Gaston Calmette (30 July 1858 – 16 March 1914) was a French journalist and newspaper editor, whose murder was the subject of a notable murder trial.

Biography

Calmette was born in

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

. He was educated at Nice, Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand and Mâcon, and afterwards entered journalism. In 1884 he joined the staff of ''

Le Figaro () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...

'', and in 1894 became its editor. In January 1914, Calmette launched a campaign against

Minister of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

Joseph Caillaux Joseph-Marie-Auguste Caillaux (; 30 March 1863 – 22 November 1944) was a French politician of the French Third Republic, Third Republic. He was a leader of the French Radical Party and Minister of Finance, but his progressive views in opposi ...

, who had introduced

progressive taxation A progressive tax is a tax in which the tax rate increases as the taxable amount increases. The term ''progressive'' refers to the way the tax rate progresses from low to high, with the result that a taxpayer's average tax rate is less than the ...

and was known for his

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...

stance towards Germany during the

Second Moroccan Crisis The Agadir Crisis, Agadir Incident, or Second Moroccan Crisis, was a brief crisis sparked by the deployment of a substantial force of French troops in the interior of Morocco in July 1911 and the deployment of the German gunboat to Agadir, a ...

, in 1911. Almost every day ''Le Figaro'' produced evidence of a damaging sort against the minister with the object of proving that he used his official position to facilitate speculation on the

Paris Bourse Euronext Paris, formerly known as the Paris Bourse (), is a regulated securities trading venue in France. It is Europe's second largest stock exchange by market capitalization, behind the London Stock Exchange, as of December 2023. As of 2022, th ...

. The attitude of Caillaux in the Rochette case of 1911, in which it was alleged by ''Le Figaro'' that the director of public prosecutions had been influenced by the ministry to delay the course of justice, was brought forward, and a newspaper campaign of extraordinary violence was the result. Caillaux was urged by some of his colleagues to take legal proceedings against his accusers, but declined. Joseph Caillaux had to resign his post the 11 January 1912.

Assassination

At 6:00 p.m. on 16 March 1914, Calmette entered the offices of ''Le Figaro'' in the company of his friend, the novelist

Paul Bourget Paul Charles Joseph Bourget (; 2 September 185225 December 1935) was a French poet, novelist and critic. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times. Paul Bourget was born in Amiens, France. He initially abandoned Catholicism ...

. Caillaux's second wife Henriette was waiting for him, wearing a fur coat and with her hands in a fur muff. To Bourget's surprise, Calmette agreed to see her in his office.Martin (1984), p.151 There, Madame Caillaux exchanged a few words with him, then pulled out a .32 Browning automatic pistol she had been concealing within the muff and fired six shots. Calmette was hit four times and was critically wounded, dying six hours later.Martin (1984), p.152 Caillaux made no attempt to escape and newspaper workers in adjoining offices quickly summoned a doctor and the police. She refused to be transported to the police headquarters in a police van, insisting on being driven there by her chauffeur in her own car, which was still parked outside. The police agreed to this and she was formally charged upon reaching the headquarters.Berenson (1992), p.2 In court she was acquitted from all allegations. During the campaign against Joseph Caillaux, which was orchestrated by

Louis Barthou Jean Louis Barthou (; 25 August 1862 – 9 October 1934) was a French politician of the French Third Republic, Third Republic who served as Prime Minister of France for eight months in 1913. In social policy, his time as prime minister saw the ...

and

Raymond Poincaré Raymond Nicolas Landry Poincaré (; 20 August 1860 – 15 October 1934) was a French statesman who served as President of France from 1913 to 1920, and three times as Prime Minister of France. He was a conservative leader, primarily committed to ...

, ''Le Figaro'' published several letters from the Minister's private correspondence. Madame Caillaux's motive was fear that the newspaper would also make public a love letter that showed how her husband was already having a relationship with her during his first marriage.

Other interests

Calmette was well known for his interest in art, and possessed a fine collection of caricatures and engravings of the First Empire.

Popular culture

Robert Delaunay Robert Delaunay (; 12 April 1885 – 25 October 1941) was a French artist of the School of Paris movement; who, with his wife Sonia Delaunay and others, co-founded the Orphism (art), Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and g ...

used an illustration of the assassination as the basis for his 1914 painting ''Political Drama''.

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust ( ; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, literary critic, and essayist who wrote the novel (in French – translated in English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'' and more r ...

dedicated ''Swann's Way'', the first volume of his novel ''

In Search of Lost Time ''In Search of Lost Time'' (), first translated into English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'', and sometimes referred to in French as ''La Recherche'' (''The Search''), is a novel in seven volumes by French author Marcel Proust. This early twen ...

'', to Calmette 'as a testimony of deep and affectionate recognition'.A la recherche du temps perdu Tome I
Calmette was the brother of the

bacteriologist A bacteriologist is a microbiologist, or similarly trained professional, in bacteriology— a subdivision of microbiology that studies bacteria, typically Pathogenic bacteria, pathogenic ones. Bacteriologists are interested in studying and learnin ...

Albert Calmette Léon Charles Albert Calmette ForMemRS (; 12 July 1863 – 29 October 1933) was a French physician, bacteriologist and immunologist, and an important officer of the Pasteur Institute. He co-discovered the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin, an attenuat ...

Notes

References

Bibliography

*Berenson, Edward ''The Trial of Madame Caillaux'' (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, c1992, 1993). *Kershaw, Alister ''Murder in France'' (London: Constable & Company, Ltd., 1955), 90-117. *

External links

Biography

Une épouse outragée
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calmette, Gaston 1858 births 1914 deaths Writers from Montpellier Assassinated French journalists French newspaper editors French newspaper journalists Burials at Batignolles Cemetery French male non-fiction writers Deaths by firearm in France Le Figaro people People assassinated in the 20th century