CHALLEMEL-LACOUR, PAUL A M A N D 1896), French statesman, was born at Avranches on May 19, 1827. Educated at the Ecole Normale Superieure, he became pro fessor of philosophy at Pau and at Limoges, but was obliged to leave France after the coup d'etat of 1851. He settled in Zurich, where he became professor of French literature in 1856. Three years later the amnesty permitted his return to France. Appointed by the government of national defence prefect of the Rhone in 1870, he suppressed the communard rising at Lyons directed by Bakunin. He became a deputy to the National Assembly in 1872, and in 1876 a member of the Senate. Though Challemel-Lacour sat at first on the extreme Left, he modified his opinions as time went on, and towards the close of his career was a foremost repre sentative of moderate republicanism. He was French ambassador at Berne (1879), London (188o), minister of foreign affairs in the Jules Ferry cabinet (for some months in 1883), vice-president of the Senate (1890), president of the Senate (1893). His close and reasoned eloquence made him one of the most conspicuous members of the Senate. He died in Paris on Oct. 26, 1896.
See Oeuvres oratoires de Challemel-Lacour (1897) and Etudes et reflexions d'un Pessimiste ('9°'), edited by J. Reinach. See also H. Defasse, Challemel-Lacour.