Numa Droz (27 January 1844 – 15 December 1899) was a Swiss politician and

member of the Swiss Federal Council The seven members of the Federal Council (Switzerland), Swiss Federal Council (; ; ; ) constitute the federal government of Switzerland and collectively serve as the country's head of state. Each of the seven Federal Councillors heads a departm ...

(1875–1892). Born in

La Chaux-de-Fonds La Chaux-de-Fonds (; archaic ) is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura Mountains at an altitude of 992 metres, a few kilometres south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne, Biel/Bienne, and Fribourg, ...

, he was elected to cantonal government of

Neuchâtel Neuchâtel (, ; ; ) is a list of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital (political), capital of the cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Neuchâtel (canton), Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel ...

in 1871 and to the

Swiss Council of States The Council of States is a house of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland, the other house being the National Council. As the powers of the houses are the same, it is sometimes called perfect bicameralism. It comprises 46 members. Twenty of t ...

in 1872. On 18 December 1875, he was elected to the

Swiss Federal Council The Federal Council is the federal cabinet of the Swiss Confederation. Its seven members also serve as the collective head of state and government of Switzerland. Since World War II, the Federal Council is by convention a permanent grand co ...

(becoming the youngest Federal Councillor ever at age 31) and handed over office on 31 December 1892. He was affiliated to the

Free Democratic Party of Switzerland The Free Democratic Party (, FDP; , PLD), also called Radical Democratic Party (, PRD; , PLR) was a liberal political party in Switzerland. Formerly one of the major parties in Switzerland, on 1 January 2009 it merged with the Liberal Party of ...

. He was electe
President of Switzerland
in 1881 and 1887. In 1887, he was considered as a potential civil governor of

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

but he declined. During his office time he held the following departments: *

Department of Home Affairs An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the i ...

(1876–1878) * Department of Trade and Agriculture (1879–1880) * Political Department as President of the Confederation (1881) * Department of Trade and Agriculture (1882–1886) * Political Department as President of the Confederation (1887) *

Department of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral re ...

(1888–1892) Droz has been described as a "man of progress" and "one of Switzerland's major political figures". He was appointed by Swiss Government for presiding the ALAI conferences following of which the Berne Convention for the protection of literary and artistic works was concluded in 1886. "Numa Droz was an admirable choice for this role from the point of view of authors, as he had a strong interest in copyright matters, and had, in an article ... declared himself in favour of an international convention on literary and artistic property." He was to play a crucial role in the realization of the final convention. In 1898, he suggested a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

over the

Bernina Pass The Bernina Pass (el. .) () is a high mountain pass in the Bernina Range of the Alps, in the canton of Graubünden (Grisons) in eastern Switzerland. It connects the famous resort town of St. Moritz in the Engadin valley with the Italian-spea ...

which eventually was to be completed after his death. He was a radical democrat who clashed with Bismarck over
police spying case
the Wohlgemuth Affair, in 1889. He died in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

in 1899. In

a street (''rue Numa-Droz'', the longest in the town) and in

a square (''place Numa-Droz'') are named after him. A statue by Charles l'Eplattenier which was erected by the station is at present being renovated and will be placed on Rue Numa-Droz in the autumn of 2012.

Works

*Numa Droz, Souvenirs d'un vieux montagnard. Histoire d'un proscrit de 1793. Nouvelle neuchâteloise, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Imprimerie du National suisse, 1869 *Numa Droz, Instruction civique : manuel à l'usage des écoles primaires supérieures, des écoles secondaires, des écoles complémentaires et des jeunes citoyens, Lausanne, D. Lebet, 1884 *Numa Droz, Études et portraits politiques, C. Eggimann (Genève), F. Alcan (Paris), 1895 *Numa Droz, Le rachat des chemins de fer suisses, Bâle et Genève, Georg, 1898 *Numa Droz, Essais économiques, Genève, C. Eggimann, 1906

References

Archive sources

The Numa Droz collection is conserved in the State Archives of Neuchâtel. It contains documents about his privacy and documents of different fields of research. *

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Droz, Numa 1844 births 1899 deaths People from La Chaux-de-Fonds Swiss Calvinist and Reformed Christians Free Democratic Party of Switzerland politicians Foreign ministers of Switzerland Members of the Federal Council (Switzerland) Presidents of the Swiss Confederation Interior ministers of Switzerland Members of the Council of States (Switzerland) Presidents of the Council of States (Switzerland) Agriculture ministers of Switzerland