Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Béhic, Armand
BÉHIC, Armand, statesman, born at Paris, Jan. 15, 1809. He was appointed at an early age to the Administration of Finances, was attached to the Treasury of the Army in the expedition to Algiers, and became Inspector of Finances, in which position he made several journeys to the colonies, especially the Antilles. He quitted this department to join the Ministry of Marine, and became Secretary-General. He entered the Chamber as Deputy for Avesnes in 1846, and was charged with the examination of the law relating to the railway from Paris to Lyons. In 1849 he was named a representative of the people, and shortly afterwards entered the Council of State, in which he remained until 1851, when he undertook the superintendence of the foundries of Vierzon. In 1853 he became Inspector-General of the Maritime service of the Messageries Impériales, and afterwards Director. He took an active part in the matter of transports for the Crimean expedition, and gave great impulse to the Indo-China service, and to all the details of the administration. He has been successively a member of the council of administration for public buildings, president of the commission for the organization of colonial banks, member of the Council-General of Bouches-du-Rhône for the canton of Ciotat. He was created a Commander of the Legion of Honour, Oct. 3, 1863, and succeeded M. Rouher as Minister of Agriculture, Commerce, and Public Works, June 23, 1863, which office he held till Jan. 1867, when he was appointed a Senator, and received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour. After the fall of the Empire he retired from public life for several years, but in Jan., 1876, he was elected a Senator for the Department of the Gironde as a professed Bonapartist.