French nobleman, writer, lawyer and statesman
Francois Boissy d'Anglas
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In office
August 1815 ? 20 October 1826
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Monarchs
| Louis XVIII
Charles X
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In office
18 February 1804 ? 14 April 1814
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Monarch
| Napoleon I
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In office
2 November 1795 ? 5 September 1797
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Constituency
| Ardeche
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In office
20 September 1792 ? 2 November 1795
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Constituency
| Ardeche
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In office
7 January 1789 ? 9 July 1789
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Constituency
| Annonay
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Born
| (
1756-12-08
)
8 December 1756
Saint-Jean-Chambre
,
France
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Died
| 20 October 1826
(1826-10-20)
(aged 69)
Paris,
France
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Resting place
| Pere Lachaise Cemetery
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Political party
| Girondist
(1792?1793)
Maraisard
(1793?1795)
Clichyens
(1795?1797)
Independent
(1799?1826)
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Spouse
|
Marie-Francoise Michel
(
m.
1776)
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Children
| 4 children
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Profession
| Writer, lawyer
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Francois-Antoine, Count of the Empire
(1756?1826) was a French writer, lawyer and politician during the
Revolution
and the
Empire
.
Biography
[
edit
]
Early career
[
edit
]
Born to a
Protestant
family in
Saint-Jean-Chambre
, Ardeche,
[
citation needed
]
he studied Law and, after literary attempts, became a lawyer to the
parlement
of Paris.
In 1789 he was elected by the
Third Estate
of the
senechaussee
of
Annonay
as deputy to the
Estates-General
. He was one of those who induced the Estates-General to proclaim itself a
National Assembly
on 17 June 1789, and approved, in several speeches, of the
storming of the Bastille
and of the taking of the
royal family
to Paris (October 1789).
Boissy d'Anglas demanded that strict measures be taken against the Royalists who were
conspiring
in
Southern France
, and published some
pamphlets
on financial issues. During the
Legislative Assembly
, he was
procureur-syndic
for the directory of the
departement
of
Ardeche
.
During the Revolution
[
edit
]
Elected to the
National Convention
, he sat in the
centre
,
le Marais
, voting in the trial of
Louis XVI
for his detention until
deportation
should be judged expedient for the state. He was then
representative on mission
to
Lyon
, charged with investigating frauds in connection with the supplies of the
Army of the Alps
.
Although he had been close to several
Girondists
, Boissy d'Anglas escaped arrest after
Francois Hanriot
's
insurrection
of 2 June 1793,
[
citation needed
]
and he was one of several centrist deputies who supported
Maximilien Robespierre
during the early stages of the
Reign of Terror
. However, he was gained over by the members of
The Mountain
hostile to Robespierre, and his support, along with that of some other leaders of the
Marais
, made possible the
Thermidorian Reaction
.
Boissy d'Anglas was then elected a member of the
Committee of Public Safety
, and charged with the superintendence of the provisioning of Paris. He presented the report supporting the decree of 3
Ventose
of the year III (February 1795), which established
freedom of religion
. In the critical days of
Germinal
and of
Prairial
of the year III, he was noted for his courage.
On 12 Germinal, the day of
insurrection of 12 Germinal
year III, he was in the tribune, reading a report on the food supplies, when the hall of the Convention was invaded; when they withdrew he quietly continued where he had been interrupted. During
Insurrection of 1 Prairial
, he was presiding over the Convention, and remained in his post despite insults and menaces of the insurgents. When the head of the deputy,
Jean-Bertrand Feraud
, was presented to him on the end of a pike, he saluted it impassively.
Under the Directory
[
edit
]
He was protractor of the committee which drew up the
Constitution of the Year III
which established the
French Directory
; his report shows apprehension of a return of the Reign of Terror, and presents
reactionary
measures as precautions against the re-establishment of "
tyranny
and
anarchy
". This report, the proposal that he made (27 August 1795) to lessen the severity of the revolutionary laws, and the
eulogies
he received from several Paris sections suspected of Royalism, resulted in his being obliged to justify himself (15 October 1795).
As a member of the
Council of Five Hundred
, Boissy d'Anglas became more and more suspected of Royalism himself. He presented a measure in favour of full
liberty for the press
, which at that time was almost unanimously reactionary, protested against the outlawry of returned
emigres
, spoke in favour of the
deported priests
and attacked the Directory. Accordingly, he was
proscribed
immediately after the
coup of 18 Fructidor
, and lived in
Great Britain
until the establishment of the
French Consulate
.
Later life
[
edit
]
In 1801 he was made a member of the
Tribunate
, and in 1805 a
senator
of the Empire. In 1814 he voted for
Napoleon
's
abdication
, which won for him a seat in the
Chamber of Peers
after the First
Bourbon Restoration
.
However, during the
Hundred Days
he returned to serving Napoleon.
After the
defeat at Waterloo
and the subsequent
abdication of Napoleon, 1815
Boissy d'Anglas was one of the five commissioners sent by the
Provisional Government
to try to negotiate peace terms with the
Duke of Wellington
and
Prince Blucher
.
For his disloyalty to
Louis XVIII
, on the
Second Restoration
, he was for a short while excluded.
In the Chamber he still sought to obtain liberty for the press ?a theme upon which he published a volume of his speeches (Paris, 1817). He was a member of the
Institut de France
from its foundation, and in 1816, after its reorganization, became a member of the
Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
. He published in 1819?1821 a two-volume
Essai sur la vie et les opinions de
M. de Malesherbes
.
Family and children
[
edit
]
He married Marie-Francoise Michel (
Nimes
, 6 January 1759 –
Bougival
, 21 March 1850) on 11 March 1776 in
Vauvert
. They had four children:
- Marie-Anne (17 February 1777 – October 1855)
- Suzanne (14 October 1779 – 6 March 1851)
- Francois-Antoine, Jr. (23 February 1781 – 12 November 1850),
prefect
of
Charente
- Jean-Gabriel (2 April 1783 – 6 May 1864),
Orleanist
politician
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Deux mots sur une question jugee ou lettre de M. Boissy d'Anglas a Monsieur le redacteur de la Feuille du jour en reponse a Monsieur de La Gallissonniere
(1791)
- Observations sur l'ouvrage de M. de Calonne, intitule De l'etat de la France, present et a venir, et a son occasion, sur les principaux actes de l'Assemblee nationale
(1791)
- Quelques idees sur la liberte, la revolution, le gouvernement republicain, et la constitution francoise
(1792)
- Essai sur les fetes nationales, suivi de quelques idees sur les arts et sur la necessite de les encourager
(1793)
- Projet de constitution pour la Republique francaise, et discours preliminaire
(1795). Vertaald als:
Vertoog bij de aanbieding van het ontwerp van constitutie, voor de Fransche Republiek
, 1796
- Rapport sur les colonies
(1795)
- Rapport sur la liberte des cultes, fait au nom des comites de salut public, de surete generale et de legislation, reunis ...
(1795)
- Recueil de discours sur la liberte de la presse
(1817)
- Essai sur la vie, les ecrits et les opinions de M. de Malesherbes
, 3 dln. (1819-1821)
- Les etudes litteraires et poetiques d'un vieillard, ou Recueil de divers ecrits en vers et en prose
. Tome premier
;
Tome second
;
Tome troisieme
;
Tome quatrieme
;
Tome cinqieme
;
Tome sixieme
(1825)
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
Attribution:
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International
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National
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Artists
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People
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Other
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