BRISSON, EUGENE HENRI (1835-1912), French states man, was born at Bourges on July 31, 1835, and died in April 1912. He was elected to the Assembly on Feb. 8, 1871, as a mem ber of the extreme Left. He was the first to propose amnesty for the condemned Communards (Sept. 13, 1871), but the proposal was voted down. He strongly supported obligatory primary education and was a firm anti-clerical. He was president of the chamber from '88i—replacing Gambetta—to March 1885, when he became prime minister upon the resignation of Jules Ferry; but he resigned when, after the general elections of that year, he only just obtained a majority for the vote of credit for the Tong king expedition. He took a prominent part in exposing the Panama scandals, was a powerful candidate for the presidency after the murder of President Carnot in 1894, and was again president of the chamber from December 1894 to 1898. In June of the latter year he formed a cabinet, when the country was violently excited over the Dreyfus affair; his firmness and honesty increased the respect in which he was already held by good citi zens, but a chance vote overthrew his ministry in October. He actively supported the ministries of Waldeck-Rousseau and Combes, especially concerning the laws on the religious orders and the separation of Church and State. In 1899 he was a candi date for the presidency. In May i 906 he was elected president of the Chamber of Deputies and re-elected in 1912.