Haute-Marne

Haute-Marne, a department of north-eastern France, made up for the most part of districts belonging to the former province of Champagne (Bassigny, Perthois, Vallage), with smaller portions of Lorraine and Burgundy, and some fragments of Franche-Comté. Area, 2415 sq. m. Pop. (1906), 221,724. It is bounded N.E. by Meuse, E. by Vosges, S.E. by Haute-Saône, S. and S.W. by Côte d’Or, W. by Aube, and N.W. by Marne. Its greatest elevation (1693 ft.) is in the plateau of Langres in the south between the sources of the Marne and those of the Aube; the watershed between the basin of the Rhone on the south and those of the Seine and Meuse on the north, which is formed by the plateau of Langres continued north-east by the Monts Faucilles, has an average height of 1500 or 1600 ft. The country descends rapidly towards the south, but in very gentle slopes northwards. To the north is Bassigny (the paybas or low country, as distinguished from the highlands), a district characterized by monotonous flats of little fertility and extensive wooded tracts. The lowest level of the department is 361 ft. Hydrographically Haute-Marne belongs for the most part to the basin of the Seine, the remainder to those of the Rhone and the Meuse. The principal river is the Marne, which rises here, and has a course of 75 m. within the department. Among its more important affluents are, on the right the Rognon, and on the left the Blaise. The Saulx, another tributary of the Marne on the right, also rises in Haute-Marne. Westward the department is watered by the Aube and its tributary the Aujon, both of which have their sources on the plateau of Langres. The Meuse also rises in the Monts Faucilles, and has a course of 31 m. within the department. On the Mediterranean side the department sends to the Saône the Apance, the Amance, the Salon and the Vingeanne. The climate is partly that of the Seine region, partly that of the Vosges, and partly that of the Rhone; the mean temperature is 51° F., nearly that of Paris; the rainfall is slightly below the average for France.

The agriculture of the department is carried on chiefly by small proprietors. The chief crops are wheat and oats, which are more than sufficient for the needs of the inhabitants; potatoes, lucerne and mangel-wurzels are next in importance. Natural pasture is abundant, especially in Bassigny, where horse and cattle-raising flourish. The vineyards produce some fair wines, notably the white wine of Soyers. More than a quarter of the territory is under wood. The department is rich in iron and building and other varieties of stone are quarried. The warm springs of Bourbonne-les-Bains are among the earliest known and most frequented in France. The leading industry is the metallurgical; its establishments include blast furnaces, foundries, forges, plate-rolling works, and shops for nailmaking and smith’s work of various descriptions. St Dizier is the chief centre of manufacture and distribution. The cutlery trade occupies thousands of hands at Nogent-en-Bassigny and in the neighbourhood of Langres. Val d’Osne is well known for its production of fountains, statues, &c., in metal-work. Flour-milling, glove-making (at Chaumont), basket-making, brewing, tanning and other industries are also carried on. The principal import is coal, while manufactured goods, iron, stone, wood and cereals are exported. The department is served by the Eastern railway, of which the line from Paris to Belfort passes through Chaumont and Langres. The canal from the Marne to the Saône and the canal of the Haute-Marne, which accompany the Marne, together cover 99 m.; there is a canal 14 m. long from St Dizier to Wassy. There are three arrondissements (Chaumont, Langres and Wassy), with 28 cantons and 550 communes. Chaumont is the capital. The department forms the diocese of Langres; it belongs to the VII. military region and to the educational circumscription (académie) of Dijon, where also is its court of appeal. The principal towns—Chaumont, Langres, St Dizier and Bourbonne-les-Bains—receive separate notice. At Montier-en-Der the remains of an abbey founded in the 7th century include a fine church with nave and aisles of the 10th, and choir of the 13th century. Wassy, the scene in 1562 of the celebrated massacre of Protestants by the troops of Francis, duke of Guise, has among its old buildings a church much of which dates from the Romanesque period. Vignory has a church of the 11th century. Joinville, a metallurgical centre, preserves a chateau of the dukes of Guise in the Renaissance style. Pailly, near Langres, has a fine chateau of the last half of the 16th century.

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HAUTERIVE, ALEXANDRE MAURICE BLANC DE LANAUTTE, Comte d’ (1754-1830), French statesman and diplomatist, was born at Aspres (Hautes-Alpes) on the 14th of April 1754, and was educated at Grenoble, where he became a professor. Later he held a similar position at Tours, and there he attracted the attention of the duc de Choiseul, who invited him to visit him at Chanteloup. Hauterive thus came in contact with the great men who visited the duke, and one of these, the comte de Choiseul-Goiffier, on his appointment as ambassador to Constantinople in 1784 took him with him. Hauterive was enriched for a time by his marriage with a widow, Madame de Marchais, but was ruined by the Revolution. In 1790 he applied for and received the post of consul at New York. Under the Consulate, however, he was accused of embezzlement and recalled; and, though the charge was proved to be false, was not reinstated. In 1798, after trying his hand at farming in America, Hauterive was appointed to a post in the French foreign office. In this capacity he made a sensation by his L’État de la France à la fin de l’an VIII (1800), which he had been commissioned by Bonaparte to draw up, as a manifesto to foreign nations, after the coup d’état of the 18th Brumaire. This won him the confidence of Bonaparte, and he was henceforth employed in drawing up many of the more important documents. In 1805 he was made a councillor of state and member of the Legion of Honour, and between 1805 and 1813 he was more than once temporarily minister of foreign affairs. He attempted, though vainly, to use his influence to moderate Napoleon’s policy, especially in the matter of Spain and the treatment of the pope. In 1805 a difference of opinion with Talleyrand on the question of the Austrian alliance, which Hauterive favoured, led to his withdrawal from the political side of the ministry of foreign affairs, and he was appointed keeper of the archives of the same department. In this capacity he did very useful work, and after the Restoration continued in this post at the request of the duc de Richelieu, his work being recognized by his election as a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 1820. He died at Paris on the 28th of July 1830.

There is a detailed account of Hauterive, with considerable extracts from his correspondence with Talleyrand, in the Biographie universelle by A. F. Artand de Montor, who published a separate life in 1831. Criticisms of his État de la France appeared in Germany and England by F. von Gentz (Von dem politischen Zustände, 1801), and by T. B. Clarke (A Hist. and Pol. View ..., 1803).

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