Cassagnac, Bernard Adolphe Granier De
CASSAGNAC, BERNARD ADOLPHE GRANIER DE (1806-1880), French journalist, was born at Avéron-Bergelle in the department of Gers on the 11th of August 1806. In 1832 he began his career as a Parisian journalist, contributing ardent defences of Romanticism and Conservatism to the Revue de Paris, the Journal des Débats, and to La Presse. Then he founded a political journal, L'Epoque (1845-1848), in which his violent polemics in support of Guizot brought him notoriety and not a few duels. In 1851, in the Constitutionnel, he declared himself openly an imperialist; and in 1852 was elected as "official candidate" by the department of Gers. As journalist and deputy he actively supported an absolutist policy. He demanded the restoration of religion, opposed the laws in favour of the press, and was a member of the club of the rue de l'Arcade. In March 1868 he accused the Liberal deputies of having received money from the king of Prussia for opposing the emperor, and when called upon for proof, submitted only false or trivial documents. After the proclamation of the republic (4th of September 1870) he fled to Belgium. He returned to France for the elections of 1876, and was elected deputy. He continued to combat all the republican reforms, but with no advantage to his party. He died on the 31st of January 1880. In addition to his journalistic articles he published various historical works, now unimportant.
His son, Paul Adolphe Marie Prosper Granier de Cassagnac (1843-1904), while still young was associated with his father in both politics and journalism. In 1866 he became editor of the Conservative paper Le Pays, and figured in a long series of political duels. On the declaration of war in 1870 he volunteered for service and was taken prisoner at Sédan. On his return from prison in a fortress in Silesia he continued to defend the Bonapartist cause in Le Pays, against both Republicans and Royalists. Elected deputy for the department of Gers in 1876, he adopted in the chamber a policy of obstruction "to discredit the republican régime." In 1877 he openly encouraged MacMahon to attempt a Bonapartist coup d'état, but the marshal's refusal and the death of the prince imperial foiled his hopes. He now played but a secondary role in the chamber, and occupied himself mostly with the direction of the journal L'Autorité, which he had founded. He was not re-elected in 1902, and died in November 1904. His sons took over L'Autorité and the belligerent traditions of the family.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
