BALLEYDIER, Alphonse. - French historian, b. in Lyon in 1820, d. in 1859. Conservative at heart but desirous of reforms, he welcomed with joy the advent of Pius IX to the tiara: "Under the guidance of Pius IX, there is no reef to fear; the path that leads to happiness, and even more to freedom, is easy, it is secure, because God walks with him" (Roma e Pio IX, Italian trans., Turin 1847).
After 1849, he returned to the subject and published a History of the Revolution in Rome (Italian trans., Florence 1851), sharply reproaching Mazzini for having sought to resolve the Italian political problem by destroying the principle of papal and monarchical sovereignty. He also wrote a Histoire des révolutions de l'empire d'Autriche and a Histoire de la guerre de Hongrie en 1848-49, works which earned him the title of historiographer of the imperial court of Vienna.