Paul-Joseph Cottin

Born in Lyon (Rhône) on February 1, 1836, died on March 21, 1925 in Lyon (Rhône), he devoted himself to industry in the department of Ain, where he had settled, and where he founded an Orléanist newspaper, l'Indépendant de l'Ain. He also appeared at the Catholic conferences in the rue du Bac, during the Empire. Opposed to the revolution of September 4, he protested the new regime; then he organized in his department a company of snipers with whom he fought in the East during the Franco-Prussian War.

Elected representative of the Ain in the National Assembly on 8 February 1871, on the 4th of 7, by 56,162 votes (58,804 voters, 71,803 registered), he began by sitting in the Feray meeting and leaning toward the center-left, but on 24 May 1873 he joined the small group of deputies who signed the Target declaration and voted, for the most part, for the overthrow of Thiers. Personally, Mr. Cottin abstained that day from taking part in the vote. In fact, he pronounced himself:

- for peace,

- for public prayers,

- for the repeal of the laws of exile,

- against the return to Paris,

abstained on the question of constituent power, voted:

- for the state of siege,

- for the law of mayors,

- for Broglie's ministry,

and rejected all constitutional laws, after having accepted the Walloon amendment.

Mr. Cottin was the author of several proposals. He asked that any motion that would call into question the seven-year term of the marshal's powers be excluded from the deliberations of the Constitutional Law Commission. He also proposed, without more success, that the Senate be "composed of 300 members appointed by the President of the Republic and irremovable". He took a fairly active part in parliamentary discussions, delivered a speech against national sovereignty on February 24, 1875, and was one of the strongest supporters of the law on higher education that same year. He defended Catholic doctrines and said that "positivist theories only aimed at the destruction of science, wealth, work and freedom. »

After the dissolution of the Assembly, Mr. P. Cottin ran for the Chamber of Deputies on February 20, 1876, in the district of Belley. Although he declared himself in his profession of faith to be a "conservative Republican and liberal conservative", he obtained only 4,456 votes against 12,945 votes for the elected representative, Mr. Chaley, Republican, and 1,403 votes for Mr. Roselli-Mollet, radical Republican.