Henri-Alexandre Wallon
Henri-Alexandre Wallon (23 December 1812 – 13 November 1904) was a French historian and statesman whose decisive contribution to the creation of the Third Republic led him to be called the "Father of the Republic". He was the grandfather of psychologist and politician Henri Wallon.
Early life
Wallon was born at Valenciennes (Nord) on 23 December 1812.
Career
Devoting himself to a literary career, in 1840 he became professor at the École Normale Supérieure under the patronage of Guizot, whom he succeeded as professor at the Faculté des Lettres in 1846. His works on slavery in the French colonies (1847) and on slavery in antiquity (1848; new edition in 3 vols., 1879) led to his being placed, after the Revolution of 1848, on a commission for the regulation of labour in the French colonial possessions, and in November 1849 he was elected to the Legislative Assembly by the department of the Nord. He resigned in 1850, disapproving of the measure for the restriction of the suffrage adopted by the majority. In the same year he was elected a member of the Académie des Inscriptions, of which he became perpetual secretary in 1873.[1]
Under the empire he withdrew altogether from political life, and occupied himself entirely with his duties as a professor of history and with historical writings, the most original of which is a biography, Richard II, épisode de la rivalité de la France et de l'Angleterre (2 vols., 1864). Although remaining a republican, he exhibited decided clerical leanings in his Jeanne d'Arc (2 vols., 1860; 2nd ed., 1875); La Vie de Notre Seigneur Jésus (1865) – a reply to the Vie de Jésus of E. Renan; and Saint Louis et son temps (1871; 4th ed., 1892).[1]
Returning to politics after the Franco-Prussian War, Wallon was re-elected by the department of the Nord in 1871, took an active part in the proceedings of the Assembly, and finally immortalized himself by carrying his proposition for the establishment of the Republic with a president elected for seven years, and then eligible for re-election, which, after violent debates, was adopted by the Assembly on 30 January 1875. "Ma proposition," he declared, "ne proclame pas la République, elle la fait." Upon the definitive establishment of the Republic, Wallon became Minister of Public Instruction, and effected many useful reforms, but his views were too conservative for the majority of the Assembly, and he retired in May 1876. He had been chosen a life senator in December 1875.[1]
Returning to his historical studies, Wallon produced four works of great importance, though less from his part in them as author than from the documents which accompanied them:
- La Terreur (1873)
- Histoire du tribunal révolutionnaire de Paris avec le journal de ses actes (6 vols., 1880–1882)
- La Révolution du 31 mai et le fédéralisme en 1793 (2 vols., 1886)
- Les Représentants du peuple en mission et la justice révolutionnaire dans les départements (5 vols., 1880–1890).[2]
Besides these he published a number of articles in the Journal des savants; for many years he wrote the history of the Académie des Inscriptions in the collection of Memoirs of this academy, and he composed obituary notices of his colleagues, which were inserted in the Bulletin.[3]
Death
On his death on 13 November 1904, Henri Wallon was interred in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris.
See also
- Henri Wallon (psychologist), Henri-Alexandre Wallon's grandson
From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia
Henri-Alexandre Wallon — Historian and statesman, born at Valenciennes (Nord), in 1812); died at Paris, in 1904. Fellow of history and professor at the Lycée Louis le Grand, he was appointed (1840) master of conferences at the Ecole Normale, and, in 1846, Guizot's assistant at the Sorbonne. His work, "L'esclavage dans les colonies" (1847), caused him to enter public life; he became assistant deputy for Guadeloupe at the Constituent Assembly and representative for the Department of the Nord at the Legislative Assembly (1849). But he resigned in 1850 when the law restricting suffrage was passed. Professor of history at the Sorbonne, a member of the Academy of Inscriptions (1850), prior to becoming its permanent secretary, he was in 1871 deputy from the Nord to the National Assembly, where he sat on the Right Centre. On 24 May, 1873, he voted against Thiers and the Broglie ministry. The attempted restoration of the monarchy having failed, Wallon allied himself with his friends on the Left Centre and to him was due the amendment which brought about the passage of the constitutional laws; hence he was jesting called the "Father of the Republic". As minister of public instruction in Buffet's cabinet (March, 1875- March, 1876) he favoured the vote which secured liberty of higher education (26 July, 1875). Appointed senator for life at the end of the same year he henceforth defended Catholic interests in the Senate on the various occasions when they were under discussion. He was dean of the Paris Faculty of Letters for eleven years (1876- 87). Of his works the following may be mentioned: "Du monotheisme chez les races semitique" (1859); "Jeanne d'Arc" (1860); "La vie de Jésus et son nouvel historien" (1864), a critical examination of Renan's works; "Vie de Notre Seigneur Jésus Christ" (1805); "La Terreur" (1873); "Saint Louis et son temps" (1875); "les répresentants du peuple en mission et la justice revolutionnaire en Pan II" (1889-90), wherein he exposes the violence and arbitrariness of the Jacobin tribunals.
References
Bibliography
- Bertrin, Georges Michel (1912). "Henri-Alexandre Wallon". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company.