Revolutionary Ideas: An Intellectual History of the French Revolution From the Rights of Man to Robespierre (137 page)

Moreau de Saint-Méry, Louis
(1750–1819), lawyer, deputy for Martinique in the National Assembly, and member of the white planters’ Conseil supérieur on Saint-Domingue, a leading spokesman of the French Caribbean royalists and slave-owners. Published extensively on the French Caribbean colonies, using Montesquieu to justify institutionalized slavery. After the 10 August 1792, fled to Philadelphia and prospered as a book-seller before returning as a minor official under Napoleon.

Mounier, Jean-Joseph
(1758–1806), Grenoble lawyer and admirer of Montesquieu, espoused the British model and English empiricism against the radical tendency. Principal leader of conservative constitutional monarchism in the National Assembly until October 1789, seeking an absolute veto, royal primacy, and an aristocratic upper house in the new constitution.

Necker, Jacques
(1732–1804), Genevan banker and reformer established in Paris who as controller-general of the royal finances induced Louis XVI to convoke the Estates-General of 1789. An admirer of the British model, aimed for a harmonious collaboration of court and National assembly. His dismissal by Louis on 11 July 1789 precipitated the Revolution’s first major crisis. Withdrawing to Switzerland, continued to defend “moderation” and centrist policies.

Orléans, Louis-Philippe, duke of
(1747–1793), descended from a younger brother of Louis XIV, this prince, among the wealthiest men in France, ambitiously espoused the cause of the Revolution and equality. Suspected of complicity in the Bastille’s storming and the 5 October march on Versailles, many assumed that he aspired to supplant Louis XVI as king. Under the name “Philippe Égalité” joined the Jacobins, and the Montagne faction in the Convention, supporting the death penalty for his royal cousin. Discredited from April 1793, guillotined in Paris on 6 November 1793.

Paape, Gerrit
(1752–1803), of humble Delft origin, Dutch Patriot leader and prominent writer and journalist of the Dutch liberation movement in exile between 1787 and 1795. Author of numerous books and articles praising French revolutionary values and scorning Belgian conservatism, was secretary of the commander of the Dutch legions accompanying the French revolutionary army that overran the Netherlands in 1794–95.

Pache, Jean-Nicolas
(1746–1823), minor official before 1789, joined Roland’s entourage early in the Revolution becoming minister of war (from October 1792 to February 1793). Famously corrupt and colluding with Marat, broke with Roland, defecting to the Montagne. Elected mayor of Paris on 15 February, was a principal organizer of the Montagnard coup of June 1793, but lost his standing with Robespierre by declining to direct the trial of Hébert. Replaced as mayor by Fleuriot-Lescot, involved in the risings of Germinal and Prairial, and imprisoned after the latter.

Paine, Thomas
(1737–1809), emerged as the preeminent radical publicist of the American Revolution with his
Common Sense
(1776). His
Rights of Man
(1791) launched the radical counter-offensive in English against Burke’s conservatism. Immersed in French revolutionary politics from 1791, Paine formed a democratic republican alliance with Condorcet and Brissot. Elected to the Convention in September 1792, was imprisoned by the Montagne from December 1793 to November 1794. In early 1795, resumed his place in the Convention evincing fierce antagonism to the Montagne, George Washington, and the British government alike.

Palm d’Aelders, Etta
(1743–1799), Dutch feminist, resident in Paris as a high-class courtesan at the Palais-Royal from 1773, in 1790–92 set up the network of women’s groups affiliated with the Cercle Social, agitating for equal rights within marriage for women, and equal rights of divorce, consistently urging the right of women to participate in politics. A heroine of the Revolution, was at the same time (rightly) suspected of being an Orangist agent aiming to discredit Dutch Patriot refugees in France and their clubs at Dunkirk, Béthune, and Lille. Sent to Holland by Lebrun-Tondu to spy on French émigrés resident there, was judged suspect by the Batavian Revolution in 1795 and imprisoned for three years (1795–98) at Woerden.

Paoli, Pascal
(1725–1807), leader of the 1755 Corsican rebellion against Genoa and the 1769 uprising against French rule, spent many years in exile in England. Returning in 1790, collaborated with and dominated the Revolution in Corsica until 1793, but then changed sides, expelling the French and bringing Corsica into a short-lived political union with Britain.

Pétion (de Villeneuve), Jérôme
(1756–1794), crypto-republican pamphleteer and deputy during the early Revolution, in 1790–92 joined Robespierre in opposing the centrist constitutional monarchists and Feuillants. Elected mayor of Paris after Bailly in November 1791, achieved great temporary popularity. Complicit in the 20 June 1792 rising against the court and the
journée
of 10 August 1792, broke with Robespierre and the Montagne from mid-1792. Arrested on 2 June 1793, but escaped. Committed suicide on 18 June 1794 to escape the guillotine.

Philippeaux, Pierre Nicolas
(1756–1794), revolutionary judge and journalist from Le Mans, ally of Danton in the Convention. Highly critical of the conduct of the war in the Vendée during 1793, incurred numerous enemies within the Montagne,
including Robespierre. Arrested, tried, and declared a traitor, was guillotined with Danton on 5 April 1794.

Pichegru, Jean-Charles
(1761–1804), rose from private to general in the revolutionary army. Commander of the Army of the North, overran Holland in 1794–95. Led the repression in Paris after Germinal (April 1795), emerging as leader of the monarchist faction in the legislature of 1797. Arrested during Fructidor, was deported to Cayenne, but escaped to London in 1798 and later returned secretly to Paris. Imprisoned again, was found dead in his cell in April 1804.

Proly, Pierre Joseph Berthold
(1752–1794), Belgian baron, financier, agitator, and journalist, a natural son of the Austrian minister, Kaunitz. In 1791 established in Paris a democratic republican and internationalist journal,
Le Cosmopolite
. A declared atheist and supporter of de-Christianization, incurred Robespierre’s displeasure. Guillotined in Paris, 24 March 1794.

Rabaut Saint-Étienne, Jean-Paul
(1743–1793), Nîmes Protestant preacher, champion of toleration and freedom of the press, historian of the early Revolution, and man of letters prominent in the National Assembly in securing many of the great enactments of 1789. A member of the Commission de Douze in May 1793, was outlawed by the Montagne following the coup of 2 June 1793. Discovered at his hiding place, was guillotined in Paris on 5 December 1793.

Reubell, Jean-François
(1747–1807), Alsatian lawyer opposing emancipation of the Jews in 1789, and a leading Montagnard until Thermidor. Subsequently, a vehement anti-Jacobin demanding closure of the Club. Among the five directors chosen under the 1795 Constitution, helped organize the coup of Fructidor.

Robert, Pierre François Joseph
(1762–1826), Belgian republican and journalist, married to the journalist Louise Robert-Keralio, editor of
Le Mercure national
and an early propagator of republican ideas. Close to Danton and a Cordelier leader in 1791, he allowed women to participate at meetings. In the late 1790s, charged with hoarding groceries and rhum, became unpopular in Paris; his stores were pillaged during the Prairial rising, royalists and many sansculottes dubbing him “Robert Rhum.”

Robespierre, Augustin
(1763–1794), Arras lawyer, Maximilien’s younger brother and a Convention deputy for Paris from September 1792. Sent as representative-on-mission to Provence in early 1794, participated in directing the Terror there and organized the army of Italy’s operations together with Napoleon at Nice. Standing by his brother during the coup of Thermidor, was guillotined with him on 28 July 1794.

Robespiere, Maximilien
(1758–1794), Arras lawyer, fervent disciple of Rousseau, head of the populist authoritarian group dictatorship from June 1793 until Thermidor. Spoke frequently and with great effect until the end of 1793 both in the legislature and the Jacobins, adroitly outmaneuvering opponents, organizing a joint political program for the diverse Montagnard factions, and for a time strengthening the Montagne’s support. In his speeches often railed against the Enlightenment philosophes and men of letters, denouncing them as “atheists,” friends of kings and aristocrats, enemies of his idol Rousseau, and betrayers of the people. Showed little regard for republican principles and none for basic human rights. From June 1793 to July 1794 exerted his authority mainly through the Republic’s executive committees. A principal director of the Terror.

Roederer, Pierre Louis
(1754–1835), before 1789 a leading light of the Academy of Metz, author of books on political representation and economic affairs. During 1789–90, a prominent National Assembly speaker supporting Sieyès and Mirabeau, helped extricate the royal family from the Tuileries on 10 August 1792. Survived in hiding during the Terror, subsequently participating in the neo-Brissotin resurgence.

Roland, Manon Jeanne Philipon, Mme.
(1754–1793), wife of Roland and much admired head of the foremost Parisian revolutionary salon from June 1791 to May 1793. A passionate disciple of Rousseau and major influence among the Brissotin leadership, she seriously misread both Robespierre and Danton. Imprisoned in the Abbaye at the end of May 1793, guillotined in Paris on 8 November 1793.

Roland (de la Platière), Jean-Marie
(1734–1793), a local inspector-general of commerce and manufactures in Rouen and Amiens before the Revolution, twenty years older than his famous wife, served as royal minister of the interior from March to June 1792 and the Republic’s interior minister from August 1792 to late January 1793. Fled Paris in late May 1793, committed suicide in Normandy on 15 November 1793.

Romme, Gilbert
(1750–1795), mathematician and tutor, spent five years in Russia in the early 1780s, elected to the legislature in 1791, served prominently on the educational and constitutional committees. Main architect of the revolutionary calendar presented to the Convention on 17 September 1793, an egalitarian idealist aligned with the Montagne who disliked both Robespierre and the Thermidorian reaction. Implicated in the Prairial rising in Paris, committed suicide on 16 June 1795.

Ronsin, Charles Philippe
(1751–1794), soldier, playwright, and leading light of the Cordeliers, appointed by Pache executive commissaire of the army of Belgium in late 1792 where he presided through ineptitude, unruly temper, and corruption over a singularly disorderly military administration. Directed the repression at Lyon in the autumn of 1793 with Collot d’Herbois. Allied with Hébert, was arrested on 14 March and guillotined with him on 24 March 1794.

Roux, Jacques
(1752–1794), priest and seminary teacher, a passionate prophet of economic equality and formidable crowd agitator, among the leading Enragés. Allied early in the Revolution with Marat, the two later quarreled. Despised by Robespierre, was imprisoned in August 1793. Stabbed himself to death before the Tribunal Révolutionnaire on 15 January 1794.

Royou, Thomas Marie, Abbé
(1743–1792), philosophy professor and royalist journalist, editor of the foremost royalist paper,
L’Ami du roi
(1790–92). Calling on loyal Frenchmen to oppose the Revolution, his paper circulated widely in Paris and the provinces until suppressed in May 1792, shortly before his death.

Saint-Just, Louis Antoine
(1767–1794), served as Robespierre’s right-hand man in managing the Convention during 1793–94 and stepping up the Terror. A National Guard officer, dogmatic Rousseauist, and mediocre but prolific political theorist, was the youngest of the deputies elected to the Convention. A competent organizer with a ruthless authoritarian streak, expert in intimidation, was instrumental in outmaneuvering and destroying the rival Hébertiste and Dantoniste Montagnard factions. Guillotined with Robespierre on 28 July 1794.

Salicetti, Christophe
(1757–1809), deputy at the 1789 Estates-General for Corsica, arranged the return of Paoli from England in 1790, fought Paoli for control of the island in 1793–94. Accompanied the army of Italy as political supervisor, one of the architects of the 1796–97 Italian revolutions.

Siey
è
s, Emmanuel Joseph
(1748–1836), a priest with no priestly vocation, the most effective political pamphleteer of 1788–89. Played a leading part in securing the great enactments of 1789, but subsequently moved to a more centrist position in the legislature. Prominent on the constitutional committees through much of the Revolution, but often stood rather isolated. Renounced the priesthood during the de-Christianization, kept silent under the Terror. With Napoleon, organized the 1799 coup of Brumaire.

Sonthonax, Léger-F
é
licité
(1763–1813), idealistic follower of la philosophie and Brissotin chief commissaire of the Revolution on Haiti (Saint-Domingue) in 1792–93, the revolutionary leader who first began enforcing equal rights for free blacks and mulattoes on Haiti against the wishes of the white planters, decreeing the end of slavery there in 1793. An ally of Tousaint-Louverture in 1793–94, and for a time after his return to Haiti following his imprisonment in France during the last part of the Terror. Toussaint-Louverture expelled him from Haiti in 1797.

Staël, Anne-Louise, Mme. de
(1766–1817), daughter of Necker, Swiss writer and commentator on the Revolution. Returning to Paris in 1795, presided over one of the principal revolutionary salons under the Directory; opposed Napoleon’s dictatorship.

Talleyrand, Charles Maurice de
(1754–1838), aristocrat made bishop of Autun in 1788. Betrayed the French clergy in October 1789 by joining Mirabeau in seeking nationalization of the Church’s property, the Republic in December 1792 by fleeing to London and offering his services to the royal family, and the émigrés by seeking reconciliation with the Revolution. Returned to Paris in September 1796. Welcomed Napoleon’s dictatorship, later betrayed Napoleon in favor of Louis XVIII and the Bourbons (yet again) during the Revolution of 1830.