ARMAND, ERNEST. — French diplomat, born in Paris on 6 March 1828, died there on 28 November 1898. First secretary of the embassy in Rome, he served there as chargé d’affaires pending the arrival of the ambassador, De Sartiges, during that tragic autumn of 1867, when it seemed that the thousand-year-old Papal States, abandoned to their weak forces because of the famous Convention of September 1864, were about to fall under the powerful pressure of large bands of Garibaldians secretly favored and supported by the Rattazzi ministry. At that time A., a convinced Catholic and deeply devoted to Pius IX, communicated daily to Paris what was happening, insisting on obtaining a new French intervention and reiterating 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 decisively assisting the Garibaldians. Rome, meanwhile, lived amid anguishing uncertainties. The troops, although courageous and combative, appeared increasingly exhausted. Pius IX and Antonelli were determined to defend themselves to the end. The noble efforts of A. were crowned with an initial success on 17 October, when Napoleon III promised France’s assistance. But the emperor’s nebulous political wavering and the diplomatic intrigues of Rattazzi and Nigra sharpened the crisis to such an extent that Cardinal Antonelli had A. immediately send a dispatch that seemed almost the voice of a dying man. On 26 October the fleet departed from Toulon; on the 29th the expeditionary corps landed at Civitavecchia; on 3 November a Franco-Papal column commanded by General Ermanno Kanzler defeated Garibaldi and his forces at Mentana. Pius IX rewarded A. with the title of count (27 November 1867), and he concluded his career as France’s minister in Lisbon in 1878, subsequently sitting for several years in the Chamber of Deputies on the opposition benches.
BISL.: P. Mencacci, La mano di Dio nell'ultima invasione contro Roma, Roma 1866-69; G. G. Franco, I crociati di S. Pietro, ivi 1869-70; P. De La Gorce, Histoire du Second Empire, Parigi 1894-1901; L. Mordini, s. V. Dis. Ris. Naz., II, p. 110; P. Dalla Torre, L'anno di Mentana, Torino 1938, con ampia bibl. Paolo Dalla Torre