CAVAIGNAC, Louts EUT4f:NE, was b. in Paris, 1802, and was educated in the Polytech nic school, and the Ecole d' Application at Metz. He first served in the 3lorea, and after wards in Africa (whither be was sent in 1832 into a kind of honorable exile, in conse quence of a too free expression of opinion in favor of republican institutions), where he acquired great distinction by his energy, coolness, and intrepidity. He was made chef de bataillon in 1837. and rose to the rank of brigade-gen. in 1844. In 1848, he was appointed governor-general of Algeria, but in view of the impending revolutionary dan gers, was called to Paris, he having also been elected as a delegate to the national assembly by the two departments of Lot and Seine. In the insurrection of June which followed, C., as minister of war, had a most difficult task to play, and be displayed, during the four days and nights of the contest, remarkable presence of mind, firmness, and activity. His plan of action appeared strange and almost traitorous at the time. In opposition to the wishes of the national assembly, who desired that the troops should be dispersed over Paris, he divided his men into three separate bodies, which had to clear their several routes from obstacles in order to effect a reunion, streets and even quarters of the city being left for some time without military protection. Regarding the out
break more as the beginning of a civil war than a mere insurrection, lie, in fact, met the insurgents in true order of battle. His operations were successful, and his clemency was as remarkable as his generalship. When he had the power of assuming the dicta torship, lie resigned it into the hands of the national assembly, which appointed him president of the council. As a candidate for the presidency of the republic, when Louis Napoleon was elected, he received about a million and a half of votes. On the coup d'etat of Dec., 1851, C. was arrested, but released after a short detention; and though he consistently refused to give in his adhesion to the empire, he was permitted to resale in France without molestation. He died very suddenly of heart disease in Oct., 1857, at his country-house near Tours, and was burieil in the cemetery of Montmartre, Paris, in presence of many thousand spectators, including several republican leaders. In debates, C. was remarkably unlike his countrymen, being not voluble and declamatory, but sober, clear, and moderate. _ rliefi#1-1,esei