Freycinet, Louis-Charles de Saulces de

FREYCINET, LOUIS-CHARLES DE SAULCES de. - French politician, b. 14 Nov. 1828 at Foix (Ariège), d. 15 May 1923 in Paris. A graduate of the École polytechnique in Paris, he was an engineer with the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Midi and then in the state administration. A senator in 1876, he became Minister of Public Works the following year; as President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 29 Dec. 1879 to 19 Sept. 1880, he found himself faced with the question of teaching by religious Congregations.

According to the well-known article seven of the bill presented in 1879 by the then Minister of Public Instruction J. Ferry, public teaching was forbidden to the Jesuits and to members of religious Congregations not recognized by the State. Approved by the Chamber, the article was rejected by the Senate, except that the Chamber subsequently approved a resolution calling on the government to apply the laws concerning unauthorized Congregations and forcing the ministry to issue on 29 March 1888 two decrees, one on the suppression of the Society of Jesus in French territory, the other on the obligation of state recognition for unauthorized Congregations. Desirous of not excessively offending the Holy See, F. opened negotiations with Rome in order to settle by mutual agreement the application of the second of the aforesaid decrees, but, having incurred the hostility of the Chamber and of his own colleagues in the ministry, he was forced to resign. Subsequently he was several more times President of the Council and headed the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and of War. During the First World War he was a minister without portfolio. He published his memoirs (Mes souvenirs 1846-93, Paris 1911-13).