Martignac, Jean Baptiste Sylvère Gay, vicomte de
Martignac, Jean Baptiste Sylvère Gay, vicomte de
(zhäN bätēst` sēlvĕr` gā vēkôNt` də märtēnyäk`), 1778–1832, French statesman. He was elected (1821) to the chamber of deputies and was named a member of the council of state in 1822. In 1828 he was made minister of the interior and virtual head of the new cabinet by King Charles X after the fall of the ministry of the comte de VillèleVillèle, Jean Baptiste Séraphin Joseph, comte de, 1773–1854, French statesman and premier (1822–28). Elected (1815) a deputy after the Bourbon restoration, he became leader of the extreme royalists in the chamber of deputies.
..... Click the link for more information. . Martignac's cabinet, composed of both liberals and reactionaries, was ineffective; his liberal reforms were killed by the ultraroyalists. The king had never liked Martignac's moderate concessions to the liberals and in 1829 dismissed him and appointed the reactionary prince de Polignac to succeed him.