PÉRIER, CASIMIR-PIERRE. - French statesman, b. 1 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 vigorous repression of every revolutionary attempt and, in foreign affairs, set himself the preservation of the statu quo. By non-intervention in Italian affairs he disappointed the Italian revolutionaries, who had risen in the legations and in 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 stifled every attempt to establish liberal institutions, or at least
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 an act of violence against the papal government; it nevertheless restored a Franco-Austrian balance in the peninsula. Since the evacuation of Ancona was made conditional upon the departure of Austrian troops from Bologna, the French left the city only in December 1838. P. died, at the height of his political activity, a victim of cholera.