Pierre Louis Albert Decrais (18 December 1838 – 27 February 1915) was a French lawyer, administrator, diplomat and politician who was a deputy from 1897 to 1903, then a senator from 1903 to 1915. He was Minister of the Colonies from 1899 to 1902. He supported the exploitation of the colonies by concessionary companies, and opposed the slave trade. During his term in office a volcanic eruption destroyed the city of

Saint-Pierre, Martinique Saint-Pierre (, ; ; Martinican Creole: ) is a town and commune of France's Caribbean overseas department of Martinique, founded in 1635 by Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc. Before the total destruction of Saint-Pierre by a volcanic eruption in 1902, ...

Early years

Albert Pierre Louis Decrais was born on 18 December 1838 in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture ...

, Gironde. He was from a bourgeois Protestant family. His parents were Louis Decrais, a merchant, and Marie Désirée Debans. He graduated from the ''

lycée In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...

'' in Bordeaux on 3 August 1857, then went to Paris to study law, where he was a brilliant student. He was secretary of the conference of attorneys in 1862–63, and won a prize for his ''Éloge de M. de Vatimesnil''. He joined the bar of Paris and became a licensed attorney in 1867. He was opposed to the

Second French Empire The Second French Empire (; officially the French Empire, ), was the 18-year Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the Second and the Third Republic of France. Historians in the 1930s ...

and moved in Republican circles.

Official career

During the Franco-Prussian War Decrais was part of the diplomatic mission of Tachard in Brussels. On 2 March 1871 he was named prefect of

Indre-et-Loire Indre-et-Loire () is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River. In 2019, it had a population of 610,079.Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

. On 11 November 1874 he was made prefect of the

Alpes-Maritimes Alpes-Maritimes (; oc, Aups Maritims; it, Alpi Marittime, "Maritime Alps") is a Departments of France, department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the France–Italy border, Italian border and Mediterranean Sea, Mediter ...

, and on 21 March 1876 he was appointed prefect of the

Gironde Gironde ( US usually, , ; oc, Gironda, ) is the largest department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1, ...

. He resigned on 19 May 1877 in protest against the selection of

Albert, 4th duc de Broglie Jacques-Victor-Albert, 4th duc de Broglie (; 13 June 182119 January 1901) was a French monarchist politician, diplomat and writer (of historical works and translations). Broglie twice served as Prime Minister of France, first from May 1873 to ...

as prime minister. He was reinstated on 20 December 1877, and on 7 February 1878 was promoted to Officer of the Legion of Honor. He was appointed Councilor of State on 16 March 1879.

Diplomat

Decrais was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary in Brussels on 8 May 1880. From 4 February 1882 to 11 November 1882 he was director of political affairs at the Foreign Ministry under the 2nd cabinet of

Charles de Freycinet Charles Louis de Saulces de Freycinet (; 14 November 1828 – 14 May 1923) was a French statesman and four times Prime Minister during the Third Republic. He also served an important term as Minister of War (1888–1893). He belonged to the Op ...

. He was appointed French ambassador to Italy on 11 November 1882, to Austria on 17 July 1886 and was appointed ambassador to Great Britain on 21 July 1893. He retired from the diplomatic service in 1894.

Political career

Deputy

Pierre Louis Albert Decrais Vanity Fair 28 December 1893

From 1880 to 1886 Decrais was a member of the general council of the

. He ran for election to the legislature in 1896 for the 1st district of Bordeaux, but did not succeed. He ran as Republican candidate in a by-election for the 4th district of Bordeaux on 21 February 1897, and was elected. He was reelected on 8 May 1898 and 27 April 1902. In the chamber he was interested only in foreign affairs.

Minister of the Colonies

Decrais was Minister of the Colonies from 22 June 1899 to 3 June 1902 in the cabinet of

Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau Pierre Marie René Ernest Waldeck-Rousseau (; 2 December 184610 August 1904) was a French Republican politician who served as the Prime Minister of France. Early life Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau was born in Nantes, Brittany. His father, René ...

. He stated that he was in favor of a humane policy towards the natives of the colonies. Decrais supported the system by which companies were given concessions to exploit areas of the colonies in exchange for paying taxes and developing their areas. The number of concessions increased under his administration. The colonial governors were often hostile to concessions where the companies were only concerned with maximizing profit, and which were harmful in the long run. The companies themselves generally did poorly despite government loans. However, Decrais ignored these issues. In 1901 he set up a banking commission to look at ways of financing the companies, with the end result that taxpayers paid the salaries and dividends of the exploiting companies. In October 1899 Decrais reorganized the Sudan so that the southern ''cercles'' were attached to the coastal colonies. In the interior there were two colonies under military rule, centered on

Ouagadougou Ouagadougou ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Burkina Faso and the administrative, communications, cultural, and economic centre of the nation. It is also the country's largest city, with a population of 2,415,266 in 2019. The city's ...

and

Timbuktu Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou; Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label= Tuareg, script=Tfng, ⵜⵏⴱⴾⵜ, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrat ...

respectively. A new military territory covering what is now

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesJules Auguste Lemire spoke in the Chamber on the persistent slave trade, particularly in women. Decrais said he was not aware of the problem but would ensure that slavery was suppressed. Soon after he wrote a strongly worded letter to all governors in which he said, Early in May 1902 the volcano

Mount Pelée Mount Pelée or Mont Pelée ( ; french: Montagne Pelée, ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Montann Pèlé, meaning "bald mountain" or "peeled mountain") is an active volcano at the northern end of Martinique, an island and French overseas departme ...

above the city of

began to erupt. Decrais received a cable from senator Amédée Knight on 7 May 1902 that said serious damage had been done and asked for humanitarian help. Decrais sensed that the problem was not urgent, and the request might have political motives, so did not take immediate action. Later he explained, "With an election pending, the situation was delicate. To intervene at the behest of a party leader would have slighted the governor's authority and could have been interpreted as action for political gain." The eruptions continued, and by 12 May 1902 it was known that Saint-Pierre had been completely destroyed and 30,000 people had died.

Senator

On 26 April 1903 Decrais was elected to the Senate in a by-election. He was reelected on 7 January 1906. Again, he was almost entirely devoted to foreign affairs. He died on 27 February 1915 in

Mérignac, Gironde Mérignac () is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. The 20th-century historian Robert Étienne (1921–2009) was born in Mérignac. It is the largest suburb of the city of Bordeaux and adjoins it t ...

aged 76.

Publications

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Notes

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Decrais, Pierre Louis Albert 1838 births 1915 deaths Politicians from Bordeaux French Protestants French republicans French Ministers of the Colonies Members of the 6th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 7th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 8th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic French Senators of the Third Republic Senators of Gironde Ambassadors of France to Austria-Hungary