Charles Debbas

Charles Debbas was born in Beirut to a prominent Greek Orthodox Beiruti family of Damascene origin.{{harvnb|Kassir|2011|p=127}} He was the son of Gerges Khalil Debbas (1845–1912) and Marie Salim Jbeili. His grandfather Khalil Debbas (1823–1885)'s brother was J. Abdo Debbas, who served as American vice-consul in Tarsus.

He was a pupil at the Collège des Jésuites.{{harvnb|S[amné]|1935|p=400}} Having obtained his baccalaureate at fourteen and a half years old, he went to study law in Montpellier then in Paris. While he was a student, he met Marcelle Burgart (1892–1960), a nurse taking lessons at the Comédie française.{{harvnb|Ammoun|2014}} The couple began to live in Beirut, Debbas working there as an attorney.

While in Beirut, Debbas started to get involved in nationalist circles which had become increasingly active in Ottoman Syria since the Young Turk Revolution. He began to write articles in the Beirut-based French-language newspaper La Liberté ('Freedom') which had been founded in 1908 by Butrus Mansur Tayyan.{{harvnb|Khaïrallah|1912|p=90}} One of his articles, "{{lang|fr|Le langage de l'ancien régime reviendrait-il en honneur ?}}" ('Could the old [i.e. Hamidian] regime's language be returning to honour?'), published 3 June 1909, was deemed subversive by the wali of Beirut, {{ill|Edhem Bey|tr|İbrahim Ethem Dirvana}}, who warned him of further consequences should he continue to defend the ideas contained in it.{{cite periodical|title=Un journaliste qui sait se défendre|date=15 June 1909|journal=Stamboul|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t551023w|language=fr|page=2}} Debbas responded in the press that he stood by what he had written and that the wali should submit the matter to court if he thought his article had infringed the law.{{efn|La Liberté was shut down by the Ottoman authorities shortly after.}} Debbas returned to Paris in 1913 as secretary of the Arab Congress. He became a member of the Central Syrian Committee during World War I. Debbas had returned to Paris on 5 October 1919,{{cite book|title=L'Asie arabe|language=fr|date=5 October 1919|page=4|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k62729915}} and got married with Burgart on 24 October in Neuilly-sur-Seine.

On 20 October 1920, Debbas was appointed Director of Judicial Services of Greater Lebanon by {{ill|Robert de Caix|fr|Robert de Caix}}, the Secretary General of the High Commissioner.

On 26 May 1926, three days after the adoption of the Lebanese constitution, Debbas was elected President of Lebanon by both Chambers of the Parliament reunited in a Congress, for a three-year term.{{harvnb|Rabbath|1982|page=428}}{{efn|The constitutional amendments of 8 May 1929 would fix the duration of presidential term to six years, without being applicable to Debbas' second term.}} Quoting Dib, "to provide balance with the Maronite leadership, between 1926 and 1930, Debbas allowed Bechara al-Khouri and his nemesis Emile Éddé to take turns to act as prime ministers. Eventually, al-Khouri emerged as the stronger leader as he was backed by the Chihas and their millionaire cousins the Faraoun family."{{harvnb|Dib|2004|page=77}}

Debbas was re-elected president on 23 March 1929{{cite periodical|title=Questions musulmanes|periodical=L'Armée d'Afrique|date=April 1929|issue=54|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5474490x|pages=135–136|language=fr}} by the Chamber of Deputies (which had become the sole organ of the legislative power per the constitutional amendment of 17 October 1927), by 42 votes out of 44, for another three years.

On 9 May 1932, High Commissioner Henri Ponsot suspended Lebanon's constitution and extended Debbas' second term by one year in reaction to the budget crisis and the possibility that a Muslim, Muhammad al-Jisr, might win the presidential election.{{harvnb|Browne|1976|p=237}}{{harvnb|Thompson|2000}}{{harvnb|Skahill|2003|p=46}} On 2 January 1934, Debbas delivered a letter of resignation from his presidential functions;{{cite periodical|title=Lettre, du 2 Janvier 1934, de M. Charles Debbas|periodical=Bulletin officiel des actes administratifs du Haut-Commissariat|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k64751178|page=39|language=fr|date=1 February 1934}} he was replaced by Habib Pacha Saad.{{harvnb|Samné|1934|p=4}} Debbas became President of the Chamber of Deputies (Speaker) a few days later, and remained in that position until October;{{cite web|title=لمحة تاريخية للمجلس النيابي|url=https://www.lp.gov.lb/CustomPage.aspx?id=40&masterId=1| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150801045413/https://www.lp.gov.lb/CustomPage.aspx?id=40&masterId=1 | archive-date=2015-08-01 |language=ar}} he was replaced by Petro Trad.

Debbas sailed to France in April 1935 in order to stay there for six months{{cite book|title=Les Annales coloniales|date=30 April 1935|page=2|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6379689g|language=fr}} but died on 22 August of that year, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 6 rue Piccini. A funeral service was held for him at the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Stephen{{cite book|title=L'Est républicain|date=26 August 1935|publication-date=27 August 1935|page=3|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k8280083k|language=fr}}{{cite book|title=Le Temps|date=27 August 1935|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k250054t|language=fr|page=6}} in the presence of Henri Gouraud, François Pierre-Alype, Taj al-Din al-Hasani and delegates of the French president and of various French ministers. Debbas' body was then taken aboard the {{ill|Mariette-Pacha|fr|Mariette-Pacha|italic=yes}} to Beirut, arriving there on 30 September.{{cite periodical|title=Mort du Président Charles Debbas|date=October 1935|issue=333|periodical=L'Asie française|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4019503t|page=273|language=fr}} A funeral wake was held and Patriarch Alexander III of Antioch gave Debbas absolution the following day in the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Saint George. Three speeches were then given{{efn|By Lagarde (delegate general of the High Commissioner), by the amir Shihab and by Dr Fayyad.}} at Mar Mitr (Saint Demetrios) cemetery,{{efn|Among the attendees were the presidents of the Lebanese and Syrian Republics (i.e, Habib Pacha Saad and Muhammad Ali Bey al-Abid who had come specially from Damascus).}} where Debbas is buried.

{{citation needed span|Debbas was a member of Freemasonry, initiated in 1907 at the Masonic Lodge Le Liban located in Beirut under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient de France.|date=May 2023}}

{{citation needed span|Among the measures instituted under Debbas' presidency is the compulsory baccalaureate for the exercise of liberal professions.|date=May 2023}}

• Commander of the Legion of Honour (1927){{cite book|title=Les Annales coloniales|date=15 July 1927|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k64511021|language=fr}}
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Black Star (1934){{cite book|title=Bulletin officiel du ministère des colonies|year=1934|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9690975k|page=302|language=fr}}

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Ammoun|first=Denise|year=2014|title=Histoire du Liban contemporain|language=fr}}
• {{cite book|last=Browne|first=Walter L.|year=1976|title=The Political History of Lebanon|volume=1}}
• {{cite book|last=Dib|first=Kamal|author-link=Kamal Dib|year=2004|title=Warlords and Merchants}}
• {{cite book|last=Kassir|first=Samir|year=2011|title=Beirut|publisher=Univ of California Press |isbn=9780520271265 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=97owDwAAQBAJ}}
• {{cite book|last=Khaïrallah|first=K[haïrallah] T[annous]|year=1912|title=La Syrie|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5545054d|location=Paris|publisher=Ernest Leroux|language=fr}}
• {{cite book|last=Rabbath|first=Edmond|year=1982|title=La Constitution libanaise|language=fr}}
• {{cite periodical|last=Samné|first=Georges|authorlink=Georges Samné|date=January 1934|title=Politique et personnel|periodical=Correspondance d'Orient|issue=433|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5806110h|pages=1–4|language=fr}}
• {{cite periodical|last=S[amné]|first=G[eorges]|authorlink=Georges Samné|date=September 1935|title=Charles Debbas|periodical=Correspondance d'Orient|issue=453|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5803719c|pages=400–401|language=fr}}
• {{cite book|last=Skahill|first=Carolyn|year=2003|title=A Historical Atlas of Lebanon}}
• {{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Elizabeth|year=2000|title=Colonial Citizens}}

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{{succession box|title=President of Lebanon|before= N/A|after=Antoine Privat-Aubouard (acting)|years=1 September 1926 – 2 January 1934}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Debbas, Charles}}

Category:1884 births

Category:1935 deaths

Category:19th-century people from the Ottoman Empire

Category:20th-century people from the Ottoman Empire

Category:Greek Orthodox Christians from Lebanon

Category:Eastern Orthodox Christians from the Ottoman Empire

Category:Lebanese people of Syrian descent

Category:Legislative speakers of Lebanon

Category:Politicians from Beirut

Category:Presidents of Lebanon

Category:Prime ministers of Lebanon

Category:Justice ministers of Lebanon

Category:Lebanese Freemasons

Category:Lebanese people from the Ottoman Empire

Category:Lebanon under French rule

Category:Commanders of the Legion of Honour