MAISTRE, ma'tr, Joseph Marie, Contra DE, French philosopher and savant: b. Cham bery, 1 April 1754; d. Turin, 26 Feb. 1821. He was of French extraction and was a senator of Piedmont at the time of the French invasion (1792). He left his country in consequence of that event, and afterward followed his king to Sardinia. In 1803 he was sent Ambassador to Saint Petersburg, and returned finally to Turin in 1817. De Maistre was familiar both with Greek and Latin literature, and his writings in French have obtained the highest praise of critics. He was a conservative in politics, reli gion and philosophy, a supporter of absolute monarchy and of the infallibility of the Pope, His (Memoires politiques et correspondance diplomatique' (published posthumously, 1858), however, shows him in the light of a much more discerning and less uncompromising politician than his formal treatises, and indicates a large and liberal appreciation of the revolu tion which he opposed. As a diplomatist he
exerted himself to effect the restoration of all his former possessions to his master, and to obtain the transfer of Genoa. Among his political writings are his 'Eloge de Victor Amadee ; 'Considerations sur la France' (1796) ; (Essai sur le principe generateur des constitutions politique' (1810), in which he maintains the divine origin of sovereignty; Pape' (1819) ; 'Sofres de Saint Petersborg' (1821; new ed., 1888) ; 'De l'Eglise gallicane' (1821-22); and Cons de Rastadt) (the last with the Abbe de (Quatre chapitres inedits sur la Russie par le comte Joseph de Maistre' was published by his son in Consult Descostes, (Joseph de Maistre avant la revolution' (Paris 1893); Lescure, (Joseph de Maistre et sa famine) (ib. 1893) ; Paulhan, F., (Joseph de Maistre et sa philosophic' (1893).