RAYNEVAL, ALPHONSE, conte di. — Diplomat,
born in Paris on 1 Aug. 1813, died there on 10 Feb. 1858.
(from *du Panthéon des illustrations françaises
du XIXe siècle* published under the direction
of Victor Frond, Cierpi, Parigi 1.0.)
RAVIGNAN, GUSTAVE-XAVIER DELA-
CROIX de — Portrait. Lithograph from a
drawing made from life.
Sent to rep-
resent the Second Re-
public of France
at the Court of
Naples, in 1848
he worked to fa-
vor the clandestine
departure abroad of
numerous liberals
compromised in the
political events
of that year.
Having then
transferred to Gaeta, in order
to attend the meetings
there of Pius IX and the Grand
Duke of Tuscany with
the King of Naples and
his ministers, in
1849 he was accred-
ited to the person
of the Pontiff, exiled in the Bourbon fortress. R.
became so well regarded by Pope Mastai that he asked the
government of Paris to appoint him ambassador of France
to the Holy See as soon as he was able to return to Rome.
R. held the post until 1857, when he was sud-
denly transferred to Petersburg because of the unexpected publi-
cation in the Daily News, on 18 March of that year, of
a secret report that he had sent to his gov-
ernment on 14 May 1856 and which had come to the knowledge of the
Foreign Ministry of Turin. In this report, the broad and commendable
administrative and structural reforms of the
State carried out by Pius IX after
his return from Gaeta were set forth and praised. Cavour, who had secured the
publication of R.’s writing in the British periodical,
in order to place the French government in evident difficulty
and strike a dangerous opponent, then had it
polemically commented on by Minghetti in the pamphlet
Observations sur la note de M. de R. par un subjet du Pope.
Recalled to Paris to provide explanations to the Minis-
try, R. died there suddenly before reaching
his new destination.