Eugène Rouher

Who was Eugène Rouher?

Eugène Rouher was a French statesman of the Second Empire.

He was born at Riom, where he practised law after taking his degree in Paris in 1835. In 1846 he sought election to the Chamber of Deputies as an official candidate of the Guizot ministry. It was only after the Revolution of 1848, however, that he became deputy for the department of Puy-de-Dôme. Re-elected to the Legislative Chamber in 1849 he succeeded Odilon Barrot as minister of justice, with the additional office of keeper of the seals.

From the tribune of the Chamber he described, the revolution of February as a "catastrophe," and he supported reactionary legislation, notably the bill for the limitation of the suffrage. After the coup d'état of 2 December 1851, he was entrusted with the redaction of the new constitution, and on his resignation of office in January became vice-president of the Council of State. After the formal establishment of the Empire, Napoleon III rewarded him with a grant of £40,000 and the estate of Cirey.

In 1855 he became minister of agriculture, commerce and public works, and in 1856 senator. He created France's excellent system of railways without making them a state monopoly, and he conducted the complicated negotiations for the treaty of commerce with England which was concluded in January 1860, and subsequently arranged similar treaties with Belgium and Italy. In 1863 he became minister president of the Council of State, and on the death of AAM Billault minister of state and chief spokesman of the emperor. before the Corps Législatif.