Charles Pierre Bertier (25 July 1821 – 29 January 1882) was a French lawyer, magistrate, director of the Courrier des Alpes, Master of Requests to the Council of State and Governor of Martinique from 1867 to 1869. He is known for the role he played in defining the terms under which Savoy was annexed to France in 1860. Life Early years Charles Pierre Bertier was born on 25 July 1821 in Aix-les-Bains, Savoy. He became an attorney in Chambéry. He was made a magistrate, but was dismissed in 1855. Bertier then became director of the Courrier des Alpes. In 1858 three newspapers were published in Savoy, all in French. The leading paper was the Courrier de Alpes, edited by Bertier, a talented writer. It supported the monarchy and the church. The Gazette de Savoie gave the government position and defended the policies of the Premier, the Count of Cavour. The Progrès espoused democratic ideals. It struggled in a region where there was strong support for individual freedom but also for traditional rights and ranks. On 25 July 1859 the doctor and journalist Gaspard-Antoine Dénarié(fr), Bertier and thirty other notables of Chambéry asked King Victor-Emmanuel II about the future of Savoy. They were no longer particularly interested in becoming part of the nascent Kingdom of Italy, which was engaged in costly wars to impose central government on the principalities, had started to destroy ecclesiastical institutions despite opposition from the Savoy deputies, was even ready to dethrone the Pope. Instead, they hoped the king would restore sovereignty to Savoy. Annexation of Savoy In 1860 Napoleon III made the senator Armand Laity(fr) "Extraordinary Imperial Commissioner" with responsibility for propaganda for annexation of Savoy to France. At the same time a committee was formed for this purpose headed by Count Amédée Greyfié de Bellecombe(fr), a lawyer at the Court of Appeal of Chambéry, which included Charles Bertier Director of the newspaper Courrier des Alpes. On 15 February 1860 Bertier was the leader of a group of 15 notables who issued a declaration in which they supported uniting Savoy with France and opposed detaching the northern part of Savoy and annexing it to Switzerland. On 10 March 1860 Bertier and Amédée Greyfié de Bellecombe went to Paris and met Foreign Minister Édouard Thouvenel to explain the views of the people of Savoy on becoming part of France. Bertier also met Adolphe Billault, Minister of the