CAMBON, PIERRE PAUL French diplo matist, was born on Jan. 20, 1843, and educated at the Lycee Louis-le-Grand and the Ecole de Droit. He was called to the Parisian bar, and became private secretary to Jules Ferry during the Commune. Thiers subsequently appointed him to adminis trative posts in the Alpes-Maritimes and at Marseilles. Later he became prefect of Lille. In 1882 he was appointed resident in Tunis, where he displayed his rare diplomatic talent. Four years later he was appointed ambassador to Madrid, and in 1890 was transferred to Constantinople, where he had an opportunity of watching German diplomacy at work in the Near East. In 1898 he became French ambassador in London immediately after the Fashoda incident had embittered Franco-British relations. Cam bon at once set himself the task of improving those relations, and so successful was he that in 1904 he signed with Lansdowne the Anglo-French Agreement. He was very largely responsible for the promotion of the Anglo-Russian Agreement of 1907. In that year his brother, M. Jules Cambon, became French ambassador in Berlin, and thenceforth the two brothers worked in close accord to frustrate the designs of the military party in Germany. A believer in the doctrine expressed in the old French proverb "Tout vient a temps a qui sait attendre." Cambon pursued his policy of strengthening Franco-British relations with quiet skill. The culmination of his long years of work was reached in Novem ber 1912 with the exchange with Sir Edward Grey of the now famous letters regarding a naval and military co-operation be tween France and Great Britain in the possible event of war. Despite some anxious moments in the early days of Aug. 1914, Cambon never wavered in his belief in Great Britain ; and her participation in the war on the side of France fittingly crowned his life-work. During the war he laboured unceasingly to smooth away difficulties and allay irritations between the Allied com mands, but when the peace had been signed at Versailles Cambon felt that the hour of his retirement had come. After 22 years of unremitting service to the interests of France and Great Britain, he left London in 1920 amid manifestations of regret rarely dis played to the ambassador of a foreign power. In 1903 he had been created G.C.V.O., and in 1917 the King accorded him the unusual distinction of the Grand Cross of the Bath. He died in Paris on May 29, 1924.
His brother, JULES MARTIN CAMBON (1845-1935), was called to the bar in 1866, served in the Franco-Prussian War and en tered the civil service in 1871. He was prefect of the department of Nord (188 2) and of the Rhone (1887-91), and in 1891 became governor-general of Algeria (see Guyot, L'oeuvre de M. Jules Cambon, Paris, 1897), where he had served in a minor position in 1874. He was nominated French ambassador at Washington in 1897, and in that capacity negotiated the preliminaries of peace on behalf of the Spanish Government after the war with the United States. He was transferred in 1902 to Madrid, and in 1907 to Berlin; in 1915 he became secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He wrote the article SECURITY for this Encyclopedia.
(I. F. D. M.)