Revolutionary Ideas: An Intellectual History of the French Revolution From the Rights of Man to Robespierre (134 page)

Calonne, Charles Alexandre
(1734–1802), senior magistrate and intendant under Louis XV and Louis XVI. As royal controller-general of the finances, in 1786, presented the general plan for the reform of the French tax system that led to the summoning of the Assembly of Notables and sequence of events precipitating the Revolution. Disgraced and exiled to England in April 1787. During 1790–92, proclaiming the Revolution a menace to kings, aristocracy, and the privileged everywhere, served as principal adviser to Artois and the émigré command in Germany. Ruined himself financially in the émigré princes’ service.

Cambacérès, Jean-Jacques de
(1753–1824), nobleman from the Montpellier region, elected to the 1792 Convention where he paid lip-service to the republican Revolution but remained aloof from doctrinal disputes, remaining neutral in the struggle between Brissotins and the Montagne while emerging as a principal law reformer. With the 1799 coup of Brumaire, became Second Consul under Napoleon. Instrumental in negotiating the 1801 Concordat with the papacy and drafting the Napoleonic Civil Code.

Camus, Armand Gaston
(1749–1804), before 1789
avocat
of the clergy of France and in earlier life an ardent Jansenist and Gallican, during the Revolution became an equally ardent republican detested by most churchmen as a principal architect of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Presided over the reform of the French pension system in 1790–91, applying stringently antiaristocratic, republican principles. Hugely erudite, served as the archivist and librarian of the National Assembly. Handed over to the Austrians by Dumouriez in April 1793, refused to take his hat off to any princes or aristocrats, and remained imprisoned for nearly three years in Germany.

Carnot, Lazare
(1753–1823), son of a notary, trained before the Revolution in military engineering and forts, joined the Committee of Public Safety in August 1793, becoming the Montagne’s preeminent military organizer. Architect of the victory of Fleurus (1794) over the Austrians and a leading Thermidorian, rose after Robespierre’s downfall becoming one of the five directors (1795–97). But increasingly royalist in sympathy, ended his revolutionary career as a target of the September 1797 coup of Fructidor. Escaping to Switzerland, remained outside France until the advent of Napoleon’s dictatorship; exiled again at the Restoration in 1814, died in Prussia.

Carra, Jean-Louis
(1742–1793), among the Revolution’s principal republican journalists and electorally most popular deputies; published several books before the Revolution. An adventurous autodidact, in the 1770s spent several years in
England, Russia, and in Rumanian Wallachia (as secretary of the hospodar). From the summer of 1789, his
Annales politiques
figured among the foremost revolutionary papers, always backing, like his numerous speeches in the Jacobins, the democratic, antiaristocratic tendency and general emancipation. A key organizer of the 10 August 1792 rising and adversary of Robespierre, subsequently with Chamfort, became a director of the Bibliothèque nationale. Guillotined in Paris on 31 October 1793.

Carrier, Jean-Baptiste
(1756–1794), a taciturn alcoholic, among the most sadistic, mentally unbalanced, and brutal Montagnard leaders. Sent to supervise the war against the Brissotin fédéralistes in Normandy in the summer of 1793, in August was appointed to direct the suppression of the royalist revolt of the Vendée. His atrocities in and around Nantes, his slaughtering thousands, and noyades and nighttime orgies, resulted in his recall, in February 1794, and falling out with Robespierre. Subsequently aligned with Hébert but was not seized in the April 1794 purge. Arrested by the Thermidorians, guillotined in Paris on 16 December 1794.

Cazalès, Jacques-Antoine
(1758–1805), among the nobles championing voting by separate orders in the Estates-General of 1789, emerged from October 1789 as a leader of the National Assembly’s center-right faction striving to defend royalty, aristocracy, and the clergy against the Revolution’s increasingly radical course. Withdrawing from revolutionary politics after the flight to Varennes, with the fall of the monarchy, fled to Germany to join the émigré princes.

Cérutti, Giuseppe (Joseph Antoine)
(1738–1792), Piedmontese ex-Jesuit philosophy teacher and revolutionary orator whose
Mémoire pour le peuple françois
was among the leading political pamphlets of 1788. Ally of Mirabeau, Cérutti figured prominently in the Cercle Social and was among the first to defend the reputation of d’Holbach in print against Rousseau. Founder and editor of
La Feuille villageoise
(1790–94), the only important revolutionary paper addressed primarily to rural society, turned it into a highly successful paper with a wide circulation.

Chabot, Francois
(1756–1794), renegade Capuchin monk turned revolutionary. In the Convention and his paper, the
Journal populaire
, projected himself as a zealous champion of sansculottisme. No-one more vociferously denounced Lafayette, Brissot, Condorcet, and many others. Active in the de-Christianization movement and in promoting the Terror, lack of powerful friends as well as love of money and women hastened his downfall. Mired in corruption scandals, was imprisoned in November 1793 and guillotined in Paris on 4 April 1794.

Chalier, Joseph
(1747–1793), the so-called Marat of Lyon, main organizer of the coup of 6 February 1793 that brought the Montagne to power in Lyon. Earlier elected president of the local tribunal of commerce, was for a time the idol of the Lyon silk-workers and unemployed. But so ruthlessly despotic was his regime, Lyon’s population soon became deeply alienated. The Brissotin rising of 29 May 1793 overthrew the local Montagne, imprisoning Chalier. Guillotined in Lyon on 15 July 1793.

Chamfort, Nicolas
(1741–1794), renowned aphorist and man of letters, a prominent revolutionary publicist and leading foe of the royal academies. In 1789, joined the entourage of Mirabeau for whom he wrote speeches and became a prominent journalist contributing to several revolutionary papers. Appointed a director of the Bibliothèque Nationale in 1792, was driven to suicide during the Terror.

Chaumette, Pierre Gaspard
(1763–1794), failed medical student and leading member of the Montagnard Paris city government after 10 August 1792. City procurator from December 1792, in the autumn of 1793 played a prominent part in both the Terror and the de-Chistianization campagne. A homosexual, he also led the Montagnard campaign against prostitutes for whom he nurtured a fanatical hatred. Servile toward Robespierre, the latter nevertheless loathed him, his friends, and his overt atheism. Guillotined in Paris on 13 April 1794.

Chénier, Marie-Joseph
(1764–1811), younger brother of the poet André Chénier, became (aside from Voltaire) the Revolution’s leading playwright with his drama
Charles IX
first staged in 1789. Foremost spokesman for full freedom of the theater, played a key role both in the Jacobins and the direction of the Revolution’s general republican propaganda. His plays were generally banned during the Montagnard ascendancy. A member of the Council of Five Hundred from 1795, was stripped of all public functions in 1802 for opposing Napoleon’s dictatorship.

Clavière, Étienne
(1735–1793), Genevan financier and democratic republican, prominent in the Genevan Revolution of 1782 and ally of Mirabeau and Brissot in Paris in 1789. Subsequently among Brissot’s closest political associates. Arrested on 2 June 1793, stabbed himself to death in his cell on 8 December 1793 to avoid the guillotine.

Cloots, Jean-Baptiste “Anacharsis”
(1755–1794), wealthy Dutch-born Prussian baron resident in Paris. A leading journalist and publicist publishing widely both before and during the Revolution, was an avowed atheist and de-Christianizer, and the Revolution’s most dogmatic cosmopolitan. Despite his estrangement from the Brissotins, Robespierre procured his downfall, maligning him as a foreign agent. Guillotined in Paris, 24 March 1794.

Collot d’Herbois, Jean-Marie
(1749–1796), failed actor prominent in the insurrectionary Montagnard Paris city government from 10 August 1792. Voted onto the Committee of Public Safety in September 1793, with Fouché directed the atrocities of the Terror in Lyon. Joined the conspiracy of Thermidor. Tried for his crimes in 1795, was banished to Cayenne where he died.

Condorcet, Jean-Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de
(1743–1794), leading philosophe, republican ideologue, theorist of elections, and champion of democracy, black emancipation, and women’s rights. Planner of the Republic’s education reform program in 1791–93, was the primary author of the world’s first democratic republican constitution (February 1793). Loathed by Robespierre, was outlawed in June 1793. Imprisoned on 28 March 1794, committed suicide the next day using poison to avoid the guillotine. Rehabilitated by the National Convention as one of the Revolution’s foremost architects in April 1795.

Condorcet, Sophie de (Grouchy), Mme. de
(1758–1822), Condorcet’s wife, author, and leading exponent of women’s rights. A declared atheist, presided over one of the principal and most philosophique revolutionary salons. Imprisoned during the Terror, released after Thermidor.

Constant, Benjamin
(1767–1830), Swiss political theorist who settled in Paris with Mme. de Staël in 1795. In later years a moderate and a liberal, in 1795–1800 figured among the foremost critics of Robespierre and the Terror and republican apologists of the democratic Brissotin Revolution and of the Directory.

Corday, Charlotte
(1768–1793), from a pious royalist family but converted to Brissotin sympathies, assassinated Marat on 13 July 1793 for having, in her view, “killed” the law on 2 June 1793. Became a Europe-wide symbol of resistance to Montagnard populism and despotism. Guillotined in Paris 17 July 1793.

Couthon, Georges
(1755–1794), famously anti-intellectual lawyer suffering from rheumatic paralysis, among Robespierre’s principal and most loyal aides. From November 1792, an implacable foe of the Brissotins in the legislature and a main author of the removal of legal safeguards for the individual. Helped direct the Terror. Guillotined with Robespierre on 28 July 1794.

Danton, Georges
(1759–1794), among the principal leaders of the Revolution. A lawyer of modest educational attainments but a brilliant orator, dominated the Cordeliers Club in 1789–92 and was prominent in all the more radical initiatives up to and including the rising of 10 August 1792. When dominance of the Cordeliers passed to Hébert and Vincent following the 2 June 1793 coup, was in a weakened position, his efforts to curb the Terror only weakening him further. Joined Robespierre and Couthon in slowing the de-Christianization but was precariously placed from December 1793. After Robespierre finally broke with him, imprisoned on 30 March 1794; guillotined in Paris 5 April 1794.

Daunou, Pierre Claude
(1761–1840), philosophy and theology professor elected to the Convention. Imprisoned under the Terror, after Thermidor was voted onto the Committee of Public Safety, becoming a leader of the neo-Brissotin revival. Continued Condorcet’s educational reforms but was less democratic in his approach to education as well as in his republican constitutional theory. Appointed to help organize the Roman Republic of 1798–99, was too republican for Napoleon, ending his career by serving for many years as director of the National Archives.

David, Jacques-Louis
(1748–1825), the Revolution’s greatest artist; organizer of many of the major revolutionary ceremonies and fêtes, including the public cult of Marat after the latter’s assassination. A loyal adherent of Robespierre up to and including Thermidor, he afterwards publicly repudiated his legacy. After Brumaire, adhered to Napoleon as deferentially as he had to Robespierre, becoming peintre de l’empereur. At the Restoration, went into exile in Brussels.

Debry, Jean-Antoine
(1760–1834), Picard lawyer and ardent republican political theorist, a prominent member of the revolutionary legislature from 1791 until 1799 and a member of the Committee of General Security from January to June 1793. Among the leaders of the neo-Brissotin revival in 1795, supported Napoleon’s dictatorship in 1799. Banished from France as a regicide with the Restoration.

Démeunier, Jean Nicolas
(1751–1814), member of the National Assembly’s constitutional committee (1789–91), a leading French expert on the American federal and state constitutions. Though too influenced by Raynal for Jefferson’s taste, became chief translator and popularizer of the texts of the American Revolution and American republicanism within the French and Belgian revolutions.

Desmoulins, Camille
(1760–1794), café intellectual and Cordelier firebrand, became a leading revolutionary journalist and orator in 1789 and Danton’s closest ally. Broke with Robespierre in December 1794. Attempted through his last paper,
Le Vieux Cordelier
, to discredit the Terror and those responsible for it in the name of the “authentic” Revolution. Guillotined with Danton on 5 April 1794.

Destutt de Tracy, Antoine-Louis
(1754–1836), philosophe among the first nobles to join the Third in the 1789 Estates-General. A keen supporter in the National Assembly of the initiatives to abolish feudalism and for measures of black emancipation. Imprisoned under the Terror. Published widely as a leading Idéologue in the late 1790s and read until far into the nineteenth century.

Dobsen, Claude Emanuel
(1743–1811), lawyer and close accomplice of Robespierre. Among the principal organizers of the Paris disturbances of February and March 1793, and of the 31 May and 2 June 1793 coups d’état. Worked with Hanriot whom he helped make commander of the Paris National Guard. A judge of the Paris Tribunal Révolutionnaire during the Terror, was removed in May 1794 for being insufficiently ruthless. His siding with Robespierre at Thermidor left him without prospects. In 1796, joined Babeuf’s Conspiracy of Equals.