PÉRIER, CASIMIR-PIERRE. - French politician, b. 17 October 1777 in Grenoble, d. 16 May 1832 in Paris. Deputy from 1817 until his death and President of the Chamber in 1830.
President of the Council and Minister of the Interior on 13 March 1831, he pursued a policy of energetic repression of every revolutionary attempt and aimed, in foreign affairs, to preserve the status quo. By not intervening in Italian affairs, he disappointed Italian revolutionaries, who had risen in the Legations and the Duchy of Modena in the hope of French intervention, but he clearly warned Austria not to influence events by force of arms. Metternich, however, had Modena and the Legations occupied by his own troops and suppressed every attempt to establish liberal institutions or even reforms in the peninsula.
P., determined not to allow Austrian predominance in the peninsula, had Ancona occupied in February 1832 by French forces. This was a notable success for French policy but also a violation of the papal government, which, however, restored a Franco-Austrian balance in the peninsula. Since the evacuation of Ancona was conditional upon the departure of Austrian troops from Bologna, the French left the city only in December 1835. P. died, in the midst of his political activity, a victim of cholera.