Alexandre Ribot: Odyssey of a Liberal in the Third Republic

193 Pages·1974·8.83 MB·English

by  Martin E. Schmidt (auth.)

ALEXANDRE RIBOT: ODYSSEY OF
A LIBERAL IN
THE THIRD REPUBLIC
Alexandre Ribot ([842-[923)
Courtesy Roger-VioUet
Alexandre Ribot:
Odyssey of a Liberal
in the
Third Republic
by
MARTIN E. SCHMIDT
MARTINUS NIJHOFF I THE HAGUE I 1974
© 1974 by Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands
All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to reproduce this
book or parts thereof in any form
ISBN-13: 978-90-247-1639-5 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-010-2067-1
DOl: 10.1007/978-94-010-2067-1
In memory of
A.E.R.
VII
TABLE OF CONTENTS
page
PREFACE • XI
CHAPTER I. VALUES AND CAREER CHOICE, 1860-1878
CHAPTER II. POLITICS AS A PROFESSION, 1878-1889 23
CHAPTER III. MINISTERIAL POLITICS, 1890-1895 . 46
CHAPTER IV. ILLUSIONS, 1895-1899 72
CHAPTER V. OPPOSITION, PARTIAL RECONCILIATION, 1900-1914 89
CHAPTER VI. FINAL SERVICE (I): WAR FINANCE, 1914-1916 116
CHAPTER VII. FINAL SERVICE (II): PREMIER, 19I7
CHAPTER VIII. TROUBLED VICTORY, 1918-1923
JUGEMENT.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
IX
NOTES
The following abbreviations have been used to identify sources cited
frequently in the Notes. For complete description please consult the
Bibliography.
AMAE Archives du Ministere des affaires etrangeres. Paris.
AN Archives Nationales. Paris.
An. Ch. Debats France. Assemblee nationale. Annales de la Chambre des
Deputes. Debats parlementaires.
An. Sen. Debats France. Assemblee nationale. Annales du Senat. Debats
parlementaires.
BN Bibliotheque Nationale. Paris.
D.D.F. France. Ministere des affaires etrangeres. Documents
diplomatiques Jranfais, 1871-1914.
Ribot MSS Ribot, Alexandre, MSS. In possession of Mme Alex
andre Ribot, Paris.
XI
PREFACE
In 1878 Alexandre Ribot assumed his place at the left-center of the
French Chamber of Deputies. From here he began a lifelong effort to
establish a moderate republic based upon his conception of liberal
political values. The time seemed propitious to instill lofty purpose into
French political life, for his entry into the Chamber coincided with the
consolidation of the republican regime following the crisis of 16 May.
But the first wave of republican anti-clericalism revealed the fragility
of Ribot's hopes. During the next forty years, successive dramatic
phases in republican history - Boulangism, the Dreyfus Affair, separa
tion of church and state, the emergence of socialism, and ultimately,
the demands of wartime leadership - would test Ribot's system of
political values. Adaptive and resilient, he refined his definition of
liberalism in response to political change and the charge that his plea
for liberty and toleration had become instead sanctuary for a privileged
class in French society.
Ribot surmounted frequent political isolation to gain acknowledg
ment as a formidable parliamentarian, one whose moderation served to
temper the evolution of French political life. Yet this role represents
only one facet of his distinctive career. To Ribot's restraining parlia
mentary influence must be added positive legislative achievements as
well as cabinet responsibilities which ranged from creation of the
Franco-Russian Alliance in 1892 to service as minister of finance and
premier during the First World War. My two-fold purpose is to trace
the life of an important contributor to republican development and to
assess Ribot's varied contributions from the perspective of his own
profession of political faith: that of an eminent representative of the
French liberal tradition.
The place of liberalism in the political thought and practice of the
early Third Republic has been viewed with perplexing variety by
observers seeking categories for the diverse political strains present
XII PREFACE
after 1870. While, for example, liberalism finds a niche as one of
Thibaudet's political families, the concept is either submerged or dis
torted by dualistic generalizations such as forces of order against forces
of movement or republican distinctions as either neo-Jacobin or neo
Girondist. In reality, from their immediate oppositional role during
the Second Empire - frequently with a backward glance to the half
forgotten Orleanist period or optimistic days of 1848 - French liberals
entered the republican world after 1870 with several definable political
conceptions. Emphasis upon individual freedom and moral responsi
bility, freedom of association, economic laissez-faire, parliamentary
supremacy, the efficacy of legislation, and universal suffrage directed
and educated by bourgeois leadership were notable liberal guidelines.
Out of the tragedies of military defeat and the Commune, one liberal
maxim, that of administrative decentralization, fell into disrepute and
never recovered its force. Many of these tenets are recognizable as
common to liberalism in nineteenth century Western society, and, in
deed, Frenchmen often sought guidance from contemporary American
or British political experience. In the following pages, I regard the
heritage of French liberalism in the context of these values.
I could not have initiated the study without Mme Alexandre
Ribot's generous permission to examine the collected private pa
pers of her father-in-law. I can express only too inadequately my
profound debt to Mme Ribot and to her family, M. and Mme Eugene
Simoneau, for extending to me their trust and their most gracious
hospitality.
Certainly a research historian in Paris lives in the best possible world.
Of the numerous individuals who facilitated my inquiries at public
archives, I wish especially to thank M. Georges Dethan, director of the
French foreign ministry archives, and M. J. P. Hubert, archivist at the
Archives N ationales, for their assistance at critical junctures of my
work. The several trips to Paris required to complete this study have
been supported by grants from the Penfield Committee of The U niver
sity of Pennsylvania, the Regents of the State Universities of Wisconsin,
and the American Philosophical Society. I am grateful for their vital
financial assistance.
Lastly, I have benefitted from the editorial advice of Mrs. Sandra
Schroeder and from the constant encouragement of my wife, Carole.
Milwaukee MARTIN E. SCHMIDT
January, 1973
CHAPTER 1
VALUES AND CAREER CHOICE, 1860-1878
"Beneath the exterior of a man of the north," Alexandre Ribot wrote
late in life, "I have had something of the vivacity of the Midi."l In this
characteristic statement of balance, he referred to family ancestry at
Toulouse in the south of France which, by the eighteenth century, had
been firmly transplanted to the Flanders lowland. Alexandre Ribot
was born at Saint Orner on February 6, 1842 into the secure environ
ment that a banking family can give. The origins of the family's
success, however, lay twenty miles northeast at Calais, the port city on
the Strait of Dover. The Ribotte family - the spelling of the surname
changed only in the 1840's - had adapted well to the active commercial
life of the city. It was Alexandre's father who realized the potential of
this family of wholesale merchants and aubergistes. In 1827 he and a
first cousin pooled their capital to found a company for the manufac
ture of tulle, and the rising market for this Calaisian export commodity
quickly made the partnership a successful one. Less than a decade
later, AlexandreJoseph Ribotte invested his profits and moved to Saint
Orner to begin a new career. There he married Zoe Leducq, a young
woman half his age. Alexandre, their first child, was born three years
later. Two daughters followed to complete the family.
Saint Orner, though it lacked the commercial stamp of Calais, main
tained a tradition as a market center as well as a reputation for handi
craft industries. The town's connection to the sea by the navigable
stream and canal dignified as the River Aa diminished its provincial
qualities. Still, built upon one of the small rises that marks entry to
the low Flanders plain, Saint Orner appeared as an oasis in the midst
of the rich farmland of the north. Physically, an imposing Gothic
cathedral dominated the town at its highest point, while at the marsh
land near the river lay the ruined Abbey of Saint-Bertin destroyed
1 "Adolescence et jeunesse," Ribot MSS.