Charles de Freycinet

Freycinet was born at Foix (Ariège) of a Protestant family and was the nephew of Louis de Freycinet, a French navigator. Charles Freycinet was educated at the École Polytechnique. He entered government service as a mining engineer (see X-Mines). In 1858 he was appointed traffic manager to the Compagnie de chemins de fer du Midi, a post in which he showed a remarkable talent for organization, and in 1862 returned to the engineering service, attaining in 1886 the rank of inspector-general. He was sent on several special scientific missions, including one to the United Kingdom, on which he wrote a notable Mémoire sur le travail des femmes et des enfants dans les manufactures de l'Angleterre (1867).

In July 1870 the Franco-Prussian War started which led to the fall of the Second French Empire of Napoleon III. On the establishment of the Third Republic in September 1870, he offered his services to Léon Gambetta, was appointed prefect of the department of Tarn-et-Garonne, and in October became chief of the military cabinet. It was mainly Freycinet's powers of organization which enabled Gambetta to raise army after army to oppose the invading Germans. He revealed himself to be a competent strategist, but the policy of dictating operations to the generals in the field was not attended with happy results. The friction between him and General d'Aurelle de Paladines resulted in the loss of the advantage temporarily gained at Coulmiers and Orléans, and he was responsible for the campaign in the east, which ended in the destruction of the Armée de l'Est of Charles Denis Bourbaki.

In 1871 he published a defence of his administration under the title of La Guerre en province pendant le siège de Paris. He entered the Senate in 1876 as a follower of Gambetta, and in December 1877 became Minister of Public Works in the cabinet of Jules Armand Stanislaus Dufaure. He passed a great scheme for the gradual acquisition of the railways by the state and the construction of new lines at a cost of three milliards, and for the development of the canal system at a further cost of one milliard. He retained his post in the ministry of William Henry Waddington, whom he succeeded in December 1879 as Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs. He passed an amnesty for the Communards, but in attempting to steer a middle course (between the Catholics and the anti-clericalists) on the question of the religious associations, he lost Gambetta's support, and resigned in September 1880.

In January 1882 he again became Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. His refusal to join Britain in the bombardment of Alexandria was the death-knell of French influence in Egypt. He attempted to compromise by occupying the Isthmus of Suez, but the vote of credit was rejected in the Chamber by 417 votes to 75, and the ministry resigned. He returned to office in April 1885 as Foreign Minister in Henri Brisson's cabinet, and retained that post when, in January 1886, he succeeded to the premiership.

He came to power with an ambitious programme of internal reform; but apart from settling the question of the exiled pretenders, his successes were chiefly in the sphere of colonial extension. In spite of his unrivalled skill as a parliamentary tactician, he failed to keep his party together, and was defeated on 3 December 1886. In the following year, after two unsuccessful attempts to construct new ministries, he stood for the Presidency of the Republic; but the radicals, to whom his opportunism was distasteful, turned the scale against him by transferring the votes to Marie François Sadi Carnot.

In April 1888 he became Minister of War in Charles Floquet's cabinet — the first civilian since 1848 to hold that office. His services to France in this capacity were the crowning achievement of his life, and he enjoyed the conspicuous honour of holding his office without a break for five years through as many successive administrations — those of Floquet and Pierre Tirard, his own fourth ministry (March 1890 – February 1892), and the Émile Loubet and Alexandre Ribot ministries. The introduction of the three-years' service and the establishment of a general staff, a supreme council of war, and the army commands were all due to him. His premiership was marked by heated debates on the clerical question, and it was a hostile vote on his bill against the religious associations that caused the fall of his cabinet. He failed to clear himself entirely of complicity in the Panama scandals, and in January 1893 resigned the Ministry of War.

In November 1898 he once again became Minister of War in the Charles Dupuy cabinet, but resigned office on 6 May 1899.

• Charles de Freycinet – President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Jean Joseph Frédéric Farre – Minister of War
• Charles Lepère – Minister of the Interior and Worship
• Pierre Magnin – Minister of Finance
• Jules Cazot – Minister of Justice
• Jean Bernard Jauréguiberry – Minister of Marine and Colonies
• Jules Ferry – Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts
• Henri Varroy – Minister of Public Works
• Adolphe Cochery – Minister of Posts and Telegraphs
• Pierre Tirard – Minister of Agriculture and Commerce

Changes

• 17 May 1880 – Ernest Constans succeeds Lepère as Minister of the Interior and Worship.

• Charles de Freycinet – President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Jean-Baptiste Billot – Minister of War
• René Goblet – Minister of the Interior
• Léon Say – Minister of Finance
• Gustave Humbert – Minister of Justice and Worship
• Jean Bernard Jauréguiberry – Minister of Marine and Colonies
• Jules Ferry – Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts
• François de Mahy – Minister of Agriculture
• Henri Varroy – Minister of Public Works
• Adolphe Cochery – Minister of Posts and Telegraphs
• Pierre Tirard – Minister of Commerce

• Charles de Freycinet – President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Georges Boulanger – Minister of War
• Ferdinand Sarrien – Minister of the Interior
• Marie François Sadi Carnot – Minister of Finance
• Charles Demôle – Minister of Justice
• Théophile Aube – Minister of Marine and Colonies
• René Goblet – Minister of Public Instruction, Fine Arts, and Worship
• Jules Develle – Minister of Agriculture
• Charles Baïhaut – Minister of Public Works
• Félix Granet – Minister of Posts and Telegraphs
• Édouard Locroy – Minister of Commerce and Industry

Changes

• 4 November 1886 – Édouard Millaud succeeds Baïhaut as Minister of Public Works

• Charles de Freycinet – President of the Council and Minister of War
• Alexandre Ribot – Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Ernest Constans – Minister of the Interior
• Maurice Rouvier – Minister of Finance
• Armand Fallières – Minister of Justice and Worship
• Jules Roche – Minister of the Colonies and of Commerce and Industry
• Édouard Barbey – Minister of Marine
• Léon Bourgeois – Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts
• Jules Develle – Minister of Agriculture
• Yves Guyot – Minister of Public Works