French politician (1767?1820)
Jean-Lambert Tallien
(
French pronunciation:
[???
l??b??
talj??]
, 23 January 1767 ? 16 November 1820) was a
French
politician of the
revolutionary period
. Though initially an active agent of the
Reign of Terror
, he eventually clashed with its leader,
Maximilien Robespierre
, and is best known as one of the key figures of the
Thermidorian Reaction
that led to the
fall of Robespierre
and the end of the Terror.
[1]
Early life and journalism
[
edit
]
Tallien was born in
Paris
to Lambert Tallien, the
maitre d'hotel
of the Marquis de Bercy, and Jeanne Lambert.
[1]
The marquis, noticing his ability, had him educated, and got him a place as a lawyer's clerk. Supportive of the Revolution, he gave up his desk to enter a printer's office, and by 1791 was overseer of the printing department of the
Comte de Provence
.
During his employment, he conceived the idea of the
journal-affiche
, and after the
arrest of the king at Varennes
in June 1791 he
placarded
a large printed sheet on all the walls of Paris twice a week, under the title of the
L'Ami des Citoyens, journal fraternel
.
This enterprise had its expenses paid by the
Jacobin Club
and made Tallien well known to the revolutionary leaders. He became even more present in politics after organizing, together with
Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois
, the great
Fete de la Liberte
on 15 April 1792, honouring the release of the
Swiss
regiment de Chateauvieux
, imprisoned since the
Nancy Mutiny
of 1790.
Paris Commune
[
edit
]
On 8 July 1792, he was the spokesman of a deputation of the
section
of the Place Royale which demanded from the
Legislative Assembly
the reinstatement of the
Mayor
,
Jerome Petion de Villeneuve
, and the
Procureur
,
Louis Pierre Manuel
. Tallien was one of the most active popular leaders in the
storming of the Tuileries Palace
on 10 August; on that day he was appointed secretary to the
insurrectional Commune of Paris
. He committed himself to his new mission and habitually appeared at the bar of the Assembly on behalf of the Commune. He participated in the
September Massacres
of 1792, and, with the help of
Georges Danton
, would eventually be elected a member of the National Convention.
[3]
He announced the September Massacres in terms of apology and praise, and he sent off the famous
circular
of 3 September to the French departments, recommending them to take similar action. At the same time, he had several people imprisoned in order to save them from the violence of the mob and protected several suspects himself.
National Convention and missions
[
edit
]
Tallien resigned his post in the Commune on being elected, in spite of his youth, deputy to the
National Convention
by the
department
of
Seine-et-Oise
, and he began his legislative career by defending the conduct of the Commune during the massacres. He took his seat upon
The Mountain
, and showed himself one of the most vigorous Jacobins, particularly in his defence of
Jean-Paul Marat
, on 26 February 1793; he voted in favor of the execution of King
Louis XVI
, and was elected member of the
Committee of General Security
on 21 January 1793, the day of the King's execution.
He was sent as
representative on mission
to the department of
Indre-et-Loire
in March 1793, and after returning to Paris took an active part in the
insurrection of 31 May
, which resulted in the overthrow of the
Girondists
.
[1]
For the next few months he kept a low profile, but on 23 September 1793 Tallien was sent with
Claude-Alexandre Ysabeau
on a mission to
Bordeaux
.
[1]
This was the month in which the
Reign of Terror
was organized under the superintendence of the
Committees of Public Safety
and
Committee of General Security
. On 6 October he arrived in
Saint-Emilion
to arrest suspect deputies. Not long after the introduction of the
Law of 22 Prairial
Petion de Villeneuve
and
Francois Buzot
committed suicide;
Marguerite-Elie Guadet
and
Charles Barbaroux
were guillotined.
Tallien was one of the most notorious envoys sent over to establish the Terror in the departments, and soon established a revolutionary grip on Bordeaux. The young Tallien, who was not yet 27, became notorious for his administration of justice in Bordeaux through his bloody affinity to "feed
la sainte guillotine
".
[4]
Tallien's methodology of subjugation at Bordeaux has been described as "fear and flour": the guillotining of Girondist leaders and exploitation of food shortages by withholding bread from the already-hungry province.
[5]
However, after the initial days of his mission in Bordeaux, Tallien began to shift away from his bloody Terrorist tendencies. This tendency may be due to his romantic involvement with
Theresa Cabarrus
, the daughter of Francisco Cabarrus and former wife of the emigre Marquis de Fontenay. Tallien not only spared her life but fell in love with her. As she was extremely wealthy and desired by many, it is possible that she became involved with Tallien in order to escape from the guillotine at Bordeaux and influence him to show lenience towards her aristocratic associates. Tallien suggested, "It is better to marry than to be beheaded."
[6]
After Tallien became involved with Cabarrus, there was a notable decline in the number of executions in Bordeaux. Theresa was a moderating influence, and for the lives she saved by her entreaties she received the name of
Notre-Dame de Thermidor
("Our Lady of Thermidor") after the onset of the
Thermidorian Reaction
in July 1794.
[7]
Tallien was elected president of the Convention on 24 March 1794 until 5 April and had to deal with the trial of
Georges Danton
and
Camille Desmoulins
.
[8]
Thermidorian Reaction
[
edit
]
On 9 Thermidor, Tallien threatened to use a dagger against Robespierre before the National Convention if the deputies did not decree his accusation
Tallien was recalled to Paris from Bordeaux after being denounced by the Committee of Public Safety for "
moderantisme
".
[1]
Cabarrus, who had accompanied him, was arrested for a second time and imprisoned. She was set to face trial and probably would have been executed. She sent a letter to Tallien on 26 July, which included a dagger and a note accusing him of weakness for not attempting to free her. Theresa stated, "I die in despair at having belonged to a coward like you."
[9]
In
Prairial
(May?June) he was expelled from the Jacobin Club by Robespierre, and from then on Tallien became a leading conspirator for his overthrow, allying himself with other opposers of the Terror.
[1]
Robespierre's own political ideas implied his readiness to strike at many of his colleagues in the committees, and Tallien was one of the men condemned. Robespierre's rivals were determined to strike first. During a session at the National Convention on
9 Thermidor
(27 July), Tallien interrupted Robespierre helper
Louis Antoine de Saint-Just
and, after going up to the tribune: "Yesterday a member of the government was left quite isolated and made a speech in his own name; today another one has done the same thing.
[10]
Tallien continued: "Need I recall to you that expression addressed [by Robespierre] to the journalists in one of the last sittings of the Jacobins? "I prohibit you from inserting my discourses in your papers till you have previously communicated them to me."
[11]
He brandished a dagger and threatened to stab Robespierre in the chest if the Convention did not decree his accusation, calling him "the new
Cromwell
".
[1]
The movement was successful:
[12]
[13]
Robespierre and his closest allies were arrested and guillotined on the next day. Tallien, as the leading Thermidorian, was elected to the Committee of Public Safety. He was instrumental in suppressing the
Revolutionary Tribunal
and the Jacobin Club; he attacked
Jean-Baptiste Carrier
and
Joseph Le Bon
, who had been representatives of the Committee to
Nantes
and Arras respectively, and he fought with energy against the
insurgents of Prairial
(20 May 1795).
Tallien's actions and his motivation behind his shifting loyalties have been described thus: "His only claim to a place in history was to have realized that people were sick of the terror, that the inevitable reaction was imminent, and that it was better to be a part of it than to be crushed by it."
[14]
In all these months he was supported by Therese, whom he married on 26 December 1794, and who became the leader of the social life of Paris. This cemented Tallien's transition from the infamous Terrorist at Bordeaux to the "reformed terrorist" of the Thermidorian reaction.
On 18th Thermidor, in order to secure the release of his mistress, to gain popular support, and to popularize his image as a Thermidorian (rather than a Jacobin), Tallien stated, "There is not a single man in prison today who does not claim to be an ardent patriot and who has not been an enemy of Robespierre's."
[15]
In the next five days, nearly 500 prisoners, many of whom were moderates or right-wing opposition to Robespierre and the leftist Jacobins, were released. Tallien and the Thermidorians almost immediately repealed the law of 22 July, ending the power of the Committee of Public Safety to arrest representatives without a hearing. In addition, measures were passed causing one-fourth of the Committee to be up for election each month, with a one-month period between the terms that deputies could serve on the Committee.
For Tallien's role in 9 Thermidor, he was elected to the Committee of Public Safety. In a complete reversal of his earlier positions, Tallien appealed to the new rising class of the
jeunesse doree
("gilded youth"), who viewed him as their leader, by stating "I sincerely admit that I had rather see twenty aristocrats set at liberty today and re-arrested tomorrow than see a single patriot left in chains."
[16]
In addition, Tallien helped pass a measure that would publish the lists of the freed prisoners, helping ensure that the National Convention would be accountable for any imprisonments. Furthermore, he promoted a compromise that prevented a list of those who acted as guarantees for the loyalty of released prisoners. This prevented him from being publicly accountable for the release of his mistress and future wife. Shortly after, Tallien and his allies Freron and Lecointre were removed from the Jacobin clubs.
[17]
On the 23rd of Fructidor, an assassination attempt was made on Tallien. The minor gunshot wound and knife wound gave Tallien and his allies the necessary public support to begin their attacks on the Jacobin clubs.
[18]
With the threat of a Jacobin-Terrorist plot in the air, Tallien and Freron used public proclamations and physical intimidation (through the
jeunesse doree
) to wipe out the central Parisian Jacobin club. Tallien began campaigning for free speech in 1795. This increased his popularity with the
jeunesse doree
, as many were journalists. He reestablished his paper,
L'Ami des Citoyens
, and contributed to the unified attack of the Thermidorians on the remaining Jacobins. Although the journalistic freedom gave the Jacobins the legal opportunity to also mount an attack through the press, their Thermidorian oppoents were far more unified. Thermidorian journalists had even got into high positions on Jacobin newspapers.
[16]
In addition, the Thermidorians did nothing to stop the monarchist resurgence. Eventually, the Thermidorians ordered that all emigres and emigre supporters hand over their weapons and expel all foreigners from the country. However, there is evidence that Tallien was arranging a compromise with Spain and would support the imposition of Louis XVIII as a king "without the abuses".
[19]
In July 1795, a large division of emigres, with support from the British, attempted to
invade through Quiberon
. However, General
Lazare Hoche
outmaneuvered the emigres and trapped them on the end of the
Quiberon
peninsula.
[15]
Tallien was sent by the National Convention to the scene. Partially because Tallien had been corresponding with the Bourbons in Spain, he set up military commissions to put all of the emigre prisoners on trial.
[20]
Under current law, all of the emigres were convicted and summarily executed. Tallien was held responsible and lost support from the
jeunesse doree
and Thermidorians. His political influence were thus greatly reduced.
Council of Five Hundred and Egyptian campaign
[
edit
]
After the beginning of the
French Directory
, Tallien's political importance came to an end, for, although he sat in the
Council of Five Hundred
, the moderates viewed him as an enforcer of the Terror, and the extreme party as a renegade. Madame Tallien also rejected him, and became the mistress of the rich banker
Gabriel-Julien Ouvrard
.
Napoleon Bonaparte
, however, who is said to have been introduced by him to
Paul Barras
, took him on to his
military expedition to Egypt
of June 1798 as part of the political economy section of the
Institut d'Egypte
, and after the capture of
Cairo
, he edited the official journal there, the
Decade Egyptienne
. General
Jacques Francois Menou
sent him back to France. On his passage, he was captured by a
British
cruiser and taken to
London
, where he had a good reception among the
Whigs
and was received by
Charles James Fox
.
Tallien's tombstone in the Pere Lachaise Cemetery, dedicated with an excerpt from his periodical "
L'ami des citoyens, journal fraternel
"
Later years
[
edit
]
On returning to France in 1802 he obtained a divorce from Theresa (who in 1805 married
Francois-Joseph-Philippe de Riquet
) and was left for some time without employment. Eventually, through the interventions of
Joseph Fouche
and
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand
, Tallien was appointed consul at
Alicante
, and remained there until he lost the sight of one eye from
yellow fever
.
Back in Paris, Tallien lived on half-pay until the fall of the
Empire
and the
Bourbon Restoration
in 1815, when he received the favour of not being exiled like the other
regicides
(those who had voted for the Louis XVI's execution) due to his poor health.
[1]
He spent his last years in poverty, living in a small house in the
Allee des Veuves
.
[1]
He was forced to sell his collection of books in order to sustain himself, and in May 1818 asked the government of King
Louis XVIII
for some relief money, which was granted in 1000
francs
by minister
Elie Decazes
.
[1]
Tallien died of
leprosy
on 16 November 1820,
[21]
and was buried in the
Pere Lachaise Cemetery
.
[1]
Works
[
edit
]
Magazines
[
edit
]
Tallien wrote for the following magazines:
- L'Ami des citoyens
- L'Ami des sans-culottes
- Le Sans-culotte
(1793)
- Le Courier de l'Armee des cotes de La Rochelle
- La Decade egyptienne
(1798-1800)
Other works
[
edit
]
- 1789 -
Memoire sur la liberte de la presse, suivi de quelques autres memoires concernant la librairie
- 1790 -
On nous mene donc la faction orleano-angloise, ou les projets de mechans devoiles
- Discours sur les causes qui ont produit la Revolution francaise
(Paris, 1791, 8 vols)
- 1792 -
Detail et ordre de la marche de la fete en l'honneur de la liberte, donnee par le peuple a l'occasion de l'arrivee des soldats de Chateau-Vieux, le dimanche 15 avril 1792, l'an quatrieme de la liberte
. Paris: De l'imprimerie de Tremblay
- 1792 -
La verite sur les evenemens du 2 septembre
. Paris: De l'Imprimerie nationale
- 1793 -
Projets de decrets concernant Louis Capet. Presentes a la Convention nationale par J.L. Tallien, depute du departement de Seine & -Oise
. Paris: De l'Imprimerie nationale
- 1793 -
Rapport des commissaires envoyes a Forges-les-Eaux, departement de la Seine-inferieure, pour constater les faits relatifs au suicide de l'assassin Paris
. Paris: De l'Imprimerie nationale
- 1794 -
Tallien, representant du peuple, a ses collegues
. A Paris: De l'imprimerie de Rougiff
- 1794 -
Eclaircissemens veridiques de Tallien, representant du peuple, envoye en mission a Bordeaux. En reponse aux Eclaircissemens necessaires de Collot, ancien membre du Comite de salut public
- 1794 -
Discours prononce a la Convention nationale, dans la seance du 11 fructidor, l'an 2 de la Republique, sur les principes du gouvernement revolutionnaire
. A Paris: De l'Imprimerie nationale
- 1795 -
Rapport fait au nom de la commission des cinq, sur la conjuration du 13 vendemiaire
- 1795 -
Rapport fait a la Convention nationale, par Tallien, dans la seance du 9 thermidor, an 3, sur la defaite des emigres a Quiberon
. A Besancon: Chez Metoyer
- 1795 -
Un mot sur la necessite de rendre les biens des condamnes
. A Paris: De l'Imprimerie nationale
- 1795 -
Compte rendu a la Convention nationale, en execution du decret du 21 nivose dernier, par Tallien, representant du peuple, des depenses qu'il a faites dans ses diverses missions
. Paris: De l'Imprimerie nationale
- 1795 -
Rapport fait a la Convention nationale, au nom de la Commission des cinq, par Tallien, dans la seance du 2 brumaire, l'an quatrieme de la Republique francaise, une et indivisible
. A Paris: De l'Imprimerie nationale
- 1795 -
Rapport et projet de decret, presentes au nom du Comite de salut public, par Tallien, dans la seance du 27 germinal, an 3, relativement a une nouvelle organisation des transports militaires
. A Paris: De l'Imprimerie nationale
- 1797 -
Motion d'ordre du representant du peuple Tallien, sur les circonstances actuelles, prononcee dans la seance du Conseil des cinq-cents, le 6 thermidor, an 5
. A Paris: Chez G.-F. Galletti
- 1798 -
Opinion de Tallien, contre le projet de la Commission de finances, sur les tabacs
- Memoire sur l'administration de l'Egypte a l'arrivee des Francais
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
Robert, Adolphe; Cougny, Gaston (1891).
Dictionnaire des parlementaires francais
(in French). Vol. 5. Paris. pp. 361?362.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- ^
Madelin, Louis.
Figures of the Revolution
. New York: Books for Libraries Press, Inc., 1968.
- ^
Stephens, Henry Morse,
A History of the French Revolution
, New York: Charles Shribner's Sons, 1891.
- ^
Brace, Richard Munthe,
"The Problem of Bread and the French Revolution at Bordeaux" on JSTOR
,
The American Historical Review
, Vol. 51, No. 4 (July 1946), pp. 649-667.
- ^
Mathiez, p. 87.
- ^
Henry Morse Stephens,
A History of the French Revolution
, New York: Charles Shribner's Sons, 1891, p. 542.
- ^
"Tallien, Theresa (1773?1835) ." Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. . Encyclopedia.com. 16 Oct. 2020 <
https://www.encyclopedia.com
>.
- ^
Andrea Stuart
,
The Rose of Martinique: A Life of Napoleon's Josephine
, New York: Grove Press, 2003, p. 142.
- ^
The Morning Chronicle (18 August) and Gazette Nationale ou Le Moniteur Universel (29 July)
- ^
Sampson Perry (1796) An Historical Sketch of the French Revolution. Band 2, p. 531
- ^
Durand de Maillane, Pierre Toussaint (1825).
Histoire de la Convention nationale
(in French). Paris: Baudouin freres. p. 199.
- ^
Mathiez, Albert (1985).
La Revolution francaise: La Terreur
. Vol. 3. Paris: Editions Denoel. pp. 242?3.
Retrieved April 16, 2021
- ^
Gendron, Francois,
The Gilded Youth of Thermidor
, Buffalo: McGill-Queens University Press, 1993.
- ^
a
b
Georges Lefebvre,
The Thermidoreans and the Directory
, New York: Random House, 1964, p. 168.
- ^
a
b
Mathiez p. 29.
- ^
Mathiez p. 44.
- ^
Mathiez p. 50.
- ^
Dennis Woronoff,
The Thermidorean regime and the Directory 1794-1799
, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1972, p. 24.
- ^
Mathiez, 233.
- ^
Microsoft PowerPoint - Committee of Public Safety balloon debate presentations[1]
Archived
May 29, 2008, at the
Wayback Machine
- Albert Mathiez,
After Robespierre: The Thermidorian Reaction
, New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1965, OCLC 565901384
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain
:
Chisholm, Hugh
, ed. (1911). "
Tallien, Jean Lambert
".
Encyclopædia Britannica
. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 377.
In turn, it gives the following references:
- "Tallien et l'Expedition d'Egypte", in
La Revolution Francaise: Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine
, p. 269.
- Arsene Houssaye
,
Notre Dame de Thermidor
, Paris, 1866
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