CAMBON

cambon, pierre paul (1843- ), french diplomatist, was born on the 20th of january 1843. he was called to the parisian bar, and became private secretary to jules ferry in the prefecture of the seine. after ten years of administrative work in france as secretary of prefecture, and then as prefect successively of the departments of aube (1872), doubs (1876), nord (1877-1882), he exchanged into the diplomatic service, being nominated french minister plenipotentiary at tunis. in 1886 he became french ambassador to madrid; was transferred to constantinople in 1890, and in 1898 to london. he was decorated with the grand cross of the legion of honour, and became a member of the french academy of sciences. his brother, jules martin cambon (1845- ), was called to the bar in 1866, served in the franco-prussian war and entered the civil service in 1871. he was prefect of the department of nord (1882) and of the rhone (1887-1891), and in 1891 became governor-general of algeria (see guyot, _l'oeuvre de m. jules cambon_, paris, 1897), where he had served in a minor position in 1874. he was nominated french ambassador at washington in 1897, and in that capacity negotiated the preliminaries of peace on behalf of the spanish government after the war with the united states. he was transferred in 1902 to madrid, and in 1907 to berlin.