OLLIVIER, OLIVIER EMILE ( I _25-1913), French statesman, was born at Marseilles on July 2, 1825. On the estab lishment of the Second Republic his father, DEMOSTHENES OL LIVIER ( I 799-1844) , secured for him the position of commissary general of the department of Bouches-du-Rhone. His repression of a socialist outbreak at Marseilles commended him to General Cavaignac, who made him prefect of the department. His removal to the prefecture of Chaumont (Haute-Marne) he ascribed to his father's enemies. He therefore resigned from the civil service to take up practice at the bar.
He re-entered political life in 1857 as deputy for the 3rd cir cumscription of the Seine. His candidature had been supported by the Siecle, and he joined the constitutional opposition. With Alfred Darimon, Jules Favre, J. L. Henon and Ernest Picard he formed the group known as Les Cinq, which wrung from Na poleon III. some concessions in the direction of constitutional government. The imperial decree of Nov. 24, permitting the in sertion of parliamentary reports in the Moniteur, and an address from the Corps Legislatif in reply to the speech from the throne, were welcomed by him as a first instalment of reform. This acquiescence marked a considerable change of attitude, for only a year previously a violent attack on the imperial government, in the course of a defence of Etienne Vacherot, brought to trial for the publication of La Democratie, had resulted in his suspension from the bar for three months. He gradually separated from his old associates, who grouped themselves around Jules Favre, and during the session of 1866-1867 011ivier helped to form a third party, which definitely supported the principle of a Liberal Em pire. This led to a struggle of personal rivalry between 011ivier and Rouher, the minister of state, who attempted, by the issue of his Senatus-consulte (July 1866), to uphold the constitution of 1852. On Jan. 19, 1867, an imperial decree was issued, restor ing the right of interpellation to the deputies. A promise was also inserted in the Moniteur of a relaxation of the stringency of the press laws and of concessions in respect of the right of public meeting. On June 28, 1869, the third party, which consisted of 116 members, with the support of the Left, obtained a majority in the chamber for their demand for a responsible ministry "and the right of the Legislative Body to regulate the essential condi tions of its own activity." The emperor prorogued the legislative body on July 13, and on the same day appointed Rouher president of the Senate. The senatus-consulte of Sept. 8, 1869, gave the two chambers the ordinary parliamentary rights. On Nov. 29 the chambers again met and on Dec. 28 the emperor was obliged to give in to the Third party's demands. He dismissed Rouher and entrusted 011ivier with the formation of a responsible ministry of which 011ivier was really premier, although that office was not nominally recognized by the constitution. The new cabinet, known as the ministry of the 2nd of January, had a hard task before it, complicated a week after its formation by the hostile manifesta tion following the shooting of Victor Noir by Prince Pierre Bona parte. 011ivier immediately summoned the high court of justice
for the judgment of Prince Bonaparte and Prince Joachim Murat. His ministry included 4 members of the Right Centre and 4 of the Left Centre. In March his position obliged him to propose a revision of the Constitution, and on April 20, a senatus-consulte was issued which accomplished the transformation of the Empire into a constitutional monarchy. 011ivier, however, still had to face violent opposition from the Republicans and Socialists. He had arrested Rochefort on Feb. 9 for his presence at the funeral of Victor Noir, and he arrested also the editors of the Marseilleien. Neither concessions nor firmness sufficed to appease the "Irrec oncilables" of the opposition, who since the relaxation of the press laws were able to influence the electorate. On May 8, how ever, the amended constitution was submitted to a plebiscite, which resulted in a vote of nearly seven to one in favour of the government. The most distinguished members of the Left in his cabinet—L. J. Buffet, Napoleon Daru and Talhouet Roy—re signed in April on the question of the plebiscite. 011ivier himself held the ministry of foreign affairs for a few weeks, until Daru was replaced by the duc de Gramont.
The revival of the candidature of Prince Leopold of Hohen zollern-Sigmaringen for the throne of Spain early in 1870 dis concerted 011ivier's plans. The French government, following Gramont's advice, instructed Benedetti to demand from the king of Prussia a formal disavowal of the Hohenzollern candidature. 011ivier allowed himself to be gained by the war party. The story of Benedetti's reception at Ems and of Bismarck's manipulation of the Ems telegram is told elsewhere. (See BISMARCK.) It is unlikely that 011ivier could have prevented the eventual outbreak of war, but he might perhaps have postponed it at that time, if he had taken time to hear Benedetti's account of the incident. He was outmanoeuvred by Bismarck, and on July 15 he made a hasty declaration in the Chamber that the Prussian government had issued to the powers a note announcing the rebuff received by Benedetti. He obtained a war vote of 500,000,00o francs, and used the fatal words that he accepted the responsibility of the war "with a light heart," saying that the war had been forced on France. On Aug. 9, with the news of the first disaster, the 011ivier cabinet was driven from office, and its chief sought refuge in Italy. He returned to France in 1873, and occupied himself with writing the apology for his government, L'Empire liberal (1895 seq.). His first wife, Blandine Liszt, was the daughter of the Abbe Liszt by Mme. d'Agoult (Daniel Stern). She died in 1862, and 011ivier married in 1869 Mlle. Gravier. He died at St. Gervais-les-Bains on Aug. 3o, 1913.