Maurice Rouvier (French pronunciation: [moʁis ʁuvje]; 17 April 1842 – 7 June 1911) was a French statesman of the "Opportunist" faction. He is best known for his financial policies and his unpopular policies designed to avoid a rupture with Germany.
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He was born in Aix-en-Provence, and spent his early career in business at Marseille. He supported Léon Gambetta's candidature there in 1867, and in 1870 he founded an anti-imperial journal, L'Egalité. Becoming secretary general of the prefecture of Bouches-du-Rhône in. 1870-71, he refused the office of prefect. In July 1871 he was returned to the National Assembly for Marseille at a by-election, and voted steadily with the Republican party. He became a recognized authority on finance, and repeatedly served on the Budget Commission as reporter or president.
At the general elections of 1881 after the fall of the Jules Ferry cabinet he was returned to the chamber on a programme which included the separation of Church and State, a policy of decentralization, and the imposition of an income-tax. He then joined Gambetta's cabinet as minister of commerce and the colonies, and in the 1883-85 cabinet of Jules Ferry he held the same office. He became premier and minister of finance on 31 May 1887, with the support of the moderate republican groups, the Radicals holding aloof in support of General Boulanger, who began a violent agitation against the government.
Then came the scandal of the decorations in which President Grévy's son-in-law Daniel Wilson figured, and the Rouvier cabinet fell in its attempt to screen the president. Rouvier's opposition in his capacity of president of the Budget Commission was one of the causes of the defeat of Charles Floquet's cabinet in February 1889. In the new Tirard ministry formed to combat the Boulangist agitation, he was minister of finance. He kept the same post in the Freycinet, Loubet and Ribot cabinets of 1890-93. Accusations that he accepted bribes from Cornelius Herz and the baron de Reinach compelled his resignation from the Ribot cabinet during the Panama scandals in December 1892. He became a successful banker and was known for his thorough familiarity with financial and budgetary issues.
Again, in 1902, he became minister of finance, after nearly ten years in exclusion from office, in the Radical cabinet of Émile Combes; and on the fall of the Combes ministry in January 1905 he was invited by the president to form a new ministry. In this cabinet he at first held the ministry of finance. In his initial declaration to the chamber the new premier had declared his intention of continuing the policy of the late cabinet, pledging the new ministry to a policy of conciliation, to the consideration of old age pensions, an income-tax, separation of Church and State.
Public attention, however, was chiefly concentrated on foreign policy. During the Combes ministry Theophile Delcassé had come to a secret understanding with Spain on the Moroccan question, and had established an understanding with Britain. His policy had aroused German jealousy, which became evident in the asperity with which the question of Morocco was handled in Berlin.
At a cabinet meeting on 5 June Rouvier reproached the Foreign Minister with imprudence over Morocco, and after a heated discussion Delcassé resigned. Rouvier himself took the portfolio of foreign affairs at this crucial point. After critical negotiations, he secured on 8 July an agreement with Germany accepting the international conference proposed by the sultan of Morocco on the assurance that Germany would recognize the special nature of the interest of France in maintaining order on the frontier of her Algerian empire. Lengthy discussions resulted in a new convention in September, which contained the programme of the proposed conference, and in December Rouvier was able to make a statement of the whole proceedings in the chamber, which received the assent of all parties. Rouvier's government did not long survive the presidential election of 1906. The disturbances arising in connection with the Separation Law were skillfully handled by Georges Clemenceau to discredit the ministry, which gave place to a cabinet under the direction of Sarrien. He died in Neuilly-sur-Seine.
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Georges Charles Cloué |
Minister of Colonies 1881 – 1882 |
Succeeded by Jean Bernard Jauréguiberry |
| Preceded by Pierre Tirard |
Minister of Commerce 1881 – 1882 |
Succeeded by Pierre Tirard |
| Preceded by Anne Charles Hérisson |
Minister of Commerce 1884 – 1885 |
Succeeded by Pierre Legrand |
| Preceded by René Goblet |
Prime Minister of France 1887 |
Succeeded by Pierre Tirard |
| Preceded by Albert Dauphin |
Minister of Finance 1887 |
|
| Preceded by Paul Peytral |
Minister of Finance 1889 – 1892 |
Succeeded by Pierre Tirard |
| Preceded by Joseph Caillaux |
Minister of Finance 1902 – 1905 |
Succeeded by Pierre Merlou |
| Preceded by Émile Combes |
Prime Minister of France 1905 – 1906 |
Succeeded by Ferdinand Sarrien |
| Preceded by Théophile Delcassé |
Minister of Foreign Affairs 1905 – 1906 |
Succeeded by Léon Bourgeois |