Boulanger

Boulanger, George Ernest Jean Marie, general, was born in 1837, at Rennes. After serving in Algeria, Italy, and China, he rose to the rank of colonel during the siege of Paris, general of brigade in 1880, and minister of war in 1886. He also became chief of the anti-German party, and after the fall of the Goblet ministry in 1887 was sent as commander of the 13th army corps at Clermont-Ferraud. In 1888 he was deprived of his command for remarks made on his successor at the war office. Resigning his seat, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for two departments, viz. the Nord and the Dordogne. His programme was, appeal to the people for revision of the constitution and abolition of the parliamentary system. He attracted all those who were in any way discontented with the existing regime, which in 1887 had received a severe shock from the "Wilson scandals" affecting President Grevy's son-in-law. In 1889 he again stood for three departments, the Nord, Somme, and Charente Inferieure, and for a division of Paris, and was elected in each case. Shortly afterwards, however, he was prosecuted for alleged misappropriation of public money while war minister, and, having fled the country, was condemned by default. He then had to seek refuge in England, and he afterwards lived in Jersey and Brussels. He committed suicide in 1891.