SARTIGES, EUGÈNE de. — Diplomat, born in Gannat on 18 January 1808, died in Paris on 3 October 1892.
He began his diplomatic career in 1830 in Rome as an embassy auditor; he was subsequently plenipotentiary of the French Empire in Washington and The Hague, and then (from October 1862 to November 1863) at the court of Turin, where he displayed great tact in the matter of the “Aunis.” On the French ship of that name, the prefect of Genoa had arrested the brigand La Gala, against whom a severe sentence was pending; the imperial government wanted his immediate release. After lengthy negotiations, the brigand was subjected to a new trial, sentenced to death, and subsequently pardoned, in accordance with the undertakings made between Vittorio Emanuele II and Napoleone III. A few weeks later S. was sent as ambassador to Rome, where he incurred the displeasure of Pio IX and Card. Antonelli. He insisted for a long time with his own government on the withdrawal of the French troops from the Papal States and induced the Emperor and the Foreign Minister, Drouyn de Lhuys, to conclude the government (v.).
In the following years S., who was closely tied to the secret reform committees, repeatedly sent reports to Paris unfavorable to the papal government. In 1867, at the time of the Garibaldian invasion of Latium, he was deliberately on leave and took no part in those events; he nevertheless declared that, had he been in Rome, he would not have requested the intervention of the imperial forces, as his chargé d’affaires Armand had done (v.). At the beginning of 1868 he was recalled to his homeland, under the pretext of his appointment as senator. With the fall of the Second Empire (1870), he withdrew into private life.