GOBLET, RE/it ( 1828— ). A French states man. He was born at Aire-sur-la-Lys, studied law, and practiced with great success at Amiens. Already distinguished for his democratic prin ciples expressed in his paper, the Progres de la Somme, at the fall of the Empire he became pro cureur-general at the Court of Amiens. In 1871 he was elected to the National Assembly, where he joined the Republican Left and was soon rec ognized as an orator of rare ability. In 1879 he was appointed Under Secretary of State for Jus tice. In 1876 he failed of reelection to the Cham ber, but in 1877 and in 1881 he was again returned from Amiens, and in 1882 was appointed Minister of the Interior; but in the crisis brought about by the Egyptian question, and because of the attacks made upon the Ministry of Freycinet, he, with the other members, resigned. In 1884 M. Ferry was overthrown and M. Goblet was appointed Minister of Education and Public Wor ship in the Brisson Ministry (April, 1885), in which position he energetically continued his reform policy. He retained his portfolio in the
Freycinet Cabinet, which went out of office in 1886, when he became Prime Minister. His Ministry, however, was overthrown in May, 1887, because of his unpopular efforts toward radical change in the municipal organization of Paris. In April, 1888, Goblet took the portfolio of For eign Affairs in the Floquet Cabinet, but resigned with the former in February, 1889. He was elected Senator in 1891, and as such warmly supported anti-clericaL measures, and, together with Lockroy, Sarrien, and Peytral, drew up a political programme of action of which the Petite Republique Francaise is the organ. From 1893 to 1896 he was again a member of the Chamber of Deputies, where he voted with the Radicals.