BOULANGER

boulanger, george ernest jean marie (1837-1891), french general, was born at rennes on the 29th of april 1837. he entered the army in 1856, and served in algeria, italy, cochin-china and the franco-german war, earning the reputation of being a smart soldier. he was made a brigadier-general in 1880, on the recommendation of the duc d'aumale, then commanding the vii. army corps, and boulanger's expressions of gratitude and devotion on this occasion were remembered against him afterwards when, as war minister in m. freycinet's cabinet, he erased the name of the due d'aumale from the army list, as part of the republican campaign against the orleanist and bonapartist princes. in 1882 his appointment as director of infantry at the war office enabled him to make himself conspicuous as a military reformer; and in 1884 he was appointed to command the army occupying tunis, but was recalled owing to his differences of opinion with m. cambon, the political resident. he returned to paris, and began to take part in politics under the aegis of m. clemenceau and the radical party; and in january 1886, when m. freycinet was brought into power by the support of the radical leader, boulanger was given the post of war minister. by introducing genuine reforms for the benefit of officers and common soldiers alike, and by laying himself out for popularity in the most pronounced fashion--notably by his fire-eating attitude towards germany in april 1887 in connexion with the schnaebele frontier incident--boulanger came to be accepted by the mob as the man destined to give france her revenge for the disasters of 1870, and to be used simultaneously as a tool by all the anti-republican intriguers. his action with regard to the royal princes has already been referred to, but it should be added that boulanger was taunted in the senate with his ingratitude to the duc d'aumale, and denied that he had ever used the words alleged. his letters containing them were, however, published, and the charge was proved. boulanger fought a bloodless duel with the baron de lareinty over this affair, but it had no effect at the moment in dimming his popularity, and on m. freycinet's defeat in december 1886 he was retained by m. goblet at the war office. m. clemenceau, however, had by this time abandoned his patronage of boulanger, who was becoming so inconveniently prominent that, in may 1887, m. goblet was not sorry to get rid of him by resigning. the mob clamoured for their "brav' general," but m. rouvier, who next formed a cabinet, declined to take him as a colleague, and boulanger was sent to clermont-ferrand to command an army corps. a boulangist "movement" was now in full swing. the bonapartists had attached themselves to the general, and even the comte de paris encouraged his followers to support him, to the dismay of those old-fashioned royalists who resented boulanger's treatment of the duc d'aumale. his name was the theme of the popular song of the moment--"c'est boulanger qu'il nous faut"; the general and his black horse became the idol of the parisian populace; and he was urged to play the part of a plebiscitary candidate for the presidency. the general's vanity lent itself to what was asked of it; after various symptoms of insubordination had shown themselves, he was deprived of his command in 1888 for twice coming to paris without leave, and finally on the recommendation of a council of inquiry composed of five generals, his name was removed from the army list. he was, however, almost at once elected to the chamber for the nord, his political programme being a demand for a revision of the constitution. in the chamber he was in a minority, since genuine republicans of all varieties began to see what his success would mean, and his actions were accordingly directed to keeping the public gaze upon himself. a popular hero survives many deficiencies, and neither his failure as an orator nor the humiliation of a discomfiture in a duel with m. floquet, then an elderly civilian, sufficed to check the enthusiasm of his following. during 1888 his personality was the dominating feature of french politics, and, when he resigned his seat as a protest against the reception given by the chamber to his revisionist proposals, constituencies vied with one another in selecting him as their representative. at last, in january 1889, he was returned for paris by an overwhelming majority. he had now become an open menace to the parliamentary republic. had boulanger immediately placed himself at the head of a revolt he might at this moment have effected the _coup d'etat_ which the intriguers had worked for, and might not improbably have made himself master of france; but the favourable opportunity passed. the government, with m. constans as minister of the interior, had been quietly taking its measures for bringing a prosecution against him, and within two months a warrant was signed for his arrest. to the astonishment of his friends, on the 1st of april he fled from paris before it could be executed, going first to brussels and then to london. it was the end of the political danger, though boulangist echoes continued for a little while to reverberate at the polls during 1889 and 1890. boulanger himself, having been tried and condemned _in absentia_ for treason, in october 1889 went to live in jersey, but nobody now paid much attention to his doings. the world was startled, however, on the 30th of september 1891 by hearing that he had committed suicide in a cemetery at brussels by blowing out his brains on the grave of his mistress, madame de bonnemains (_nee_ marguerite crouzet), who had died in the preceding july. see also the article france: history; and verly, _le general boulanger et la conspiration monarchique_ (paris, 1893). (h. ch.) boulay de la meurthe, antoine jacques claude joseph, comte (1761-1840), french politician and magistrate, son of an agricultural labourer, was born at chamousey (vosges) on the 19th of february 1761. called to the bar at nancy in 1783, he presently went to paris, where he rapidly acquired a reputation as a lawyer and a speaker. he supported the revolutionary cause in lorraine, and fought at valmy (1792) and wissembourg (1793) in the republican army. but his moderate principles brought suspicion on him, and during the terror he had to go into hiding. he represented la meurthe in the council of five hundred, of which he was twice president, but his views developed steadily in the conservative direction. fearing a possible renewal of the terror, he became an active member of the plot for the overthrow of the directory in november 1799. he was rewarded by the presidency of the legislative commission formed by napoleon to draw up the new constitution; and as president of the legislative section of the council of state he examined and revised the draft of the civil code. in eight years of hard work as director of a special land commission he settled the titles of land acquired by the french nation at the revolution, and placed on an unassailable basis the rights of the proprietors who had bought this land from the government. he received the grand cross of the legion of honour and the title of count, was a member of napoleon's privy council, but was never in high favour at court. after waterloo he tried to obtain the recognition of napoleon ii. he was placed under surveillance at nancy, and later at halberstadt and frankfort-on-main. he was allowed to return to france in 1819, but took no further active part in politics, although he presented himself unsuccessfully for parliamentary election in 1824 and 1827. he died in paris on the 4th of february 1840. he published two books on english history--_essai sur les causes qui, en 1649, amenerent en angleterre l'etablissement de la republique_ (paris, 1799), and _tableau politique des regnes de charles ii et jacques ii, derniers rois de la maison de stuart_ (the hague, 1818)--which contained much indirect criticism of the directory and the restoration governments. he devoted the last years of his life to writing his memoirs, which, with the exception of a fragment on the _theorie constitutionnelle de sieyes_ (1836), remained unpublished. his elder son, comte henri georges boulay de la meurthe (1797-1858), was a constant bonapartist, and after the election of louis napoleon to the presidency, was named (january 1849) vice-president of the republic. he zealously promoted popular education, and became in 1842 president of the society for elementary instruction.