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Jean Baptiste Champagny

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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JEAN BAPTISTE Nompere De CHAMPAGNY (1756-1834), French politician, was born at Roanne, and entered the navy in 1774. He fought through the war in America and resigned in 1787. Elected deputy by the noblesse of Forex to the statesgeneral in 1789, he went over to the third estate on the 21st of June and collaborated in the work of the Constituent Assembly, especially occupying himself with the reorganization of the navy. A political career seems to have attracted him little; he remained in private life from 1791 to 1799, when Napoleon named him member of the council of state. From July 1801 to August 1804 he was ambassador of France at Vienna, and directed with great intelligence the incessant negotiations between the two courts. In August 1804 Napoleon made him minister of the interior, and in this position, which he held for three years, he proved an administrator of the first order. In addition to the ordinary charges of his office, he had to direct the recruitment of the army, organize the industrial exhibition of 1808, and to complete the public works undertaken in Paris and throughout France. He was devoted to Napoleon, on whom he lavished adulation in his speeches. In August 1807 the emperor chose him to succeed Talleyrand as minister for foreign affairs. He directed the annexation of the Papal States in April 1808, worked to secure the abdication of Charles IV. of Spain in May 1808, negotiated the peace of Vienna (1809) and the marriage of Napoleon. In April 1811 a quarrel with the emperor led to his retirement, and he obtained the sinecure office of intendant general of the crown. In 1814, after the abdication, the empress sent him on a fruitless mission to the emperor of Austria. Then he went over to the Bourbons. During the Hundred Days he again joined Napoleon. This led to his exclusion by Louis XVIII., but in 1819 he recovered his dignity of peer. He died in Paris in 1834. He had three sons who became men of distinction. Francois (1804-1882) was a well-known author, who was made a member of the French Academy in 1869. His great work was a history of the Roman empire, in three parts, (1) Les Cesars (1841-1843, 4 vols.), (2) Les Antonins (1863, 3 vols.), (3) Les Cesars du III e siecle (1870, 3 vols.). Napoleon (1806-1872) published a Traite de la p olice municipale in 4 volumes (1844-1861), and was a deputy in the Corps Legislatif from 1852 to 1870. Jerome Paul (1809- [886) was also deputy in the Corps Legislatif from 1853 to 1870, and was made honorary chamberlain in 1859. He worked at the official publication of the correspondence of Napoleon I.

a city of Champaign county, Illinois, U.S.A., about 125 m. S. by W. of Chicago, on the head-waters of the Vermilion river. Pop. (1890) 5839; (1900) 9098, of whom 973 were foreign-born; (1906, est.) 11,054. It is served by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St Louis, the Wabash, and he Illinois Central railways (the last having repair shops here), and by the Illinois (electric) Traction System from Danville, Illinois, to St Louis, Missouri. In 1906 the city covered 3.5 sq. m.; it is situated in a rich agricultural region, and has small manufacturing interests. Immediately east of Champaign is the city of Urbana, the county-seat of Champaign county, served by the Wabash and the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St Louis railways, with repair shops of the latter. In 1890 the population of Urbana was 3511; in 1900, 5728, of whom 300 were foreignborn. Partly in Urbana and partly in Champaign is the University of Illinois (see Illinois); immediately south of its campus is the 400-acre farm of the university. Each city has a public library, and in Champaign are the Burnham Athenaeum, the Burnham hospital, the Garwood home for old ladies, and several parks, all gifts of former citizens. Champaign was founded in 1855, incorporated as a city in 1860, and re-chartered in 1883. Urbana secured a city charter in 1855.