Agénor de Gasparin

Agénor Étienne, comte de Gasparin (12 July 1810 - 4 May 1871) was a French statesman and author.

Biography

He was born at Orange, Vaucluse, the son of Adrien de Gasparin. In 1836 he entered the service of his father, then minister of the interior, as chief of a department, became master of requests in the Council of State in 1837, and in 1842 was elected to the Chamber of Deputies from Bastia in Corsica. He was an advocate of religious liberty, prison reform, abolition of slavery, and the rights of the Protestant church, of which he was a member. His independence was not relished by the government, and his sympathy for Protestantism was not shared by his constituents. He was thus voted out of office in 1846, and put all of his enthusiasm into his written work.

When the revolution of 1848 took place, he was asked to declare himself in favor of the new constitution. He refused. His disapproval of the form later given to the government by Louis Napoleon was even stronger, and he permanently moved to Switzerland.

From 1849 until his death, he lived at Geneva. In the winter, he delivered courses of lectures on economical, historical, and religious subjects, many of which were subsequently published. During the Franco-German War he addressed an appeal to the French people urging them not to persevere in it. His death was hastened by his exertions in the care of refugees from Bourbaki's army, whom he received into his house.

Works

He published numerous articles in the Journal des Débats and the Revue des Deux Mondes. Among his books were:

On the separation of church and state:

• Les intérêts généraux du protestantisme français (1843)
• Christianisme et paganisme (Christianity and Paganism; 2 vols. 8vo, 1846)

On the abolition of slavery:

• Esclavage et traite (1838)
• Un grand peuple qui se relève, argues for the justice of the Union cause in the American Civil War (The Uprising of a Great People, 1861)
• L'Amérique devant l'Europe, another book advocating the Union cause (America Before Europe, 1862)

On the reform of home life:

• La famille, ses devoirs, ses joies et ses douleurs (2 vols. 12mo, 1865)
• La liberté morale (1863)
• La conscience (1872)
• L'ennemi de la famille (1874)

On the Franco-German War:

• La déclaration de guerre, un protêt (1870)
• La république neutre d'Alsace (1870)
• Appel au patriotisme et au bon sens (1871)

Other works:

• De l'amortissement (1834)
• Des tables tournantes, du surnaturel en général et des esprits (2 vols. 12mo, 1854; translated into English)
• La question du Neufchâtel (1857)
• Liberal Christianity (1869)

His biography of Innocent III, Vie d'Innocent III, was published posthumously in 1873.

Family

His wife, Valérie Boissier de Gasparin, was a noted writer.

Notes

References

•  "Gasparin, Adrien Étienne Pierre, count de". The American Cyclopædia. 1879.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Thurston, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Gasparin, Agénor Etienne, Count de". New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Gasparin, Agénor Etienne, Comte de". Encyclopedia Americana.

Further reading

• Naville, Le Comte Agénor de Gasparin (Geneva, 1871)
• Théodore Borel, Le Comte Agénor de Gasparin (2d ed., Paris, 1879; Eng. trans. by Oliver O. Howard, Count Agénor de Gasparin, New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1881)
• Bar Fey-Boisier, La Comtesse Agnes de Gasparin et sa famille; correspondance et souvenirs, 1813-1894 (2 vols., Paris, 1902)

External links

• Works by Agénor de Gasparin at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Agénor de Gasparin at Internet Archive