Garnier-Pagès,_Étienne_Joseph_Louis

Garnier-Pagès, Étienne Joseph Louis (1801-1841), French politician, was born at Marseilles on the 27th of December 1801\. Soon after his birth his father Jean François Garnier, a naval surgeon, died, and his mother married Simon Pagès, a college professor, by whom she had a son. The boys were brought up together, and took the double name Garnier-Pagès. Étienne found employment first in a commercial house in Marseilles, and then in an insurance office in Paris. In 1825 he began to study law, and made some mark as an advocate. A keen opponent of the Restoration, he joined various democratic societies, notably the Aide-toi, le ciel t’aidera, an organization for purifying the elections. He took part in the revolution of July 1830; became secretary of the Aide-toi, le ciel t’aidera, whose propaganda he brought into line with his anti-monarchical ideas; and in 1831 was sent from Isère to the chamber of deputies. He was concerned in the preparation of the Compte rendu of 1832, and advocated universal suffrage. He was an eloquent speaker, and his sound knowledge of business and finance gave him a marked influence among all parties in the chamber. He died in Paris on the 23rd of June 1841.

His half-brother, Louis Antoine Garnier-Pagès (1803-1878), fought on the barricades during the revolution of July 1830, and after Étienne’s death was elected to the chamber of deputies (1842). He was a keen promoter of reform, and was a leading spirit in the affair of the reform banquet fixed for the 22nd of February 1848. He was a member of the provisional government of 1848, and was named mayor of Paris. On the 5th of March 1848 he was made minister of finance, and incurred great unpopularity by the imposition of additional taxes. He was a member of the Constituent Assembly and of the Executive Commission. Under the Empire he was conspicuous in the republican opposition and opposed the war with Prussia, and after the fall of Napoleon III. became a member of the Government of National Defence. Unsuccessful at the elections for the National Assembly (the 8th of February 1871), he retired into private life, and died in Paris on the 31st of October 1878. He wrote Histoire de la révolution de 1848 (1860-1862); Histoire de la commission exécutive (1869-1872); and L’Opposition et l’empire (1872).

* * *