Paul-Louis de Leusse

Paul-Louis de Leusse
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Member of the National Assembly for Bas-Rhin's constituency
In office 23 May 1869 – 4 September 1870
Mayor of Reichshoffen
In office 1865–1871
General Councillor of Bas-Rhin
In office 1865–1871
Personal details
Born	(1835-04-28)28 April 1835 Paris, Kingdom of France
Died	Cannes, French Republic
Occupation	Military officer, politician

Paul-Louis, comte de Leusse (28 April 1835 – 12 March 1906), was a French politician and naval officer.

Biography

Paul-Louis de Leusse was born in Paris, the son of Timoléon, comte de Leusse (1804–1871) and Pauline (née Colbert de Maulévrier), great-granddaughter of Colbert, the minister of Louis XIV. The grandson of Admiral Colbert, he joined the navy in 1854 as a midshipman and took part in the Oriental campaign. He was decorated at the age of twenty after the Siege of Sevastopol, before resigning two years later. He later served as a cavalry lieutenant-colonel on the General Staff.

Mayor of Reichshoffen and member of the Bas-Rhin General Council, on 24 May 1869 he was elected deputy for the department's 4th constituency to the Corps législatif. He was a member of the dynastic majority.

In July 1870, at a time when war was thought to have been avoided, he and Clément Duvernois tabled a request for an interpellation "on the guarantees stipulated by the cabinet to avoid the return of successive complications with Prussia". The cabinet believed it, saw in this interpellation the thought of the emperor, and hastened to demand guarantees which led to a rupture. Leusse voted for the declaration of war on Prussia.

It was at his Château de Reischoffeu that Marshal de MacMahon stayed in 1870 on the eve the day before the Battle of Wörth. Warned of the enemy masses concentrated on the Sauer, the Count of Leusse tried unsuccessfully to induce the Marshal to withdraw to the Vosges. After the battle, the Countess of Leusse looked after many wounded in her castle.

On 4 September he returned to private life. After the annexation, he opted for France.

Later in life, he devoted himself exclusively to agronomy. At the same time, he occupied his leisure time as a writer. He contributed to several agronomy journals, published his memories of the Crimean War and various pamphlets on political economy and technical issues.

Private life

Married to Marie-Madeleine Renouard de Bussière (1837–1916), — from whom a rose was named "Countess of Leusse" — daughter of Marie-Théodore de Bussierre, granddaughter of Athanase Paul Renouard de Bussierre and of the minister Georges Humann:

• Jeanne de Leusse (1857–1949) — married to Georges Humann-Guilleminot (1833–1908), with issue

• Guy de Leusse (1858–1940) — married to Marie Moreau (1862–1944), with issue

• Fernand de Leusse (1859–1960)

• Georges de Leusse (1861–1917) — married to Suzanne Berthier (1868–1936), with issue

• Marie-Thérèse de Leusse (1862–1948) — married to Georges Poignant (1851–1935), director of the Pays and contributor to the Moniteur du Calvados, son of a former prefect of the Empire, without issue

• Charles de Leusse (1864–1923) — married to Marie Eugster (1871–1956), with issue, including Paul de Leusse (1893–1951), officer of the Legion of Honour, awarded the War Cross (1914–1918), decorated with the White Eagle of Serbia, member of the Cincinnati Society of France, former director of the State Bank of Morocco — married to Denise Kulip (1897–1994)

• Théodore de Leusse (1866–1949) — married to Anne de Marnière de Guer (1873–1929), daughter of the Count and Countess of Guer (née de Kergariou), with issue

• Jean de Leusse (1877–1963), senator for Bas-Rhin — married to Jeanne Dugas-Montbel (1886–1961), with issue

See also

• Leusse family

Works

• Souvenirs d'un aspirant de marine (1867)
• La Traction à vapeur sur les chemins entre Lauterbourg et Strasbourg (1868)
• La Paix par l'union douanière franco-allemande (1888)
• Mors janua vitae: étude sur la vie future (1889)
• Union douanière agricole du Centre de l'Europe (1890)
• Études d'histoire ethnique, depuis les temps préhistoriques jusqu'au commencement de la Renaissance (1899)

References

• Maurras, Charles (1937). Devant l'Allemagne éternelle. Paris: Éditions "A l'Etoile".
• Sitzmann, Édouard (1909). "Leusse (comte de)." In: Dictionnaire de biographie des hommes célèbres de l'Alsace: depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours, Vol. 2. Rixheim: F. Sutter, pp. 147–48.
• Venance, P. (1901). "L'Histoire et l'Ethnographie," Études franciscaines, Vol. V, pp. 237–54.

External links

• Works by Paul-Louis de Leusse at Gallica