Victor Schoelcher, a French author, born in Paris, July 21, 1804. He early became known as an advocate of free institutions, visited Mexico, the United States, the West Indies, and the East, and the banks of the Senegal, and published Be l'esclavage des noirs et de la législation coloniale (1833); Abolition de l'esclavage (1840); Les colonies françaises (1842); Les colonies étrangères et Haiti (2 vols., 1843); Égypte en 1845 (1846); and L'Histoire de l'esclavage pendant les deux dernières années (2 vols., 1847). In 1848 he was appointed under-secretary of state for the navy, and at once procured the passage of a law for the abolition of slavery in the French colonies (April 27). He represented Guadeloupe in the constituent and legislative assembly till the coup d'état of Dec. 2, 1851, when, after an attempt at armed resistance, he took refuge in London, where he published several works, including a "Life of Handel" in English (1857). Despite successive amnesties, he did not return to Paris until after the downfall of Napoleon III. in 1870. During the siege of Paris he had command of the artillery of the national guard. The commune imprisoned him a few days for attempting to reconcile them with the government.

At the general election of Feb. 8, 1871, he was returned in Paris, Martinique, and French Guiana, and took his seat for Martinique.