Charles Rogier

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Charles Latour Rogier (17 August 180027 May 1885) was a Belgian statesman and a leader in the Belgian Revolution of 1830. He was born at Saint-Quentin, France, studied law at Liège and was admitted to the bar, devoting himself, however, with greater zeal to journalistic campaigns against the Dutch rule in Belgium. Upon the outbreak of the insurrection at Brussels in August, 1830, Rogier went to Brussels with about 150 Liègeois (citizens of Liège), where he gained note as one of the most active among the patriot leaders. He became a member of the provisional government established in October, and after the election of Leopold as King in June 1831, was made Governor of Antwerp. He was Cabinet Chief of Belgium on three separate occasions first from 1832 to 1834, secondly from 1847 to 1852, and thirdly from 1857 to 1868. He brought into existence the Belgian railway system during his first stint as Interior Minister from 1832 to 1834. From 1840 to 1841 he was Minister of Public Works and Education, and from 1861 to 1868 he was Minister for Foreign Affairs.

He descended from a Belgian family settled in the department of the Nord in France. His father, an officer in the French army, perished in the Russian campaign of 1812; and the family moved to Liege, where the eldest son, Firmin, held a professorship. Charles, after being called to the bar, founded in 1824, in collaboration with his lifelong friends Paul Devaux and Joseph Lebeau, the journal Mathieu Laensberg (afterwards Le Politique), which by its ardent patriotism and its attacks on the Dutch administration soon acquired a widespread influence.

[edit] See also

[edit] Publications

  • Descailles, Charles Rogier, 1800-85 (Brussels, 1896)

[edit] References

Political offices
Preceded by
B. T. de Theux de Meylandt
Prime Minister of Belgium
1847-1852
Succeeded by
Henri de Brouckère
Preceded by
Pierre de Decker
Prime Minister of Belgium
1857-1868
Succeeded by
Walthère Frère-Orban