born Sept. 6, 1835, Roquecourbe, France
died May 25, 1921, Pons
French politician.
He became mayor of Pons in 1875 and was elected to the Senate in 1885 as a member of the anticlerical Radical Party. As premier (1902–05), he presided over the separation of church and state in the wake of the Alfred Dreyfus affair. He agreed to laws exiling almost all religious orders from France and dismantling major aspects of the church's public functions, especially in education. Admired by many republicans, he later served as minister without portfolio (1915), despite his advanced age.