Armand, Ernest

ARMAND, ERNEST. - French diplomat b. in Paris on 6 March 1828, d. there on 28 Nov. 1898. First secretary of embassy in Rome, he served there as chargé d'affaires while awaiting the titular holder De Sartiges during that tragic autumn of 1867, in which it seemed that the millennial Papal State, abandoned to its weak forces because of the famous Convention of Sept. 1864, was about to fall under the powerful thrusts of large Garibaldian bands secretly favored and supported by the Rattazzi ministry. At that time A., a convinced Catholic, most devoted to Pius IX, reported daily to Paris what was happening, insisting in order to obtain a new French intervention, reaffirming in each of his dispatches the following points: that there was no insurrection in Latium, but rather an invasion from the neighboring kingdom; that the royal government was resolutely aiding the Garibaldians. Rome, meanwhile, lived amid anguished uncertainties. The troops, though valiant and combative, appeared increasingly weary. Pius IX and Antonelli were resolved to defend themselves to the end. A.'s noble efforts were crowned by a first success on 17 Oct., when Napoleon III promised the aid of France. But the emperor's nebulous political wavering and the diplomatic intrigues of Rattazzi and Nigra sharpened the crisis to such a point that Card. Antonelli had A. immediately send a dispatch, which seemed almost the voice of a dying man. On 26 Oct. the squadron departed from Toulon; on 29 the expeditionary corps landed at Civitavecchia; on 3 Nov. a Franco-Pontifical column commanded by General Hermann Kanzler defeated Garibaldi and his men at Mentana. A. received from Pius IX as a reward the title of count (27 Nov. 1867) and concluded his career as minister of France in Lisbon in 1878, afterward sitting for some years in the chamber of deputies on the opposition benches.

Paolo Dalla Torre