ROGIER, CHARLES LATOUR Belgian statesman, descended from a Belgian family settled in the depart ment of the Nord in France, was born at St. Quentin on Aug. 17, 1800. His father, an officer in the French army, perished in the Russian campaign of 1812 ; and the family moved to Liege, where the eldest son, Firmin, held a professorship. Charles, after being called to the bar, founded, in collaboration with his lifelong friends, Paul Devaux and Joseph Lebeau, the journal Mathieu Laensberg (afterwards Le Politique), which by its ardent patriotism and its attacks on the Dutch administration soon ac quired a widespread influence. When the insurrection of 1830 broke out at Brussels, Rogier put himself at the head of 150 Liegeois, and inscribing on his banner the motto, "Vaincre ou mourir pour Bruxelles," he obtained arms from a local factory, and marched upon the capital. Here he took his place at once among the leaders of the revolutionary party. His influence saved the town hall from pillage on Sept. 19.
On the 24th a commission administrative was formed, of which Rogier became president. The energetic measures of this body and of its successor, the gouvernement provisoire, soon freed the greater part of the country from the Dutch troops. Rogier was sent in October to suppress an outbreak among the colliers of Hainaut, and then as delegate of the provisional government to Antwerp, where the citadel still held out for Holland. He arranged an armistice, and reorganized the entire administration of the city. He sat for Liege in the National Congress, voted for the establishment of an hereditary monarchy, and induced the congress to adopt the principle of an elective second chamber. In the long-drawn debates on the bestowal of the crown he ranged him self on the side of Louis Philippe : but when Louis Philippe de clined the crown on behalf of his son, Rogier voted with the majority for Leopold of Saxe-Coburg.
In June 1831 he was appointed governor of the province of Antwerp, a post rendered exceptionally difficult by the continued presence of Dutch troops in the citadel. In October 1832 he was made minister of the interior in the Goblet-Devaux cabinet. Dur
ing his office he carried, in the teeth of opposition, a law that established in Belgium the first railways on the continent of Europe, and thus laid the foundation of her industrial develop ment. Owing to dissensions in the cabinet, he retired in 1834, together with Lebeau, and resumed the governorship of Antwerp. On Lebeau's return to power in 1840, Rogier became minister of public works and education. His education proposals were defeated by the Clerical party, and on the resignation of the ministry in 1841, Rogier gave his support to a compromise meas ure, which passed into law in 1842. He led the Liberal party in Opposition till 1847, when he formed a cabinet in which he held the ministry of the interior. He carried out a liberal policy which enabled Belgium to escape the general revolutionary movement of 1848.
Rogier retired in Oct. 1852, but was brought back into office by the liberal reaction of 1857. He again became president of the council and minister of the interior in a cabinet of which Frere-Orban was the most conspicuous member. The first im portant measure passed by the ministry was one for the fortifica tion of Antwerp. In 186o the fear of French designs on the in dependence of Belgium led to a movement of reconciliation with Holland, and inspired Rogier to write his poem "La Nouvelle Brabanconne." In 1861 Rogier exchanged the ministry of the in terior for that of foreign affairs. He achieved a diplomatic triumph in freeing the navigation of the Scheldt, and thus enabling Ant werp to become the second port on the mainland of Europe. De feated at Dinant, he sat for Tournai from 1863 till his death. In 1868 Rogier finally retired from power. He continued, however, to take part in public life, and was elected president of the extra ordinary session of the chamber of representatives in 1878. From this time his age, his devoted patriotism and the unassuming simplicity of his life made him the idol of all classes. He died at Brussels on May 27, 1885, and was accorded a public funeral.
See T. Juste, Charles Rogier, d'apres des documents inedits (Verviers, 1885).