René Goblet

René Goblet (French pronunciation: ​[ʁəne ɡɔblɛ]; 26 November 1828 – 13 September 1905) was a French politician, Prime Minister of France for a period in 1886–1887.

René Goblet
41st Prime Minister of France
In office
16 December 1886 – 30 May 1887
Preceded byCharles de Freycinet
Succeeded byMaurice Rouvier
Personal details
Born26 November 1828
Aire-sur-la-Lys
Died13 September 1905(1905-09-13) (aged 76)
Paris
Political partyNone

He was born at Aire-sur-la-Lys, Pas-de-Calais and was trained in law. Under the Second Empire, he helped found a Liberal journal, Le Progrès de la Somme, and in July 1871 he was sent by the département of the Somme to the National Assembly, where he took his place on the extreme left, as a member of the Republican Union parliamentary group (Union républicaine). Having failed to secure election in 1876, he was returned for Amiens the following year. He held a minor government office in 1879, and in 1882 became minister of the interior in the Freycinet cabinet. He was minister of education, fine arts and religion in Henri Brisson's first cabinet in 1885, and again under Freycinet in 1886, when he greatly increased his reputation by an able defence of the government's education proposals.

Meanwhile, his independence and outspokenness had alienated him from many of his party, and throughout his life he was frequently in conflict with his political associates, from Léon Gambetta downwards. On the fall of the Freycinet cabinet in December he formed a cabinet in which be reserved for himself the portfolios of the interior and of religion. The Goblet cabinet was unpopular from the outset, and it was with difficulty that anybody could be found to accept the ministry of foreign affairs, which was finally given to Gustave Flourens.

Then came what is known as the Schnaebele incident, the arrest on the German frontier of a French official named Schnaebele, which caused immense excitement in France. For some days Goblet took no definite decision, but left Flourens, who stood for peace, to fight it out with General Boulanger, the minister of war, who urged the despatch of an ultimatum. Although he finally intervened on the side of Flourens, and peace was preserved, his weakness in the face of Boulangist propaganda became a national danger. Defeated on the budget in May 1887, his government resigned; but he returned to office next year as foreign minister in the radical administration of Charles Floquet. He was defeated at the polls by a Boulangist candidate in 1889, and sat in the senate from 1891 to 1893 when he returned to the popular chamber. In association with Édouard Locroy, Ferdinand Sarrien and Paul Peytral he drew up a republican programme which they put forward in the Petite Republique francaise. At the elections of 1898 he was defeated, and from then on took little part in public affairs. He died in Paris.

References
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Goblet, René". Encyclopædia Britannica. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 169.

Goblet's Ministry, 16 December 1886 – 30 May 1887
Political offices
Preceded by
René Waldeck-Rousseau		 Minister of the Interior
1882		 Succeeded by
Armand Fallières
Preceded by
Armand Fallières		 Minister of Public Instruction
1885–1886		 Succeeded by
Marcelin Berthelot
Preceded by
Félix Martin-Feuillée		 Minister of Worship
1885–1887		 Succeeded by
Eugène Spuller
Preceded by
Charles de Freycinet		 Prime Minister of France
1886–1887		 Succeeded by
Maurice Rouvier
Preceded by
Ferdinand Sarrien		 Minister of the Interior
1886–1887		 Succeeded by
Armand Fallières
Preceded by
Émile Flourens		 Minister of Foreign Affairs
1888–1889		 Succeeded by
Eugène Spuller
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