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Adrien Albert Marie, Count de Mun

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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Count (1841-), French politician, was born at Lumigny, in the department of Seine-et-Marne, on the 28th of February 1841. He entered the army, saw much service in Algeria (1862), and took part in the fighting around Metz in 1870. On the surrender of Metz, he was sent as a prisoner of war to Aix-la-Chapelle, whence he returned in time to assist at the capture of Paris from the Commune. A fervent Roman Catholic, he devoted himself to advocating a patriarch type of Christian Socialism. His eloquence made him the most prominent member of the Cercles Catholiques d'Ouvriers, and his attacks on Republican social policy at last evoked a prohibition from the minister of war. He thereupon resigned his commission (Nov. 1875), and in the following February stood as Royalist and Catholic candidate for Pontivy. The influence of the Church was exerted to secure his election, and the pope during its progress sent him the order of St Gregory. He was returned, but the election was declared invalid. He was re-elected, however, in the following August, and for many years was the most conspicuous leader of the anti-Republican party. "We form," he said on one occasion, "the irreconcilable Counter-Revolution." As far back as 1878 he had declared himself opposed to universal suffrage, a declaration that lost him his seat from 1879 to 1881. He spoke strongly against the expulsion of the French princes, and it was chiefly through his influence that the support of the Royalist party was given to General Boulanger. But as a faithful Catholic he obeyed the encyclical of 1892, and declared his readiness to rally to a Republican government, provided that it respected religion. In the following January he received from the pope a letter commending his action, and encouraging him in his social reforms. He was defeated at the general election of that year, but in 1894 was returned for Finistere (Morlaix). In 1897 he succeeded Jules Simon as a member of the French Academy. This honour he owed to the purity of style and remarkable eloquence of his speeches, which, with a few pamphlets, form the bulk of his published work. In Ma vocation sociale (1908) he wrote an explanation and justification of his career.