Lawyer, writer and Belgian politician. He was elected to the office of Deputy as a member of the POB (the precursor to the Belgian Socialist Party) beginning in 1894, and he would be reelected to that office continuously, until his death. In 1912, he published in the “Revue de Belgique” a letter to the King in which he observed that Belgium was composed of two distinct peoples, and that there were no Belgians. This letter is considered as a foundation for the recognition of a Walloon identity, and the Walloon federalist movement. During the First World War, he travelled through Italy denouncing atrocities committed by the Germans in Belgium, and he attempted to win Italy over to the side of the Allies. In 1917, following the Russian Revolution, he was named ambassador extraordinaire to the provisional government of Kerensky; later he was named ambassador to China, a post he held up until the time of the armistice. After the war he became Minister of Arts and Sciences (1919-1921). He was responsible for the creation of the Royal Academy of French language and literature.