Eugène Spuller (8 December 183523 July 1896) was a French politician and writer. He was born at Seurre ( Côte-d'Or), his father being a German who had married and settled in France. After studying law at

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlie ...

, he went to Paris, where he was called to the bar, and became close to Léon Gambetta, collaborating with him in 1868 in the foundation of the ''Revue politique''. He had helped Emile Ollivier in his electoral campaign in Paris in 1863, but when in 1869 Ollivier was preparing to "rally" to the empire, Spuller supported the republican candidate. During the siege of Paris he escaped from the city with Gambetta, becoming his energetic lieutenant in the provinces. After the peace he edited his chief's Parisian organ, the ''République française'', until in 1876 he entered the Chamber of Deputies for the department of the Seine. He was minister of foreign affairs during the brief Gambetta administration, and subsequently one of the vice-presidents of the chamber, serving on the budget commission and on a special industrial and agricultural inquiry. His Parisian constituents thought him too moderate on the clerical question, and he had to seek election in 1885 in the Côte d'Or, which in later years he represented in the Senate. He was minister of education, religion and the fine arts in Maurice Rouvier's cabinet of 1887; minister of foreign affairs under

Pierre Tirard Pierre Emmanuel Tirard (; 27 September 1827 – 4 November 1893) was a French politician. Biography He was born to French parents in Geneva, Switzerland. After studying in his native town, Tirard became a civil engineer. After five years of gov ...

(1889–1890), and minister of education in 1894 in the Casimir-Perier cabinet. His published works include some volumes of speeches and well-known studies of

Ignatius of Loyola Ignatius of Loyola, S.J. (born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; eu, Ignazio Loiolakoa; es, Ignacio de Loyola; la, Ignatius de Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Spanish Catholic priest and theologian ...

(1876) and of Jules Michelet (1876).

Statue of Liberty dedication

On 4 July 1884 Spuller and other members of the French Cabinet formally presented the

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, ...

to the United States. Following the ceremony, the statue was dismantled into numbered sections and packed in 210 wooden cases and put aboard the government steamshi
'Isère'
which sailed on 21 May 1885 for New York City.

Death and tomb

Spuller died in

Sombernon Sombernon () is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a ge ...

on July 23, 1896 following a lengthy illness. Spuller's tomb in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris is marked by a statue representing ''National Education'', by sculptor Paul Gasq.
''New York Times'' Obituary Record July 1896

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spuller, Eugene 1835 births 1896 deaths People from Côte-d'Or French people of German descent Politicians from Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Republican Union (France) politicians French Ministers of National Education French Foreign Ministers Members of the 1st Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 2nd Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 3rd Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 4th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 5th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic French Senators of the Third Republic Senators of Côte-d'Or Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery