LEDRU-ROLLIN, ALMICANDRE AnonsTE, a noted French democrat, b. in Paris, 1808; studied for the bar, to which be was admitted in 1830. He was counsel for the defense in most of the prosecutions of opposition journals during the reign of Louis Philippe. and obtained a great reputation amen°. the lower orders. In 1841 be was elected deputy by the department of Studio, and became a prominent member of the extreme left. In 1846 he published an Appel our Traroillearx, in which he declared "universal suf f rage" to be the only panacea for the miseries of the working-classes. He was also an , ardent promoter of the reform-meetings that preceded the crash of 1848. On the outbreak of the revolution, he advocated the formation of a provisional government, and when this was carried out was intrusted with the portfolio of the interior. He was • afterwards one of the five in whose hands the national assembly placed the interim gov- , eminent. In this high position he showed great want of perception, firmness, and energy. In consequence of the insurrection of June. 1848, he ceased to hold,office, and
then sought to recover (what he had lost by accepting office) his.infiuence with the extreme democrats. He partially succeeded, and even ventured on a candidature for the presidency, but obtained only 370,119 votes, The unsuccessful emeate of June, 1849, put an end to Ledru-Rollin s political role. He fled to England, and in less than is year politely published is work against the land which had given him an asylum, la Decadence de• r Ahg,7cterre. For the next 20 years he lived Liternately in London• and Brussels. His name was excepted from the amnesties of 1860 turd 1869; but in 1870, a decree having been published permitting him, Ile returned to France. • In Feb , 1871, he was returned to the national assembly, but at once resigned. He died in 1874.