The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-06-27
BARON HAussMANN.
Tho Career of tho Energetic Project Who

Tho Career OF tho Energetic Protect Who
Reconstructed Paris.
Baron Haussmann, the creator of mod
ern Paris, through the vast systems Of
public improvements instituted and
carried out by him MS project of tho
Seine under Louis Napoleon, was strick-
en- by apoplexy while ut dinner on a re-
cent evening, and died in the course of
the night, being nearly cighty-two
years old. IIaussmann was native
Partisan, says the Springfield (N1ass.)
Republican, and grandson of man
who was banished by mistake in 1916
rs one OF those who i'll convention voted
the death of Louis XVI. lie was born
March 81, 1909, was educated ut the Con-
servatory of Music, but became an adj
vocate, and after the revolution of 1850
was sub-prefect successfully of several
departments, and project of the Var,
the Yonne, and the Girondc under the
presidency of Louis Napoleon.
Shortly after the second empire was
established IIaussmann was made pre-
feet of the Seine, ard entered at once in
1858 upon the changes which have made
"Haussmannizing" term to signify
the complete transformation of a city
from age, dirt, croolledness and squalor
to freshness, cleanliness, convenience
and splcndor. Some have said that tho
idea of these uneHamplcd improvements
in its main outlines belonged to Napo-
leon I'LL, but the energy and ability
with which they were achieved were
such as to almost cntitlc IIaussmann to
be called great. New boulevards, cut
ting through and dcmolishing the an
Gent and picturesque but narrow and
noisome quarters of Paris; great pub
lie gardens and open squares replacing
nests of Indebtedness, splendid rows Of
buildings, thcatcrs, hospitals, asylums,
public Offices; strong and artistic
bridges, fountains and many other ac-
cessorics of beauty; the making into
grand parks the Bots du Bologna, the
buttes dc Chaumont, Vinccnncs and
Montsouris; these Indicate the charac-
ter of the work. The grand boulevard
of Sevastopol, on both banks of the
Seine, the boulevard Malcsherbcs, and
over twenty others were laid out
through the old parts of Paris, and one
of them preserves his name
This required an immense expense,
and presently lIauss,nann was charged,
notwithstanding the great sums raised
by the municipality, with raising more
money still by means of unauthorized
bonds. at his request the budget of
the city was given to the control of the
corps legislatif, which spent most of
the session of 1869 in examining his ac-
counts. The result was the authorizing
of q new loan of fifty-two million dol
lars, but 1laussmann was asked to re-
sign his prefecture, and refusing to do
so, was relieved by imperial decree in
January 1870.
After the fall of the empire he left
France for time, but the public re-
sentiment of his extravaganza was not
lasting. He returned in 1871 and was
appointed director of the Credit Mobil-
icr and brought it into pretty good con-
dition again. lIaussmann was made
senator under the empire, elected
member of the academy OF fine arts,
and got the grand cross of the Legion
of Honor in 1862. In 1877 he was re-
turned to the chamber of deputies from
Ajaccio, beating Prince Napoleon, and
was frequently called upon to defend
there his administration of the public
works. The municipal council of Paris
even voted in 1870 To change the name
of the boulevard Uaussmann, but final
ly felentcd.