Louis-Henri Delarageaz
Louis-Henri Delarageaz (born October 9, 1807 in Préverenges , † March 14, 1891 ibid) was a Swiss politician , surveyor and colonel . From 1845 to 1862 and from 1866 to 1878 he was State Councilor of the Canton of Vaud , and from 1857 to 1881 he was a member of the National Council without interruption .
biography
His father François-Samuel Delarageaz (1770–1836) was a wealthy farmer, owner of the Etoile inn in Préverenges, assessor in the peace court, parish clerk and member of the Grand Council; his mother was Louise-Georgette Moyard (1778–1863). As a 14-year-old Delarageaz spent a year in Zofingen in the canton of Aargau . He then began an apprenticeship as a land surveyor at the Vaudois building department in Lausanne . After obtaining his diploma in 1831, he founded his own company. As a freelancer for Guillaume-Henri Dufour , Delarageaz was involved in the creation of the Dufour map and the Vaudois military map as well as in the surveying of numerous municipalities in Vaud. As an external student, he took some legal courses at the Lausanne Academy , but failed the notary exam in 1838.
Notwithstanding this minor professional failure, Delarageaz also made a military career in the militia army. During the Sonderbund War of 1847, he was a lieutenant colonel on the general staff of the troops of the Tagsatzung and was involved in the brief siege of the city of Friborg . After commanding the barracks in Bière and Thun from 1849 to 1853 , he was promoted to colonel of the artillery in 1855 . At the height of the Neuchâtel trade at the end of 1856, he was entrusted with the expansion of fortifications in Kleinbasel in order to repel a possible invasion of Prussian troops; He was also a member of the Council of War chaired by Friedrich Frey-Herosé . In 1876 he left the military.
Delarageaz showed interest in communist ideas but did not agree to them; in particular he read works by Étienne Cabet , Charles Fourier and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon . He was friends with Proudhon and exchanged letters with him. As a supporter of radical liberalism , he joined the liberal organizations Young Switzerland , the Swiss National Association and the Protection Association. He was also a member of the Masonic Lodge Espérance et Cordialité . 1835 Delarageaz was in the community legislature of Préverenges chosen from 1841 he served as mayor . Also in 1841 he was elected to the Grand Council of the Canton of Vaud . In response to the appointment of Jesuits to the higher education institutions in the canton of Lucerne , he founded the Association patriotique in December 1844 . Together with his friend Henri Druey , Delarageaz was one of the leaders of the Vaudois Revolution of 1845: after the fall of the government, which had taken a neutral stance on the Jesuit question, he announced the takeover of power by the radicals in Lausanne on February 14 .
On March 5, 1845 Delarageaz was elected to the Grand Council of the Canton of Vaud, which elected him a day later to the Council of State ; he stayed in office for 29 years. During this time he headed several departments (finance, justice and police, home affairs, military affairs, public buildings). Among other things, the damming of the Rhone and the drainage of the plains on the Broye and Orbe were realized under his leadership . He promoted the construction of the first railway lines, founded the Cantonal Bank of Vaud , drafted a new agricultural law and introduced compulsory insurance against fire and water damage. After Druet was elected to the Federal Council , Delarageaz was undisputedly the leading politician in Vaud from 1848. In the same year he bought the newspaper Le nouvelliste vaudois in order to spread his radical liberal ideas further.
Delarageaz ran in the National Council elections in 1857 and was successful in West Vaud . He was re-elected seven times in a row. The cantonal government in Vaud, which he had a major influence on, was voted out of office in 1862 when the left wing of the radicals and the liberals joined forces against him. After a four-year hiatus, he returned to government in 1866. In 1868, on behalf of the Federal Council, he was a delegate in the negotiations with the Kingdom of Italy about the exact demarcation of the boundary at Poschiavo . In the same year he undertook border inspection in the territorially disputed Valle Cravariola . After he was only just re-elected, he resigned from the State Council in 1878, and three years later he waived re-election as National Council.
Since 1835 Delarageaz was married to Louise-Charlotte Bron from Bremblens , his second cousin. His son Louis-Charles Delarageaz was also a member of the National Council from 1893 to 1906.
literature
- Erich Gruner : The Swiss Federal Assembly 1848–1920. Volume 1, Bern 1966, pp. 801-803.
- Olivier Meuwly: Louis-Henri Delarageaz ou le versant proudhonien du radicalisme vaudois . In: Les Constitutions vaudoises. 1803-2003. Miroir des idées politiques . Bibliothèque historique vaudoise, Lausanne 2003, ISBN 2-88454-123-3 , p. 327-351 .
Web links
- Olivier Meuwly: Delarageaz, Louis-Henri. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Brief portrait ( Cantonal and University Library of Lausanne )
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Delarageaz, Louis-Henri |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss politician, surveyor and colonel |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 9, 1807 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Préverenges |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 14, 1891 |
| Place of death | Préverenges |