Cavaignac

Cavaignac, Louis Eugene, was born in 1802 at Paris. Prepared for the military profession, he served in the Morea, and on the breaking out of the Revolution in 1830 he rather hastily pronounced in favour of it, for which he was sent to Africa into honourable exile. There he distinguished himself by his valour, and by 1844 had risen to the rank of brigade-general; in 1848 he was appointed governor-general of Algeria, but in view of the threatening state of affairs, was recalled to Paris, and made minister of war. When, in June, the insurrection broke out, he was appointed military dictator. For three days, from June 23rd to the 26th, the streets of Paris presented terrible scenes of carnage. At last, however, order was restored, and Cavaignac resigned his dictatorial power into the hands of the national assembly. Towards the end of the year he became a candidate for the presidency of the republic, but Louis Napoleon was preferred. After the coup d'etat of December, 1851, he was arrested, but though he refused to own allegiance to the empire, he was soon liberated. He was twice elected to the legislative assembly, but refusing to take the oath, was incapacitated from serving. He died in 1857 near Tours.