LEDRU-ROLLIN, ALEXANDRE A. 



445 



December 31, 1874. Ho was the son of an 

 eminent und wealthy physician, Dr. Jacques 

 Philippe Ledru, and only assumed the addition 

 /foil in in 1880, which belonged to his mother's 

 family, to distiiij.Mii.sli himself from another ad- 

 ' . Charles Ledru, of about his own 

 age. lie was educated in the best schools in 

 1'uris, studied IHW at the university, passed his 

 examination and received his diploma in 1828, 

 and was admittod to the bar in 1830. A paper 

 on the proclamation of martial law in Paris 

 during the insurrection of 1832 established his 

 ability as a lawyer, and he was employed as 

 counsel by most of the republican conspira- 

 tors who were prosecuted under Louis Philippe. 

 In these trials he gained considerable popu- 

 larity by the boldness of his style, and soon 

 li.MMine the avowed representative of the Com- 

 munist interest. In 1837 he assumed the edi- 

 torship of the Journal du Palais, a leading law 

 journal, and occupied this position for ten 

 years. He also superintended the publication 

 of several works on French jurisprudence, in- 

 cluding a digest of decisions in the courts from 

 1795 to 1837, which he prefaced with an intro- 

 duction on the influence of the French school 

 on law in the nineteenth century, a history of 

 law, of legislation, and of the teachings of emi- 

 nent jurists under the Empire and the Restora- 

 tion. This was subsequently extended to the 

 period ending in 1845. He filled the position 

 of chief editor of Le Droit, a daily law journal. 

 In 1838 he purchased the position of attorney 

 at the Court of Cassation, a position which he 

 abandoned for politics in 1846. He had ac- 

 quired a great reputation for eloquence and 

 fearlessness in his advocacy of republican 

 views, and in 1839 was nominated for a deputy 

 in the National Assembly from St.-Valery-sur- 

 Somme, but lacked 11 votes of a majority. In 

 1841 he was returned as a deputy from Mans, 

 in the department of Sarthe, to fill the vacancy 

 Caused by the death of Etienne Garnier-Pages. 

 His address to the electors, boldly avowing his 

 republican sympathies, was made the occasion 

 of a prosecution against him by the Govern- 

 ment, which, in spite of the eloquent defense 

 of Odilon-Barrot, Berryer, and Marie, sentenced 

 him to four months' imprisonment and a fine 

 of 3,000 francs ; but this decision was annulled 

 and the Government defeated on an appeal to 

 the Court of Cassation. Thus introduced into 

 the Chamber of Deputies, M. Ledrti-Rollin be- 

 came naturally the chief of the extreme Left, 

 or " The Mountain," as it began to be called in 

 allusion to the times of the earlier Revolution. 

 But notwithstanding his extraordinary elo- 

 quence, M. Ledru-Rollin was too intensely 

 radical to maintain cordial relations with the 

 more moderate Republicans and Radicals of 

 the Left, and had not sufficient tact to rally 

 round him and retain the support of any very 

 considerable following, and hence he was for 

 several years a general without soldiers, and 

 exerted but little influence in the Chamber. 

 Outside, his radical views, his intense earnest- 



ness, and his brilliant oratorical powers, aa well 

 a- his devotion to the interests of the laboring- 

 classes, made him very popular with his coo- 

 stituents, and caused his return at the succes- 

 sive elections by acclamation. In 1844 he 

 visited Ireland, his wife being a wealthy Irish 

 lady, and was received with great honors by 

 the populace, though O'Connell treated him 

 coldly. In 1845, finding that the National, the 

 republican organ, was determined to oppose 

 him, he established a new journal, La Re/orme, 

 and installed Flocon as editor. His social man- 

 ifesto of 1845, while securing him the support 

 of the lower ranks of society, estranged from 

 him that of the middle classes, and his uncom- 

 promising support of the doctrine of universal 

 suffrage displeased the monarchical opposition 

 headed by Odilon-Barrot and others. He took 

 a leading part in all the republican demonstra- 

 tions in the provinces in 1847, and, when the 

 revolution broke out, became for a short time 

 its acknowledged leader, being chiefly instru- 

 mental in preventing the regency of the Duch- 

 ess of Orleans from being accepted by the 

 Chamber of Deputies, and in securing the 

 powerful aid of Lamartine. On the organiza- 

 tion of the Provisional Government he was 

 one of its members, and accepted the portfolio 

 of Minister of the Interior. But the cabinet 

 thus improvised contained elements so incon- 

 gruous that their harmonious action was im- 

 possible. Every shade of sentiment was repre- 

 sented, from the mild and conciliatory repub- 

 licanism of Lamartine, the stalwart democracy 

 of Berryer, and the eloquent but considerate 

 sympathy of Ledru-Rollin for the struggling 

 masses, to the fierce radicalism of Louis Blanc. 

 For the moment. Ledru-Rollin was the favorite 

 of both the bourgeoisie and the ouvriers, or 

 working-men, and loud were the clamors that 

 he should assume the dictatorship. But, with 

 a patriotism worthy of all honor, he put aside 

 promptly all such suggestions, and, though dis- 

 approving many of the measures of his col- 

 leagues in private, gave them his public sanc- 

 tion, in order that there might be no indications 

 of want of harmony in the ministry, till the 

 bourgeoisie came to denounce and hate him for 

 acts which he had most heartily protested 

 against in private. He was also held responsible 

 for the publication of the Bulletins de la Re- 

 publique, supposed at the time to be the pro- 

 duction of George Sand. Nevertheless, by his 

 zeal and courage, he materially assisted in 

 maintaining tranquillity in Paris, protected 

 Emile de Girardin from a mob, defeated the 

 insurrectionary attempt of April 16th, and 

 reconciled the democrats to the return of the 

 army to the capital. In the insurrection of May 

 15th he aided in defeating the object of the 

 insurgents, but courageously defended Louis 

 Blanc and Caussidiere, who were accused be- 

 fore the Assembly. After the insurrection of 

 June 24th, Ledru-Rollin resumed his seat in 

 the Assembly, and his splendid speeches in ex- 

 planation of the insurrection, and against the 



