Molé

Molé, MATTHIEU LOUIS, COMTE, a statesman, descendant of Matthieu Molé (1584-1656), the mediator between the king of France and the parlement of Paris during the troubles of the Fronde, and son of Edouard Molé, president of the parlement in 1788, was born at Paris, 24th January 1781. As soon as the storms of the Revolution were assuaged, Molé returned to France, and made his début in public life with Essai de Morale et de Politique, in which he vindicated the government of Napoleon on the ground of necessity. The emperor appointed him Master of Requests, and eventually raised him (1813) to the dignity of a count, and to a place in the cabinet. Louis XVIII. made him a peer in 1815, and in the same year he was appointed minister of Marine. After Louis-Philippe ascended the throne he became minister of Foreign Affairs, but at the end of a few months gave place to the Duc de Broglie. In 1836 he succeeded Thiers as prime-minister; his ministry was unpopular, and in 1839 he appealed to the electors, but unsuccessfully. Henceforward he took little part in political affairs, except that after the revolution of 1848 he exerted himself, though in vain, to rally and unite the party of order in the Assembly, to which he had been elected. He died at Champlâtreux, 23d November 1855.