View source for Louis-Mathieu Molé


{{short description|French statesman (1781–1855)}}{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Louis-Mathieu Molé
| image               = Mathieu-Louis Molé.JPG
| caption = ''[[Portrait of Louis-Mathieu Molé]]'' by [[Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres]], 1834
| office              = [[Prime Minister of France]]
| monarch             = [[Louis Philippe I]]
| term_start          = 6 September 1836
| term_end            = 31 March 1839
| predecessor         = [[Adolphe Thiers]]
| successor           = [[Jean-de-Dieu Soult]]
| office1             = [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development (France)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]]
| monarch1            = Louis Philippe I
| term_start1         = 11 August 1830
| term_end1           = 2 November 1830
| predecessor1        = [[Jean-Baptiste Jourdan]]
| successor1          = [[Nicolas Joseph Maison]]
| office2             = [[List of Naval Ministers of France|Minister of the Navy and Colonies]]
| monarch2            = [[Louis XVIII of France|Louis XVIII]]
| primeminister2      = [[Armand-Emmanuel de Vignerot du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu|The Duke of Richelieu]]
| term_start2         = 12 September 1817
| term_end2           = 29 December 1818
| predecessor2        = [[Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr]]
| successor2          = [[Pierre-Barthélémy Portal d'Albarèdes|Pierre-Barthélémy d'Albarèdes]]
| office3             = [[Ministry of Justice (France)|Minister of Justice]]
| monarch3            = [[Napoleon I]]
| term_start3         = 20 November 1813
| term_end3           = 1 April 1814
| predecessor3        = [[Claude Ambroise Régnier]]
| successor3          = [[Pierre Paul Nicolas Henrion de Pansey|Pierre Henrion de Pansey]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=y|1781|1|24}}
| birth_place         = Paris, France
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=y|1855|11|23|1781|1|24}}
| death_place         = [[Épinay-Champlâtreux]], Val-d'Oise, [[French Second Empire|French Empire]]
| party               = [[Nonpartisan politician|Nonpartisan]] {{small|(1806–15; 1830–48)}}<br>[[Doctrinaire]] {{small|(1815–1830)}}
| profession          = Writer, diplomat
| spouse              = {{marriage|Caroline-Joséphine de La Live|1798|1845|end=d.}}
| children            = Clotilde and Élisabeth
| signature           = Signatur Louis-Mathieu Molé.PNG
}}

'''Louis-Mathieu, comte Molé''' ({{IPA|fr|lwi matjø kɔ̃t mɔle}}; 24 January 1781&nbsp;– 23 November 1855) was a [[French people|French]] [[Diplomat|statesman]] and a close friend and associate of [[Louis Philippe I]], King of the French during the [[July Monarchy]] (1830–1848).

==Biography==
Molé was born in Paris. His father, a president of the [[parlement]] of Paris, who came of the family of the famous president noted below, was [[guillotine]]d during the [[Reign of Terror|Terror]]. Count Molé's early days were spent in [[Switzerland]] and in England with his mother, a relative of [[Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes|Lamoignon-Malesherbes]].

On his return to France, he studied at the [[École Polytechnique|Ecole Centrale des Travaux Publics]], and his social education was accomplished in the salon of Pauline de Beaumont, the friend of [[François-René de Chateaubriand|Châteaubriand]] and [[Barthelemy Catherine Joubert|Joubert]]. A volume of ''Essais de morale et de politique'' introduced him to the notice of [[Napoleon]], who attached him to the staff of the [[Council of State (France)|council of state]]. He became master of requests in 1806, and next year prefect of the [[Côte-d'Or]], Councillor of State and Director-General of Bridges and Roads in 1809, and [[Count of the Empire]] in the autumn of the same year.

He served as Napoleon's advisor on Jewish affairs and was heavily involved with Napoleon's gathering of a Jewish [[Grand Sanhedrin]] in 1807. Mole initially did not support [[Jewish emancipation]], though he seems to have moderated his position over the course of his involvement with the Sanhedrin and particularly [[Abraham Furtado]].

In November 1813, he became [[Minister of Justice (France)|Minister of Justice]]. Although he resumed his functions as Director-General during the [[Hundred Days]], he excused himself from taking his seat in the [[Council of State (France)|Council of State]] and was apparently not seriously compromised, for [[Louis XVIII of France|Louis XVIII]] confirmed his appointment as Director-General and made him a peer of France. Molé supported the policy of the [[Armand-Emmanuel du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu|duc de Richelieu]], who in 1817 entrusted to him the direction of the Ministry of Marine, which he held until December 1818.

From that time, he belonged to the moderate opposition, and he accepted the result of the [[July Revolution|revolution of 1830]] without enthusiasm. He was [[Minister of Foreign Affairs (France)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]] in the first cabinet of [[Louis-Philippe of France|Louis Philippe]]'s reign, and was confronted with the task of reconciling the European powers to the change of government. The real direction of foreign affairs, however, lay less in his hands than in those of [[Talleyrand]], who had gone to London as the ambassador of the new king.

After a few months in office, Molé retired, and it was not until 1836 that the fall of [[Adolphe Thiers|Thiers]] led to his becoming [[Prime Minister of France|Prime Minister]] of a new government, in which he held the portfolio of foreign affairs. One of his first actions was the release of the ex-ministers of [[Charles X of France|Charles X]], and he had to deal with the disputes with Switzerland and with the Strasburg coup of [[Napoleon III of France|Louis-Napoléon]]. He withdrew the French garrison from [[Ancona]], but pursued an active policy in [[Mexico]] and in [[French Algeria|Algeria]].

Personal and political differences rapidly arose between Molé and his chief colleague, [[Guizot]], and led to an open rupture in March 1837 in face of the general opposition to a grant to the [[Louis Charles Philippe Raphael, duc de Nemours|duc de Nemours]]. After some attempts to secure a new combination, Molé reconstructed his ministry in April, Guizot being excluded. The general election in the autumn gave him no fresh support in the Chamber of Deputies, while he had now to face a formidable coalition between Guizot, the Left Centre under Thiers, and politicians of the Dynastic Left and the Republican Left. Molé, supported by Louis Philippe, held his ground against the general hostility until the beginning of 1839, when, after acrid discussions on the address, the chamber was dissolved. The new house showed little change in the strength of parties, but Molé resigned on 31 March 1839.

A year later he was elected to the [[Académie française]], and though he continued to speak frequently, he took no important share in party politics. Louis Philippe sought his help in his vain efforts to form a ministry in February 1848. After the [[The Revolutions of 1848 in France|revolution]], he was deputy for the [[Gironde]] to the Constituent Assembly, and in 1849 to the Legislative Assembly, where he was one of the leaders of the Right until the coup d'état on 2 December 1851 drove him from public life.

He died in the family home at {{ill|Château de Champlâtreux|fr}}<ref>[http://www.napoleon-empire.com/personalities/mole.php Molé's short biography in Napoleon & Empire website, displaying photographs of the castle and the church]</ref> in [[Épinay-Champlâtreux|Épinay]] ([[Seine-et-Oise]]) on 23 November 1855 and was buried in the little church of the village.

==References==
* [[Paul Thureau-Dangin]], ''Histoire de la monarchie de juillet'' (1884)
{{reflist}}

{{EB1911|wstitle=Molé, Louis Mathieu|volume=18|page=653}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box | before=[[Adolphe Thiers]]| title=[[Prime Minister of France]] | years=1836–1839 | after=[[Jean-de-Dieu Soult]]}}
{{succession box | before=[[François Guizot]]| title=[[Prime Minister of France]] | years=1848 
|after=[[Adolphe Thiers]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Adolphe Thiers]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Minister of Foreign Affairs (France)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]]
|years=	6 September 1836 – 31 March 1839 }}
{{s-aft|after=[[Louis Napoléon Lannes]]}}
{{succession box | 
title=[[Minister of Marine (France)|Ministers of Marine and the Colonies]]
|before=[[Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr]]
|after=[[Pierre-Barthélémy Portal d'Albarèdes]]
|years=	12 September 1817 – 29 December 1818}}
{{s-end}}

{{Heads of government of France}}
{{First ministry of Armand-Emmanuel du Plessis de Richelieu}}
{{First ministry of Louis-Philippe}}
{{First cabinet of Louis Mathieu Molé}}
{{Second cabinet of Louis Mathieu Molé}}
{{First cabinet of Napoleon}}
{{Foreign Ministers of France}}{{Minister of Justice (France)}}{{Académie française Seat 34}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mole, Louis-Mathieu}}
[[Category:1781 births]]
[[Category:1855 deaths]]
[[Category:Politicians from Paris]]
[[Category:Counts Molé]]
[[Category:French Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Orléanists]]
[[Category:Party of Order politicians]]
[[Category:Prime ministers of France]]
[[Category:Ministers of marine and the colonies]]
[[Category:Members of the Chamber of Peers of the Hundred Days]]
[[Category:Members of the Chamber of Peers of the Bourbon Restoration]]
[[Category:Members of the Chamber of Peers of the July Monarchy]]
[[Category:Members of the 1848 Constituent Assembly]]
[[Category:Members of the National Legislative Assembly of the French Second Republic]]
[[Category:Members of Parliament for Gironde]]
[[Category:Prefects of Côte-d'Or]]
[[Category:Members of the Académie Française]]
[[Category:Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour]]