Louis de Weck-Reynold

Louis de Weck-Reynold

Louis de Weck-Reynold (born October 5, 1823 in Friborg ; † November 28, 1880 there) was a Swiss politician and State Councilor of the canton of Friborg .

biography

De Weck-Reynold was Catholic, from Freiburg , Bösingen and Pierrafortscha , from a family of the privileged citizens of the city of Freiburg . His parents were François de Weck, Grand Councilor (1814–1830 and 1837–1847), Oberamtmann von Murten and appellate judge (1831–1847), and Pauline nee. Fontaine, from a wealthy merchant family, niece of Canon Fontaine. He was Rodolphe's older brother . De Weck-Reynold married in 1847 Othilde de Reynold (1824–1888), daughter of Frédéric de Reynold (1798–1871), colonel and lord of the castle in Cressier. Her son Ernest was Ammann von Freiburg (1903-1919) and Councilor of States (1915-1916).

After primary school in Murten under Abbé Meinrad Meyer, he attended St. Michael's College , the last two years in the Jesuit boarding school, which was considered the stronghold of the French Legitimists . He administered the great estates of his family, especially Bonnefontaine at the gates of Freiburg. Politically, he was hardly or not at all active, but held his first administrative offices. He was secretary of the general administration and poor relief in the city of Freiburg (1847).

During the Sonderbund War, de Weck-Reynold held the rank of sub-lieutenant . He then rose to major and commander of the 56 elite battalion. From 1848 to 1861 he was engaged in agriculture and his family's property and rightly earned a good reputation as an agronomist and administrator. He became secretary of the Société fribourgeoise d'agriculture and was an active member of the corresponding association of French-speaking Switzerland. He headed the La Gruyérienne company, which specialized in the purchase and marketing of cheese. He was also a member of the supervisory board of Hypothekarkasse (1854–1880) and a member and chairman of the supervisory board of the Kantonalbank.

At the time when the canton had to cope with the construction of the railway and the Sonderbunds debt, de Weck-Reynold became politically active. He was a State Councilor (1861–1880) and Grand Councilor (1861–1880). As head of the finance department previously headed by his deceased brother, he had to cope with a serious crisis: the Lausanne – Friborg – Bern (LFB) line (opened in 1862 ) cost much more than planned, and the French company that managed it was short before bankruptcy. De Weck-Reynold was able to convince his colleagues to guarantee a new loan (7.5 million) in favor of the LFB (1863) and a little later to take over their assets and liabilities, that is 44 million francs, twenty times the cantonal budget (1864).

De Weck-Reynold tried to make the state-owned railway company profitable (1864–1872). He promoted secondary lines that increased the volume of traffic on the main line: Bulle – Romont (1868), Freiburg – Payerne – Yverdon (1877) and a first project for the Freiburg – Murten line. He worked with convertible bonds (1864, 1872, and 1879) and did not hesitate to use his personal fortune to seek approval from the banks. In this way he managed to reduce the cantonal debt and reduce interest payments. He also introduced a registration tax (1862) and founded the repayment fund for the national debt (1867). As the crowning glory of his work, he freed the state from the burden of the railroad: he merged the LFB with two other companies to form the Suisse Occidentale (1872), of which the state became a shareholder.

After Hubert Charles resigned , de Weck-Reynold became the strong man of the government , first with Frédéric Vaillant , then with François-Xavier Menoud , which he presided over in 1872, 1874, 1876, 1877 and 1879. From 1863 to 1866 he sat in the Council of States , from 1866 to 1880 in the National Council . He worked on several important commissions in which his competencies caused a sensation. His influence grew and he became head of the Catholic Conservative Group. He earned particular merit with the "Gotthard Compromise", which made the completion of the tunnel possible and at the same time satisfied the Simplon supporters, who received similar federal aid (1878). In the same year he received 52 votes in a Federal Council election.

De Weck-Reynold was one of the staunch conservatives and had even participated in a conspiracy to overthrow the radical regime in 1848. However, he was realist enough to see that the liberal-conservative coalition in Freiburg had to continue to exist, and stood up for it, even taking control of the Chroniqueur. His compensatory policy astonished more than a member of the conservative circles, who like National Councilor François-Laurent Chaney saw him as a hurdle for their plans. The reputation and authority of the politician, whom the Liberals called "Weck-Pascha", were so great that no one dared to contradict him.

The Grand Council elected de Weck-Reynold as President of the State Council in 1881. However, he fell ill with pneumonia and died on November 28, 1880 at the age of 58. With him one of the most important personalities in Freiburg politics in the years 1860-1880 disappeared. It wasn't long before the liberal-conservative coalition broke up.

literature

• Georges Andrey , John Clerc, Jean-Pierre Dorand et Nicolas Gex: The Freiburg Council of State: 1848–2011. History, organization, members . Editions La Sarine, Freiburg 2012, ISBN 978-2-88355-153-4 .

Web links

• Nicolas Willemin and PTO: Weck [-Reynold], Louis de. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .