SIMON, se'inCiN'. JULES (JULES FRANCOIS SIMON SUISSE) (1814-96). A French statesman and philosopher, born at Lorient, and educated at Lorient and Vannes. lie occupied positions in the lyceums at Rennes, Caen, and Versailles, and in 1839 through the influence of Victor Cousin became a professor of the history of philosophy at the Sorboune. The popularity of his lectures, and the publication of two notable works, Etudes sur la de Platon et d'Aristotc (1840) and Histoire de d'Alczandric (2 vols., 45), led after the Revolution of 1848 to his elec tion to the Constituent Assembly as a Conserva tive Republican. Within a year he became a member of the Council of State. He soon re signed his seat in the Assembly, and after the coup d'C:tat of December, 1551, his refusal to take the oath of allegiance to Napoleon's Gov ernment resulted in his losing his chair in the Sorbonne also. In the period of retirement which followed, lasting for more than a decade, Simon lived quietly at Nantes, and wrote Le devoir (1854) ; La religion naturclle La liherte de conscience (1857) ; La libertt' politique (1859) ; La liherte chile (1859) ; and (1861). Entering the Corps Lsgislatif in 1563, he remained until the fall of Napoleon one of the leaders of the Republican opposition. He strong
ly opposed the war with Germany, and after the fall of the Empire he became one of the Commit tee of National Defense. In February, 1871, he became Minister of Public Instruction in Thiers's Cabinet, retaining his office until Slay, 1873. On leaving the Cabinet lie resumed his position as leader of the Republican Left in the National Assembly until in 1875 he was elected a life Sena tor. In the same year lie was elected to the French Academy. In December, 1876, he was called upon by President MacSlahon to form a Cabinet, in which he himself was Premier and Minister of the Interior. In Slay following, how ever, Simon resigned. In addition to the works already mentioned, he published: L'eeole (1804) ; Le travail (1866) ; Lo poelique radieale (1868); La peine de mort (1869); La famille Lc fibre 6change (1S70); Le youvernement deniers (1871) ; Dieu, patric, liberte (1883) ; Thicrs, Guizot, Rem usat (1855) ; Nos horn m es dytat (1887) ; Cousin (18S7) ; J1cmoircs des autres (1889) : La femme du XX6ne slide (1891); Noticcs et portraits (1893) ; and Quatre portraits (1896).