Jules Ferry, in a speech before the…

Jules Ferry, in a speech before the Chamber of Deputies on July 28, 1885, championing the establishment of a French colonial empire, declares that "it is a right for the superior races, because they have a duty. They have the duty to civilize the inferior races."

Ferry had directed the negotiations which led to the establishment of a French protectorate in Tunis (1881), has prepared the treaty of December 17, 1885 for the occupation of Madagascar; has directed the exploration of the Congo and of the Niger region; and above all, has organized the conquest of Annam and Tonkin in what becomes Indochina.

The last endeavor has led to a war with the Manchu Empire, whose Qing Dynasty has a claim of suzerainty over the two provinces.

The excitement caused in Paris by the sudden retreat of the French troops from Lang Son during this war had led to the Tonkin Affair: his violent denunciation by Clemenceau and other radicals, and his downfall on March 30, 1885.

Although the treaty of peace with the Manchu Empire (June 9, 1885), in which the Qing Dynasty had ceded suzerainty of Annam and Tonkin to France, is the work of his ministry, he will never again serve as premier.

Born in Saint-Dié, in the Vosges département, France, Ferry had studied law, and had been called to the bar at Paris in 1854, but had soon entered politics, contributing to various newspapers, particularly to Le Temps.

He had attacked the Second French Empire with great violence, directing his opposition especially against Baron Haussmann, prefect of the Seine département.

A series of his articles in Le Temps had been later republished as The Fantastic Tales of Haussmann (1868).

Elected republican deputy for Paris in 1869, he had protested against the declaration of war with Germany, and on September 6, 1870, had been appointed prefect of the Seine by the Government of National Defense.

In this position he had had the difficult task of administering Paris during the siege, and after the Paris Commune had been obliged to resign on June 5, 1871).

From 1872 to 1873 he had been sent by Adolphe Thiers as minister to Athens, but had returned to the chamber as deputy for the Vosges, and had become one of the leaders of the republican party.

When the first republican ministry was formed under W.H. Waddington on February 4, 1879, he had been one of its members, and continues in the ministry until March 30, 1885, except for two short interruptions (from November 10, 1881 to January 30, 1882, and from July 29, 1882 to February 21, 1883), first as minister of education and then as minister of foreign affairs.

A leader of the Opportunist Republicans faction, he has twice been premier (1880–1881 and 1883–1885).

He is a Freemason and a member of the Alsace-Lorraine Lodge founded in Paris in 1782.

Two important works are associated with his administration, the non-clerical organization of public education, and the beginning of the colonial expansion of France.

Following the republican program, he had proposed to destroy the influence of the clergy in the university and found his own system of republican schooling.

He had reorganized the committee of public education (law of 27 February 1880), and proposed a regulation for the conferring of university degrees, which, though rejected, had aroused violent polemics because the 7th article had taken away from the unauthorized religious orders the right to teach.

He had finally succeeded in passing his eponymous laws of 16 June 1881 and 28 March 1882, which have made primary education in France free, non-clerical (laïque) and mandatory.

The education policies establishing French language as the language of the Republic play an important role in unifying the French nation-state and the Third Republic, but also nearly cause the extinction of several regional languages.

After the military defeat of France by Germany in 1870, Ferry had formed the idea of acquiring a great colonial empire, principally for the sake of economic exploitation.