[1] He was auditor of the Imperial Council from 1863 to 1868, and in 1879 was appointed head of a department in the Ministry of Education, in which capacity he took part in all anti-clerical ordinances.

France’s defeat by Prussia in 1870 had been followed by the defection of Italy to the Triple Alliance, inspired by colonial rivalry caused by French control of Tunisia, and by the increasingly strong hold of Pan-Germanism on the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.

Laying the foundations of the future Triple Entente, he began the policy of rapprochement with Great Britain and Russia, both of whose royal families had personal links with those of the Central Powers but whose interests were increasingly divergent with Germany.

Despite his own somewhat nationalistic feelings, Flourens was aware, like Grévy and Ferry, of the weakness of the country, and pursued a policy of avoiding war with Germany.

In October 1887 he signed two agreements with the United Kingdom, on the Suez Canal and the New Hebrides, thus ending two possible areas of tension with France’s ally from 1904 onward.