French revolutionary general
Charles-Philippe Ronsin
(
French pronunciation:
[?a?l
filip
???s??]
; 1 December 1751 – 24 March 1794) was a French
general
of the
Revolutionary Army
of the
First French Republic
, commanding the large Parisian division of
l'Armee Revolutionnaire
. He was an extreme radical leader of the
French Revolution
, and one of the many followers of
Jacques-Rene Hebert
, known as the
Hebertists
.
[1]
Life
[
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]
Born in 1751 in
Soissons
,
Aisne
, a city northeast of
Paris
, Ronsin was son of a master cooper or barrel maker. At the age of seventeen, Charles-Philippe Ronsin joined the Parisian army. By 1772 he left the army with the position of corporal and soon became a playwright and a tutor. In these years he met the artist
Jacques-Louis David
and they became good friends.
Welcoming the Revolution, Ronsin became the
Bourgeois Guard
Captain in the district of Saint-Roch in 1789. He presented several patriotic pieces in some of the theatres in the capital between the years 1790 and 1792. It was in this period that Ronsin became a club orator and joined the club of the
Cordeliers
.
Influences
[
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]
In August and September 1792, the Executive Council entrusted him three missions. In November, the minister of war, Pache, named him commissioner-organizer in Belgium to the army of
Dumouriez
. In this post, Ronsin denounced the acts of violence of the suppliers to the armed forces, who were protected by the general.
Ronsin was named assistant of the minister of war of Bouchotte on 23 April 1793, without ever commanding a squadron. It is possible that Ronsin received that position thanks to his friendship with
Chaumette
and
Hebert
. In May, he left to
Vendee
, to help the provisioning armies. There was an incident in which Ronsin was upset that his plan for defeating the
Vendeans
was rejected, therefore, he decided to make sure that
General Canclaux
was defeated by the Vendeans, ensuring his own victory. He led his troops to
Vihiers
and
Beaulieu
and was eventually trapped at
Coron
. Because of Ronsin's decision the
Vendeans
took over Beaulieu and managed to convince the Committee to get rid of Canclaux.
Ronsin's support among the
Cordeliers
and the ministry allowed him to cross the rank of captain to that of brigadier general in the army of the coasts of Rochelle. In September, 1793, he becomes chief general of the revolutionary army of Paris. Ronsin had a violent character and was very outspoken. He, however, proved to be a good leader. Ronsin was witty and clever when dealing with his different functions. However, thanks to his quick ascent and his character Ronsin acquired numerous enemies, particularly
Pierre Philippeaux
and
Fabre d'Eglantine
.
Ronsin created a bill that was posted in Paris after his return from Lyon that stated that there were one hundred and forty thousand people living in Lyon, fifteen hundred of which had nothing to do with the rebellions. Ronsin stated that before the end of September, all of the people who were guilty would die. On 17 December
Fabre d'Eglantine
denounced Ronsin for being an ultra-revolutionist. Ronsin was arrested along with
Francois-Nicolas Vincent
, who was another member of the
Cordeliers
Club.
Last days
[
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]
While in prison the
Cordeliers
wrote a petition in favor of both
Vincent
and Ronsin, stating that they were great patriots and that Ronsin should not be punished for attacking
Dumouriez
,
Custine
, and
Brissot
. Among those who were defending Ronsin was
Collot d'Herbois
, who was also part of the Committee. Collot d'Herbois defended Ronsin, saying that while fighting in the South along with all of the other patriots of the Revolution, Ronsin showed great determination in enforcing respect for the republic.
With the help of
Fouquier-Tinville
, Ronsin was believed to be working on a military conspiracy to replace the revolutionary government with a military dictatorship.
Fouquier-Tinville
called him one of the "new Cromwell".
Ronsin was finally arrested along with
Hebert
,
Momoro
, and
Vincent
. While in prison Ronsin is quoted with saying these words to his co-accused: "...you will be condemned. When you should have acted, you talked. Know how to die. For my part, I swear that you shall not see me flinch. Strive to do the same."
Some of his final words before his death were, "Liberty undone!...because a few paltry fellows are about to perish! Liberty is immortal. Our enemies will fall in their turn, and liberty will survive them all!" On 24 March 1794, five carts full of condemned
Hebertists
were taken to the guillotine, Charles-Philippe Ronsin among them.
[2]
Their death of was a sort of carnival, a pleasant spectacle according to
Michelet
's witnesses. Ronsin stayed true to his words in prison: as Thomas Carlyle relates the event, he alone among the Hebertists went to the scaffold with an "air of defiance", still maintaining a steely "eye of command".
[3]
Within a week of his death, Ronsin's army (
l'Armee Revolutionnaire de Paris
) was disbanded.
[4]
Works
[
edit
]
- 1786 -
Theatre de M. Ronsin, imprime au profit de sa belle-mere
. A Paris: De l'imprimerie Cailleau
- 1789 -
La ligue aristocratique, ou, Les catilinaires francoises
. Paris: Au Palais-Royal, de l'imprimerie de Josseran
- 1790 -
Louis XII, Pere du Peuple. Tragedie, dediee a la Garde Nationale
. A Paris, chez L. Potier de Lille
- 1792 -
Discours prononce par Ch. Ph. Ronsin, le samedi 18 aout 1792, l'an 4eme. de la liberte et le premier de l'egalite, a la section du Theatre Francois, dite de Marseille, a l'occasion de la ceremonie funebre ordonnee en l'honneur de nos freres d'armes morts a la journee du 10, pour la defense de la liberte et de l'egalite
. A Paris: De l'imprimerie de Pougin
- 1792 -
Grand discours fait par Ch.-Ph. Ronsin, l'an 4me. de la liberte, et le 1er. de l'egalite, a l'occasion de la ceremonie funebre, faite le 26 aout 1792, au jardin des Tuileries, ordonnee en l'honneur de nos freres d'armes morts a la journee du 10, pour la defense de la liberte et de l'egalite
. Paris]: De l'imprimerie de Pougin
- 1793 -
Aretaphile, ou, La revolution de Cyrene : tragedie, en cinq actes, en vers, faite en 1786. Representee, pour la premiere fois, sur le theatre de la rue de Louvois, le 23 juin 1792
. A Paris, Chez Guillaume, junior
References
[
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]
- ^
The Oxford History of the French Revolution
; William Doyle; Clarendon Press, 1989; p.252. |"The Revolutionary Army was at last set on foot, and command of it went... to Ronsin, one of the fiercest allies of Hebert."
- ^
Doyle, 1989; p.270. |"The trial took place on 21?4 March, its result a foregone conclusion. Among those who went to the scaffold with Pere Duchesne on the afternoon of the twenty-fourth were Vincent, Ronsin, and the leader of section Marat, Momoro."
- ^
The French Revolution (Part III, The Guillotine)
, Thomas Carlyle; Scribner, NY, 1871;
p.215
. |"General Ronsin too, he still looks forth with some air of defiance, eye of command: the rest are sunk in a stony paleness of despair."
- ^
Carlyle, 1871;
p.216
. |"In the course of a week, the Revolutionary Army itself is disbanded."
- Adolphe Thiers
,
Frederic Shoberl
,
The History of the French Revolution
(France,1866).
- Henri Martin, Abby Landgon Alger,
A popular History of France from the First Revolution to the Present Time
(France, 1877).
- Paul R. Hanson,
Historical Dictionary of the French Revolution
(Scarecrow Press, 2004).
- Albert Soboul
(dir.),
Dictionnaire historique de la Revolution francaise
, Quadrige/PUF, 1989, article ≪ Ronsin, Charles Philippe ≫ de Raymonde Monnier
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