Revolutionary Ideas: An Intellectual History of the French Revolution From the Rights of Man to Robespierre (133 page)

Amar, Jean-Pierre-André
(1755–1816), Grenoble financial official and magistrate before the Revolution, among the most corrupt leading Montagnards. An implacable pursuer of Brissotins, worked closely with the Caribbean slave-owners. Led the Montagne’s autumn 1793 campaign to suppress the women’s clubs, joined the Thermidorian coup against Robespierre, and, later, Babeuf’s conspiracy against the Directory. Ended as a devout mystic.

Antonelle, Pierre Antoine
(1747–1817), Provençal nobleman and fervent Jacobin. Elected mayor of Arles and then to the National Assembly, collaborated in the 1793 anti-Brissotin repression until his independent-mindedness led to his imprisonment. Released after Thermidor, figured among the foremost revolutionary journalists of the later 1790s, especially as an editor of Vatar’s
Journal des Hommes Libres
. Implicated in the Conspiracy of Equals, was imprisoned again in 1797. In 1814 publicly converted to royalism and Catholicism.

Artois, Charles-Philippe comte d’
(1757–1836), younger brother of Louis XVI and of Louis Stanislas, count of Provence (Louis XVIII). Eventually, on Louis XVIII’s death, became king of France as Charles X (reigned 1824–30). Vain, superficial, and reactionary; before 1789 chiefly hunted, practiced sports, and collected horses and mistresses. Fled France in July 1789 and with his older brother, Louis Stanislas, commanded the ultra-royalist counter-revolution based in Germany. In 1805, underwent a personal conversion from libertinism to extreme Catholic piety.

Babeuf, François Noël
(called “Gracchus”) (1760–1797), revolutionary journalist and fervent champion of equality, inspired by Morelly and Diderot. Among the forerunners of militant socialism, consistently placed the social question and issues of land distribution before other issues. Imprisoned during the Terror, released after Thermidor, and imprisoned again in 1795. Released in March 1796, organized the Conspiracy of Equals, the foremost underground opposition movement opposing the early Directory together with Antonelle, Maréchal, and Felix Lepeletier. Arrested and tried for treason, guillotined by the Directory on 27 May 1797.

Bailly, Jean Sylvain
(1736–1793), astronomer and member of all three royal academies in Paris, leading figure in the Estates-General of 1789. Chosen as mayor of Paris by the assembly of electors following the Bastille’s fall, prominent among the temporarily dominant liberal monarchist faction headed by Barnave and the Brothers de Lameth during 1790–91. Withdrew defeated from revolutionary politics in the autumn of 1791, settling in Nantes; imprisoned during the Terror. Guillotined in Paris on 12 November 1793.

Barbaroux, Charles Jean-Marie
(1767–1794), affluent devotee of the sciences, and gifted orator. Won considerable popularity as a revolutionary leader in Marseille.
After serving as secretary to the Marseille city government was elected to the national legislature where he sided with Brissot. Among Mme. Roland’s admirers, inspired the sending of the column of Marseillais to Paris in June 1792, and led the Marseillais in Paris during the rising of 10 August. Outlawed following the June 1793 Montagnard coup, was captured, wounded, a year later. Guillotined at Bordeaux on 25 June 1794.

Barlow, Joel
(1754–1812), Connecticut-born, Yale-educated American poet and democratic republican veteran of the American Revolution. Active in France from 1788, adhered to the Brissotins’ democratic cosmopolitanism and played a leading part in republicanizing Savoy when the area was annexed by the French in 1792. Assisted Paine in getting the first part of The
Age of Reason
published while Paine was incarcerated during the Terror, and made repeated attempts to get him released.

Barère, Bertrand
(1755–1841), leading Montagnard, from Tarbes. A magistrate of the Toulouse
parlement
before the Revolution, elected to the Third in the 1789 Estates-General. A royalist moderate during 1789–92, was brought onto the Committee of Public Safety, in April 1793, for his administrative and “legal” competence. Doggedly loyal to Robespierre until July 1794, joined the Thermodorians at the last moment. Escaped prior to deportation to Cayenne as a principal agent of the Terror during the 1795 neo-Brissotin resurgence and successfully hid in Bordeaux. Reemerged in 1799, proclaiming support for Napoleon. Banished from France in 1815.

Barnave, Antoine Joseph
(1761–1793), Grenoble lawyer active in the revolutionary movement in the Dauphiné from 1788. Elected to the Third in the Estates-General of 1789, emerging among the early Revolution’s most brilliant orators. A leading centrist after the Revolution’s first phase, advocated constitutional monarchy and a protected autonomy for the white slave-owners of the Caribbean. An eminent and fiercely anticlerical theorist, perceiving the centrist bid had failed, retired from revolutionary politics in early 1792. Guillotined in Paris on 29 November 1793.

Barras, Paul, vicomte de
(1755–1829), Provençal noble elected to the Convention in 1792 by his native Var department, in March 1793 was sent as a representative-on-mission to southern France. A competent military organizer, directed the siege of Toulon, where he became the patron of the young Bonaparte. A dissipated opportunist among the initiators of the Thermidorian conspiracy, commanded the Thermidorian armed force in Paris during Robespierre’s overthrow. Under the 1795 Constitution, served for five years among the Directory’s directors, adopting an opulent, princely life-style. Among his numerous mistresses were Thérèse Tallien and Bonarparte’s future wife, Josephine Beauharnais. Welcomed Napoleon’s coup of Brumaire in 1799.

Basire, Claude
(or, as here, Bazire) (1761–1794), former archivist renowned for the virulence of his speeches in the Jacobins, among the most unscrupulous Montagnard leaders. A close ally of Chabot, like him became mired in corruption scandals and clashes with Marat. Denounced for modérantisme at the Jacobins, was imprisoned in September 1793. Guillotined in Paris on 4 April 1794.

Bayle, Moïse
(1755–1812), an ex-Protestant leading revolutionary of Marseille. Initially a republican ally of Barbaroux, broke with him after being elected to the Convention in 1792 and sided with Marat. A member of the Committee of General
Security, joined the coup of Thermidor against Robespierre but was afterwards imprisoned as a principal agent of the Terror. An incorrigible opportunist, died disgraced and destitute.

Beauharnais, Alexandre, vicomte de
(1760–1794), army officer from Martinique and husband of Josephine, Napoleon’s future wife, served in the American Revolution under Rochambeau. Elected to the Estates-General of 1789 for the noblesse of Blois, among the first nobles to defect to the Third. Prominent in the 1791 legislature, unsuccessfully commanded the revolutionary army defending the Rhenish Republic during the summer of 1793. Guillotined in Paris four days before Thermidor (27 July 1794), on 23 July 1794.

Beaumarchais, Pierre-Augustin Caron de
(1732–1799), former music teacher at the court of Louis XV and leading French dramatist. Author of the
Barber of Seville
(1775) and the
Marriage of Figaro
(1784). Was also a prominent arms supplier to the republicans during both the American and French Revolutions. Making a fortune from business enterprises and plays, in 1779 bought the rights to Voltaire’s manuscripts; edited and published the first complete edition, in seventy volumes, of Voltaire’s works (1783–90). An Enlightenment standard-bearer and among the principal organizers of the Voltaire revival during the early Revolution. Fled to Germany in late 1792, returning to France in 1796.

Bergasse, Nicolas
(1750–1832), Lyon lawyer, among the prominent pamphleteers of 1788, elected to the Third in the Estates-General of 1789. Adhering to the
parti monarchien
, the center-right, withdrew in disgust from the National Assembly after Mounier’s defeat in October 1789. Hid from late 1792, but was caught and imprisoned in December 1793. Behind bars at Tarbes and Paris until released in January 1795.

Billaud-Varenne, Jacques Nicolas
(1756–1819), failed teacher and thwarted author from La Rochelle, a principal agent of the Terror. In 1791 expelled for republicanism from the Jacobins while the club was still moderate and joined the Cordeliers. Emerged as a central figure in the radicalized Jacobins after the centrist monarchists seceded. Prominent in the Paris city government from August 1792, figured among Robespierre’s principal adherents until July 1794, when he joined the Thermidorian coup. Deported to Cayenne in 1795 for his role in the Terror, escaped from there in 1816 to evade Louis XVIII’s reach, to Haiti.

Boissy d’Anglas, François Antoine
(1756–1826), son of a Protestant physician who, despite a stammer and being a poor speaker, was elected a deputy of the Third to the Estates-General of 1789, consistently adhered to moderate positions. Flattered Robespierre during the Terror. Voted onto the Committee of Public Safety after Thermidor, among the most strident critics of the Terror. Considered a royalist at heart and too centrist to reliably oppose the monarchist resurgence of 1796–97, went into hiding after the republican coup of Fructidor (4 September 1797). Amnestied by Napoleon, became a member of the Napoleonic senate in 1804 and “count of the empire” in 1808. Pardoned and made a peer of France under the Restoration monarchy.

Bonaparte, Napoleon
(1769–1821), member of the Corsican lower nobility, rose through the army and brilliant generalship to become emperor of France. In September 1789 and May 1792 active in Corsica supporting Paoli and Volney in rallying the island behind the Revolution, breaking with Paoli in 1793 when the
latter turned against the Revolution. Distinguished himself in the 1793–94 siege of Toulon, became linked with Augustin Robespierre resulting, after Thermidor, in his arrest at Nice as a Robespierriste, brief imprisonment and, in September 1794, deletion from the Committee of Public Safety’s list of reliable generals. Barras and his role in suppressing the Vendémiaire rising (5 October 1795) secured his rehabilitation. Conquering northern Italy in 1796–97, won renown as an exemplary republican as well as outstanding general. Discarded his republican posture only in 1799.

Bonneville, Nicolas de
(1760–1828), revolutionary journalist, idealist, and professional translator from English and German. In 1782, published a twelve-volume collection of German drama. In Germany in 1787, established ties with the Illuminati. A leader of the 1789 march on the Bastille, subsequently launched
Le Tribunal du peuple
and, in October 1790, with Fauchet formed the Cercle Social, the early Revolution’s foremost radical reform movement. From October 1790, edited the Cercle’s paper,
La Bouche de fer
, until late 1791. Imprisoned during the Terror, released after Thermidor. Paine boarded with the Bonnevilles, friends since his arrival in Paris, during his final five years in France (1797–1802).

Boyer-Fonfrède, Jean-Baptiste
(1765–1793), son of a wealthy Bordeaux merchant family and brother-in-law of Ducos, lived in Holland during 1785–89, prominent in the revolutionary ferment in Bordeaux after the Bastille’s fall. With Ducos led the remaining opposition to the Montagnard coup-d’état in the Convention during the summer of 1793 until formally proscribed as an ally of the Brissotins. Guillotined with Brissot on 31 October 1793.

Brissot (de Warville), Jacques-Pierre
(1754–93), prolific author, revolutionary publicist, and champion of freedom of expression, leader of the democratic republican faction often misleadingly termed the “Gironde.” Drawn to the democratic revolutions of Geneva (1782) and Holland (1780–87) which he studied firsthand, toured the United States in 1788, investigating the revolutionary outcome there. Devotee of
la philosophie nouvelle
, became a prominent revolutionary journalist in 1789, emerging among the Revolution’s chief architects and earliest principled republicans. Among the Revolution’s foremost advocates of human rights, internationalism, and black emancipation. After 10 August 1792, worked closely with Condorcet, unsuccessfully striving to use the Brissotin majority in the Convention to consolidate the democratic republic. Loathed by Marat and Robespierre, was imprisoned in June 1793. Guillotined in Paris on 31 October 1793.

Buonarotti, Philippe
(1761–1837), Florentine nobleman and conspirator among the leading revolutionary republicans in Corsica in 1791–93. Imprisoned after Thermidor for his role in the Terror, amnestied in 1795. Implicated in Babeuf’s Conspiracy of Equals in Paris, was again imprisoned on its collapse but later acquitted. His history of the Babeuf conspiracy, eventually published in 1828, led to his reputation, including among Marxists, as the first historian of the origins of modern socialism.

Buzot, François-Nicolas
(1760–1794), Evreux lawyer and passionate Rousseauist, elected to the Third in the Estates-General 1789. Among the 1792 Convention’s leading republicans, in December 1792 urged expulsion from France of all the Bourbons, including Philippe-Égalité, which, like all his proposals, antagonized
the Montagne. Close to Brissot, and lover of Mme. Roland, early in 1793 worked against the concentration of power in the executive committees and for Marat’s expulsion from the Convention. Detested by Robespierre, was hunted down by the Montagne during the Terror, committing suicide on 18 June 1794.

Cabanis, Pierre-Jean
(1757–1808), physician and man of letters, prominent in the Auteuil circle around Mme. Helvétius with ties to Condorcet, Franklin, Mirabeau, Garat, and Volney. Provided the poison capsules for fugitive Brissotins, enabling several, including Condorcet, to commit suicide when caught. A leading Idéologue and, from 1796, a professor of the Institut de France, was elected to the Five Hundred in 1797 where he allied with Sieyès. Despite supporting the 1799 Brumaire coup, was, like all the Idéologues, regarded with suspicion by Napoleon.