Rouher

Rouher, EUGENE, a French statesman, was born at Riom, on November 30, 1814, practised there as an advocate up to 1848, and then was returned to the Constituent Assembly. Towards the end of 1849 he was appointed minister of Justice; and with slight interruptions he was for twenty years a member of the French government. He was chiefly instrumental in negotiating the treaty of commerce between France and England in 1860, and that between France and Italy in 1863, and was thus instrumental in preparing the way for the introduction of the free-trade policy of Napoleon III. In 1863 he was appointed minister of State, and maintained that position until 1870, when he became president of the Senate. A staunch supporter of Napoleon III., and a clever debater, Rouher was, next after the emperor, the chief supporter of the system, domestic and foreign, which came to a disastrous end at Sedan—he was sometimes called the Vice-emperor. After the fall of the empire he fled abroad. But he was returned to the National Assembly for Corsica in 1872, and sat till 1875 as a staunch defender of the ex-emperor. He died at Paris, 3d February 1884.