Briand
ARISTIDE, a French statesman, born in Nantes in 1863. He intended to embrace the law as a profession, but his tendencies led him rather toward journalism and politics.
He was connected with a number of Rad- ARISTIDE BRIAND ical journals and allied himself with the Socialist party, in which he soon became a prominent figure. He possessed remarkable oratorical gifts, his voice especially being penetrating and musical. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1902, and in 1906 became Min- BRIAR ister of Public Instruction. He was anti-clerical in his sentiments, but he handled the delicate question of the relation of Church and State with tact and moderation. He was three times Prime Minister; in 1909, 1913, and 1916.
In case of national exigency, he did not hesitate to act with great decision, as in the great French railway strike, which he broke by calling the employees to the colors. During the war he was a powerful and determined supporter of the Allied cause.
BRIAR. See ROSE.
BRIARE (bre-är), a town of France, in the department of Loiret, on the Loire, 25 miles S. of Montargis. The canal, to which the town is indebted for its importance, is the oldest work of the kind in France, having been begun in the reign of Henry IV., though it was not finished till 1740. It establishes, by means of its junction with the canal of Loing at Montargis, a communication between the Loire and the Seine, and conveys the various products of the province, watered by the former, to Paris.