French statesman, born at Bar-le-duc on the 20th of August 1860, the son of Nicolas Antoinin Hélène Poincaré, a distinguished civil servant and meteorologist. Educated at the university of Paris, Raymond was called to the Paris bar, and was for some time law editor of the Voltaire. He had served for over a year in the department of agriculture when in 1887 he was elected deputy for the Meuse. He made a great reputation in the Chamber as an economist, and sat on the budget commissions of 1890–1891 and 1892. He was minister of education, fine arts and religion in the first cabinet (April–Nov. 1893) of Charles Dupuy, and minister of finance in the second and third (May 1894–Jan. 1895). In the succeeding Ribot cabinet Poincaré became minister of public instruction. Although he was excluded from the Radical cabinet which followed, the revised scheme of death duties proposed by the new ministry was based upon his proposals of the previous year. He became vice-president of the chamber in the autumn of 1895, and in spite of the bitter hostility of the Radicals retained his position in 1896 and 1897. In 1906 he returned to the ministry of finance in the short-lived Sarrien ministry. Poincaré had retained his practice at the bar during his political career, and he published several volumes of essays on literary and political subjects.
After the fall of the Sarrien Ministry in 1906 M. Poincaré ceased for some years to take an active part in politics. On the 9th of December 1909 he was made a member of the French Academy. In 1911 he was invited to join the Monis Ministry, but refused. His opportunity came at the beginning of 1912, and on January 13th he became head of what was popularly known as the “great” or “national” Ministry, in which he also held the portfolio of Foreign Affairs. As Prime Minister Poincaré aimed at safeguarding the interests of France abroad, especially against the menace of the Triple Alliance, and at strengthening her at home by firm government and the restoration of social discipline. In this he was helped by the revival of a strong national feeling in France, provoked by the international crisis of 1911. The fact that he was a Lorrainer prejudiced public opinion in his favour, and his popularity was increased by his foreign policy—especially the successful establishment of the French protectorate over Morocco and the conclusion of the naval agreement with Russia. In August 1912 Poincaré went to St. Petersburg to confer with the Tsar and his ministers about the Franco-Russian Alliance and the new developments of the Eastern question, a visit which countered the somewhat depressing effect in France of the meeting of the German and Russian Emperors at Baltic Port on July 4. The Balkan Wars, and Poincaré’s attitude towards the problem raised by them, greatly increased his prestige; he declared on December 4th to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chamber that he was determined to secure respect for the economic and political interests of France, not only in the Balkan Peninsula, but in the Ottoman Empire generally, and especially in Syria.
At the beginning of 1913 he became a candidate for the presidency. This action excited strong personal as well as political feeling, and his election was hotly contested, the second and third ballots showing a majority for his most serious competitor, M. Pams. On appeal to the National Assembly, however, he was ultimately elected by a majority of 187 votes over M. Pams, his inauguration taking place on February 18th amid great demonstrations of popular enthusiasm. Two days later he showed that he intended to exercise the right of the President to address Parliament direct—a right which had fallen into desuetude—by sending a message to the Chambers, in which he stated that it was his function as President “to be a guide and adviser for public opinion in times of crisis” and “to seek to make a rational choice between conflicting interests.” His activities as President were still directed to strengthening the internal and external position of France. In June 1913, after inspecting the fleet at Toulon, he paid a State visit to England (24–27), during which he enlarged on the necessity of the perpetual association of the two nations “for the progress of civilization and the maintenance of the peace of the world.” In the autumn he made a motor tour of the south of France,—being greeted everywhere with popular acclamation, the bands playing the irredentist march “Sambre et Meuse,”—and attended the army manœuvres at Toulouse. His State visit to Spain followed in October.
The President’s activity and enormous popularity roused the anger of the Opposition parties, and the Radical-Socialist congress at Pau, on October 17th, passed a resolution condemning “the aspirations of personal policy.” This had no effect, however, on public opinion, and Poincaré’s popularity was undiminished during the months immediately preceding the outbreak of the World War. On the very eve of the war, immediately after the rising of the Chambers on July 15, 1914, Poincaré set out on a State visit to Russia and the Scandinavian countries, arriving at Kronstadt on July 20th. His visit to Sweden was, however, interrupted by the serious news from France, and on the 29th he was back in Paris. He now made a personal appeal to King George V. to use his influence in favour of peace, while the Ministry asked for the armed intervention of Great Britain. After the outbreak of war his activities were mainly directed to stirring up the patriotic spirit of the people, as in his messages to the Chambers of August 4, 1914 and August 5, 1915, or his speech on July 14, 1915 on the occasion of the transference of the remains of Rouget de Lisle, the composer of the “Marseillaise,” to the Invalides. On October 4, 1914 he also visited the French headquarters.
After the conclusion of the Armistice Poincaré made a tour in Alsace and Lorraine, his official entrance into Metz taking place on December 4, 1918. On January 18, 1919 he opened the Peace Conference in Paris with a short speech, in which he emphasized “justice” as the guiding principle of the victorious Allies. His term of office expired on the following February 18. He subsequently accepted the presidency of the Reparations Commission, which he resigned in May 1920 as a protest against what he considered to be the undue leniency shown to Germany. This became the text of a violent press campaign which he carried on, against the policy of the Supreme Council in general and of Mr. Lloyd George in particular. During 1920 and 1921 it was Poincaré’s influence that was mainly dictating the aggressiveness of French feeling in international politics; and during the latter part of Briand’s premiership, culminating in Briand’s visit to the United States for the Washington Conference at the end of 1921, it was Poincaré who was fomenting the criticism that French interests were being undermined. The result was seen when, in the midst of the Cannes Conference in January 1922, the proposal for an Anglo-French treaty of defence led to Briand’s hasty return to Paris to answer interpellations with regard to his policy in the Chamber, and to his sudden resignation on January 13 without facing discussion on a vote of confidence. Poincaré was at once entrusted by President Millerand with the formation of a new Cabinet, which he completed on January 15, and French policy under his premiership was now given a definitely Nationalist orientation.
Poincaré’s published works include Du droit de suite dans la propriété mobilaire (1883); Idées contemporaines (1906); Questions et figures politiques (1907).
See Henry Girard, Raymond Poincaré (1913); Raymond Poincaré, a sketch (1914); Larousse Mensuel, No. 158 (1920).
