{{short description|Prime Minister of France from 1896 to 1898}} {{Expand French|topic=bio|Jules Méline|date=November 2023}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Jules Méline |image = Méline, Jules, 1915, agence Meurisse, BNF Gallica.jpg |caption = Méline in 1915 |order = [[Prime Minister of France]] |term_start = 29 April 1896 |term_end = 28 June 1898 |president = [[Félix Faure]] |predecessor = [[Léon Bourgeois]] |successor = [[Henri Brisson]] |order1 = [[List of presidents of the National Assembly of France|President of the Chamber of Deputies]] |term_start1 = 4 April 1888 |term_end1 = 11 November 1889 |predecessor1 = [[Charles Floquet]] |successor1 = Charles Floquet |birth_date = 20 May 1838 |birth_place = [[Remiremont]], [[July Monarchy|Kingdom of France]] |death_date = {{death date and age|1925|12|21|1838|5|20|df=yes}} |death_place = [[Paris]], [[French Third Republic|France]] |party = [[Progressive Republicans (France)|Progressive Republican]] <small>(1870–1903)</small><br>[[Republican Federation]] <small>(1903–1910s)</small> }}
'''Félix Jules Méline''' ({{IPA|fr|ʒyl melin|lang}}; 20 May 1838{{spaced ndash}}21 December 1925) was a French statesman, [[Prime Minister of France]] from 1896 to 1898.
==Biography== Méline was born at [[Remiremont]]. Having taken up law as his profession, he was chosen a deputy in 1872, and in 1879 he was for a short time Under-Secretary to the Minister of the Interior. In 1880 he came to the fore as the leading spokesman of the party which favoured the protection of French industries, and he had a considerable share in fashioning the protectionist legislation of the years 1890–1902. From 1883 to 1885, Méline was Minister for Agriculture, and in 1888–1889 he was [[President of the Chamber of Deputies]]. In 1896 he became [[Prime Minister of France|Premier (''Président du Conseil'')]] and Minister for Agriculture.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=94}} His tenure in these roles ended in 1898, after losing the confidence of the Chamber of Deputies following the [[1898 French legislative election]], being succeeded as Premier by [[Henri Brisson]].<ref name="Passmore">{{Cite book |last=Passmore|first=Kevin|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199658206.003.0004 |title=The Right in France from the Third Republic to Vichy |chapter=4 The Ralliement (1890–1898) |date=November 2012 |publisher=Oxford Academic |edition=online |location=Oxford |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199658206.003.0004 |access-date=16 January 2024 |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199658206.003.0004 |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="Gildea">{{Cite book |last=Gildea |first=Robert |title=Children of the Revolution: The French, 1799–1914 |publisher=[[Penguin UK]] |location=London |pages=275 |language=en}}</ref>
At one time he edited ''[[La République francaise]]'', and after his retirement from public life he wrote ''Le Retour de la terre et Ia surproduction industrielle, tout en faveur de l'agriculture'' (1905).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=94}}
The French protectionist measure of 1892, the [[Méline tariff]], is named after him.<ref>Michael S. Smith, "The Méline Tariff as Social Protection: Rhetoric or Reality?" ''International Review of Social History'' (1992) 37 : pp 230-243</ref>
In social policy, Méline's premiership is notable for the introduction in April 1898 of a workmen’s compensation law.<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Social_Laboratory_for_Modern_France/WDJkwmwOMZ0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=France+law+1898+workers+insurance+accident&pg=PA205&printsec=frontcover A Social Laboratory for Modern France The Musée Social and the Rise of the Welfare State By Janet R. Horne, 2002, P.205]</ref> Also during his premiership, in 1897 the privilege of the Bank of France was renewed with the stipulation (as noted by one study) “that it provides farmers with forty million francs (plus an additional two million each year) in the form of low-interest loans.”<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Wine_Sugar_and_the_Making_of_Modern_Fran/BACHBAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=In+1897,+the+Republic+bank+of+france+framers&pg=PA165&printsec=frontcover Wine, Sugar, and the Making of Modern France Global Economic Crisis and the Racialization of French Citizenship, 1870-1910 By Elizabeth Heath, 2014, P.165]</ref> A law of July the 17th 1897 authorized an existing insurance fund (as noted by one study) “to make the sum payable in the event of death divisible among several beneficiaries (literally to make mixed insurances in the event of death).”<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Bulletin_of_the_Department_of_Labor/Gq4nAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=France+Law+of+June+29,+1894,+on+relief+and+pension+funds+of+mine+workers&pg=PA1055&printsec=frontcover Bulletin of the Department of Labor Issues 50-55 1904, Publisher: U.S. Government Printing Office, P.1055]</ref> In addition, a law was passed on April the 19th of 1898 for (As noted by one study) “the repression of disorder, acts of violence, acts of cruelty, and assaults on children,”<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Bulletin_of_the_Department_of_Labor/Gq4nAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=France+Law+of+June+29,+1894,+on+relief+and+pension+funds+of+mine+workers&pg=PA1055&printsec=frontcover Bulletin of the Department of Labor Issues 50-55 1904, Publisher: U.S. Government Printing Office, P.1055]</ref> and an Act of April the 21st 1898 set up an accident fund for seamen.<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Workmen_s_Insurance_and_Compensation_Sys/T9csAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=France+April+21+1898+law+provident+fund+seamen&pg=PA727&printsec=frontcover Workmen's Insurance and Compensation Systems in Europe In Two Volumes, Volume 2By United States Bureau of Labor, Charles Patrick Neill, 1911, P.727]</ref> In addition, a law of April the 1st 1898 released mutual aid societies (as noted by one study) “from close administrative control and extended their field of activities.”<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Fraternity_Among_the_French_Peasantry/6tDPwBSmE-gC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=The+outcome+was+the+law+of+1+april+1898+released+societies+from+clsoe+administrative+control&pg=PA148&printsec=frontcover Fraternity Among the French Peasantry Sociability and Voluntary Associations in the Loire Valley, 1815-1914 By Alan R. H. Baker, 2004, P.148]</ref> These reforms reflected Méline's views, who back in 1891 had declared that ‘the best form of socialism…would be that of producing work for our workers, of improving their conditions and…of raising their wages and improving their welfare.’<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Crisis_of_Conservatism/HkOEAgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Meline+the+best+form+of+socialism%E2%80%A6would+be+that+of+producing+work+for+our+workers&pg=PA299&printsec=frontcover The Crisis of Conservatism The Politics, Economics and Ideology of the Conservative Party, 1880-1914 By E.H.H. Green, 2005, P.299]</ref>
==Méline's Ministry== Méline's Ministry, 29 April 1896 – 28 June 1898:{{citation needed|date=August 2017}} *Jules Méline – President of the Council and Minister of Agriculture *[[Gabriel Hanotaux]] – Minister of Foreign Affairs *[[Jean-Baptiste Billot]] – Minister of War *[[Louis Barthou]] – Minister of the Interior *[[Georges Cochery]] – Minister of Finance *[[Jean-Baptiste Darlan]] – Minister of Justice *[[Armand Louis Charles Gustave Besnard]] – Minister of Marine *[[Alfred Rambaud]] – Minister of Public Instruction, Fine Arts, and Worship *[[André Lebon]] – Minister of Colonies *[[Adolphe Turrel]] – Minister of Public Works *[[Henry Boucher]] – Minister of Commerce, Industry, Posts, and Telegraphs
'''Changes''' *26 September 1896 – [[Jean-Baptiste Darlan]] succeeds Rambaud as Minister of Worship, remaining also Minister of Justice. Rambaud remains Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts.{{citation needed|date=August 2017}} *1 December 1897 – [[Victor Milliard]] succeeds Darlan as Minister of Justice and Worship.{{citation needed|date=August 2017}} *31 May 1898 – [[Gabriel Hanotaux]] succeeds Lebon as interim Minister of Colonies, remaining also Minister of Foreign Affairs.{{citation needed|date=August 2017}}
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References== * {{EB1911|wstitle=Méline, Félix Jules|volume=18|page=94}}
==External links== * {{Find a Grave}} {{Commons category|Jules Méline}}
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box |before=[[François de Mahy]] |title=[[Minister of Agriculture (France)|Minister of Agriculture]] |years=1883–1885 |after=[[Hervé Mangon]] }} {{succession box |before=[[Charles Floquet]] |title=[[List of presidents of the National Assembly of France|President of the Chamber of Deputies]] |years=1888–1889 |after=[[Charles Floquet]] }} {{succession box |before=[[Léon Bourgeois]] |title=[[List of prime ministers of France|Prime Minister of France]] |years=1896–1898 |after=[[Henri Brisson]] }} {{succession box |before=[[Albert Viger]] |title=[[Minister of Agriculture (France)|Minister of Agriculture]] |years=1896–1898 |after=[[Albert Viger]] }} {{s-end}} {{Heads of government of France}} {{Presidents of the National Assembly of France}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Meline, Jules}} [[Category:1838 births]] [[Category:1925 deaths]] [[Category:People from Remiremont]] [[Category:Politicians from Grand Est]] [[Category:Progressive Republicans (France)]] [[Category:Republican Federation politicians]] [[Category:Prime ministers of France]] [[Category:Ministers of agriculture of France]] [[Category:Members of the National Assembly (1871)]] [[Category:Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies (France)]] [[Category:Members of the 1st Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic]] [[Category:Members of the 2nd Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic]] [[Category:Members of the 3rd Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic]] [[Category:Members of the 4th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic]] [[Category:Members of the 5th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic]] [[Category:Members of the 6th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic]] [[Category:Members of the 7th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic]] [[Category:Members of the 8th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic]] [[Category:French senators of the Third Republic]] [[Category:Senators of Vosges (department)]]