Jacques-Melchior Villefranche

After classical studies at the lesser seminary of Largentière, he entered the telegraphic service. In that capacity in 1855, during the Crimean War, he directed the telegraphic bureau of Varna, the first landing-place of the Franco-Russian troops. In 1870 as telegraphic director at Versailles he was attached to the service of telegraphic communications of the army of Le Mans. In 1875, he left the telegraphic service, and assumed the editorship of the ''Journal de l'Ain'', in which he defended the cause of religious liberty, and campaigned against the laws of scholastic secularization. ==Works==

He was prolific. His "Fables" (1851) and his (1875) were pedagogical works. A number of historical and judicial romances included (1869), which was translated into several foreign languages. His major works are historical: • (1874), reprinted nineteen times; • (1876); • (1877); • (1882); • (1887); • (1894); • (2 vols., 1896). In the controversial pamphlet published in 1891 and entitled , Villefranche argued against the policy of strict application of the Concordat, limiting the Catholic Church's rights on the basis that matters were not explicitly contained in the concordatory text. ==References==