction. Soon afterwards he was appointed chairman and councilor for administrative affairs, on January 25, 1852 vice-chairman of the reorganized State Council, then a commissioner for the amendment of the constitution and in March 1852 an assessor at the supreme education council. As Vice-President of the Council of State he was invited to the ministerial conferences that year, after which he was appointed President of the Council of State on December 30, 1852. In April 1854 he was a member of the government commission in the Montalembert trial, during whose negotiations the former liberal spoke to absolutism in a tone of fanatical devotion . In 1855 he was appointed Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor .

In January 1860, Baroche administered the Foreign Ministry on an interim basis and then played an outstanding role in the debates of the Chamber and Senate as a minister without portfolio or "speech minister" - which function he held from December 3, 1860 to June 23, 1863 - through his eloquence. On June 23, 1863, he took over the Ministry of Justice, then also the Ministry of Culture, which had been separated from that of public education. He became a senator on October 20, 1864. In May 1868, in a circular from the courts, he recommended moderation in the application of the oppressive press law, a recommendation that was, however, only a sham concession to the agitated public opinion, since the press persecution continued. In January 1869, Baroche even dismissed Baron Séguier, the imperial procurator in Toulouse , because he had shown himself too indulgent in press matters.

When in July 1869, in view of the constitutional reforms promised by the emperor, the new formation of the ministry took place without Eugène Rouher , Baroche had to resign from his dual ministerial post. After the fall of the Empire on September 4, 1870, Baroche fled France to the island of Jersey, where he died on October 29 of this year at the age of almost 68.

literature

• Pierre Jules Baroche . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 2, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 383.