François Antoine de Boissy d'Anglas
Encyclopedia
François Antoine de Boissy d'Anglas (1756–1828) was a French statesman of the Revolution
, First Republic and Empire
.
family in Saint-Jean-Chambre
, Ardèche, 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 sénéchaussee 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 pamphlet
s on financial issues. During the Legislative Assembly
, he was procureur-syndic
for the directory of the département of Ardèche
.
, 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 fraud
s in connection with the supplies of the Army of the Alps
.
Although he had been close to several Girondist
s, Boissy d'Anglas escaped arrest after François Hanriot
's insurrection of 2 June 1793, 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 Ventôse
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 the 12th Germinal, the day of a major Montagnard riot, 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. On the Jacobin
attack of 1st 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 Féraud, was presented to him on the end of a pike, he saluted it impassively.
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 émigré
s, spoke in favour of the deported priests
and attacked the Directory. Accordingly, he was proscribed
immediately after the 18 Fructidor coup, and lived in Great Britain
until the establishment of the French Consulate
.
'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, and in consequence, 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 Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
. He published in 1819–1821 a two-volume Essai sur la vie et les opinions de M. de Malesherbes
.
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, First Republic and Empire
First French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
.
Early career
Born to a ProtestantProtestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
family in Saint-Jean-Chambre
Saint-Jean-Chambre
Saint-Jean-Chambre is a commune in the Ardèche department in southern France.-Population:-References:*...
, Ardèche, he studied Law and, after literary attempts, became a lawyer to the parlement
Parlement
Parlements were regional legislative bodies in Ancien Régime France.The political institutions of the Parlement in Ancien Régime France developed out of the previous council of the king, the Conseil du roi or curia regis, and consequently had ancient and customary rights of consultation and...
of Paris.
In 1789 he was elected by the Third Estate
Estates of the realm
The Estates of the realm were the broad social orders of the hierarchically conceived society, recognized in the Middle Ages and Early Modern period in Christian Europe; they are sometimes distinguished as the three estates: the clergy, the nobility, and commoners, and are often referred to by...
of the sénéchaussee of Annonay
Annonay
Annonay is a commune in the north of the Ardèche department in the Rhône-Alpes region in southern France. It is the most populous commune in the Ardèche department, although it is not the capital, which resides in the smaller town of Privas.-Geography:...
as deputy to the Estates-General
Estates-General of 1789
The Estates-General of 1789 was the first meeting since 1614 of the French Estates-General, a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the nobility, the Church, and the common people...
. He was one of those who induced the Estates-General to proclaim itself a National Assembly
National Assembly (French Revolution)
During the French Revolution, the National Assembly , which existed from June 17 to July 9, 1789, was a transitional body between the Estates-General and the National Constituent Assembly.-Background:...
on 17 June 1789, and approved, in several speeches, of the storming of the Bastille
Storming of the Bastille
The storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris on the morning of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. While the prison only contained seven inmates at the time of its storming, its fall was the flashpoint...
and of the taking of the royal family
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
to Paris (October 1789).
Boissy d'Anglas demanded that strict measures be taken against the Royalists who were conspiring
Conspiracy (political)
In a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of persons united in the goal of usurping or overthrowing an established political power. Typically, the final goal is to gain power through a revolutionary coup d'état or through assassination....
in Southern France
Southern France
Southern France , colloquially known as le Midi is defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Gironde, Spain, the Mediterranean, and Italy...
, and published some pamphlet
Pamphlet
A pamphlet is an unbound booklet . It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths , or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book...
s on financial issues. During the Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly (France)
During the French Revolution, the Legislative Assembly was the legislature of France from 1 October 1791 to September 1792. It provided the focus of political debate and revolutionary law-making between the periods of the National Constituent Assembly and of the National Convention.The Legislative...
, he was procureur-syndic
Syndic
Syndic , a term applied in certain countries to an officer of government with varying powers, and secondly to a representative or delegate of a university, institution or other corporation, entrusted with special functions or powers.The meaning which underlies both applications is that of...
for the directory of the département of Ardèche
Ardèche
Ardèche is a department in south-central France named after the Ardèche River.- History :The area has been inhabited by humans at least since the Upper Paleolithic, as attested by the famous cave paintings at Chauvet Pont d'Arc. The plateau of the Ardeche River has extensive standing stones ,...
.
Convention
Elected to the National ConventionNational Convention
During the French Revolution, the National Convention or Convention, in France, comprised the constitutional and legislative assembly which sat from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 . It held executive power in France during the first years of the French First Republic...
, he sat in the centre
Centrism
In politics, centrism is the ideal or the practice of promoting policies that lie different from the standard political left and political right. Most commonly, this is visualized as part of the one-dimensional political spectrum of left-right politics, with centrism landing in the middle between...
, le Marais, voting in the trial of Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
for his detention until deportation
Deportation
Deportation means the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. Today it often refers to the expulsion of foreign nationals whereas the expulsion of nationals is called banishment, exile, or penal transportation...
should be judged expedient for the state. He was then representative on mission to Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
, charged with investigating fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
s in connection with the supplies of the Army of the Alps
French Revolutionary Army
The French Revolutionary Army is the term used to refer to the military of France during the period between the fall of the ancien regime under Louis XVI in 1792 and the formation of the First French Empire under Napoleon Bonaparte in 1804. These armies were characterised by their revolutionary...
.
Girondist
The Girondists were a political faction in France within the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention during the French Revolution...
s, Boissy d'Anglas escaped arrest after François Hanriot
François Hanriot
François Hanriot was a French leader and street orator of the Revolution. He played a vital role in the Insurrection and subsequently the fall of the Girondins.-Early years:...
's insurrection of 2 June 1793, and he was one of several centrist deputies who supported Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre is one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution. He largely dominated the Committee of Public Safety and was instrumental in the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror, which ended with his...
during the early stages of the Reign of Terror
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
. However, he was gained over by the members of The Mountain
The Mountain
The Mountain refers in the context of the history of the French Revolution to a political group, whose members, called Montagnards, sat on the highest benches in the Assembly...
hostile to Robespierre, and his support, along with that of some other leaders of the Marais, made possible the Thermidorian Reaction
Thermidorian Reaction
The Thermidorian Reaction was a revolt in the French Revolution against the excesses of the Reign of Terror. It was triggered by a vote of the Committee of Public Safety to execute Maximilien Robespierre, Antoine Louis Léon de Saint-Just de Richebourg and several other leading members of the Terror...
.
Boissy d'Anglas was then elected a member of the Committee of Public Safety
Committee of Public Safety
The Committee of Public Safety , created in April 1793 by the National Convention and then restructured in July 1793, formed the de facto executive government in France during the Reign of Terror , a stage of the French Revolution...
, and charged with the superintendence of the provisioning of Paris. He presented the report supporting the decree of 3 Ventôse
Ventôse
Ventôse was the sixth month in the French Republican Calendar. The month was named after the Latin word ventosus, which means windy.Ventôse was the third month of the winter quarter . It started between 19 February and 21 February. It ended between 20 March and 21 March...
of the year III (February 1795), which established freedom of religion
Freedom of religion
Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any...
. In the critical days of Germinal
Germinal (French Republican Calendar)
Germinal was the seventh month in the French Republican Calendar. The month was named after the Latin word germen, which means germination...
and of Prairial
Prairial
Prairial was the ninth month in the French Republican Calendar. This month was named after the French word prairie, which means meadow. It was the name given to several ships....
of the year III, he was noted for his courage.
On the 12th Germinal, the day of a major Montagnard riot, 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. On the Jacobin
Jacobin (politics)
A Jacobin , in the context of the French Revolution, was a member of the Jacobin Club, a revolutionary far-left political movement. The Jacobin Club was the most famous political club of the French Revolution. So called from the Dominican convent where they originally met, in the Rue St. Jacques ,...
attack of 1st 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 Féraud, was presented to him on the end of a pike, he saluted it impassively.
Directory
He was protractor of the committee which drew up the constitution of the year IIIFrench Constitution of 1795
The Constitution of 22 August 1795 was a national constitution of France ratified by the National Convention on 22 August 1795 during the French Revolution...
which established the French Directory
French Directory
The Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...
; his report shows apprehension of a return of the Reign of Terror, and presents reactionary
Reactionary
The term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...
measures as precautions against the re-establishment of "tyranny and anarchy
Anomie
Anomie is a term meaning "without Law" to describe a lack of social norms; "normlessness". It describes the breakdown of social bonds between an individual and their community ties, with fragmentation of social identity and rejection of self-regulatory values. It was popularized by French...
". This report, the proposal that he made (27 August 1795) to lessen the severity of the revolutionary laws, and the eulogies
Eulogy
A eulogy is a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially one recently deceased or retired. Eulogies may be given as part of funeral services. However, some denominations either discourage or do not permit eulogies at services to maintain respect for traditions...
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
Council of Five Hundred
The Council of Five Hundred , or simply the Five Hundred was the lower house of the legislature of France during the period commonly known as the Directory , from 22 August 1795 until 9 November 1799, roughly the second half of the period generally referred to as the...
, Boissy d'Anglas became more and more suspected of Royalism himself. He presented a measure in favour of full liberty for the press
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...
, which at that time was almost unanimously reactionary, protested against the outlawry of returned émigré
Émigré
Émigré is a French term that literally refers to a person who has "migrated out", but often carries a connotation of politico-social self-exile....
s, spoke in favour of the deported priests
Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution
The dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution is a conventional description of the results of a number of separate policies, conducted by various governments of France between the start of the French Revolution in 1789 and the Concordat of 1801, forming the basis of the later and...
and attacked the Directory. Accordingly, he was proscribed
Exile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
immediately after the 18 Fructidor coup, and lived in Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
until the establishment of the French Consulate
French Consulate
The Consulate was the government of France between the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire in 1804...
.
Consulate, Empire, and Restoration
In 1801 he was made a member of the Tribunate, and in 1805 a senator of the Empire. In 1814 he voted for NapoleonNapoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
's abdication
Abdication
Abdication occurs when a monarch, such as a king or emperor, renounces his office.-Terminology:The word abdication comes derives from the Latin abdicatio. meaning to disown or renounce...
, which won for him a seat in the Chamber of Peers
Peerage of France
The Peerage of France was a distinction within the French nobility which appeared in the Middle Ages. It was abolished in 1789 during the French Revolution, but it reappeared in 1814 at the time of the Bourbon Restoration which followed the fall of the First French Empire...
after the First Bourbon Restoration
Bourbon Restoration
The Bourbon Restoration is the name given to the period following the successive events of the French Revolution , the end of the First Republic , and then the forcible end of the First French Empire under Napoleon – when a coalition of European powers restored by arms the monarchy to the...
. However, during the Hundred Days
Hundred Days
The Hundred Days, sometimes known as the Hundred Days of Napoleon or Napoleon's Hundred Days for specificity, marked the period between Emperor Napoleon I of France's return from exile on Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815...
he returned to serving Napoleon, and in consequence, 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
Institut de France
The Institut de France is a French learned society, grouping five académies, the most famous of which is the Académie française.The institute, located in Paris, manages approximately 1,000 foundations, as well as museums and chateaux open for visit. It also awards prizes and subsidies, which...
from its foundation, and in 1816, after its reorganization, became a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres is a French learned society devoted to the humanities, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France.-History:...
. He published in 1819–1821 a two-volume Essai sur la vie et les opinions de M. de Malesherbes
Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes
Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes , often referred to as Malesherbes or Lamoignon-Malesherbes, was a French statesman, minister, and afterwards counsel for the defence of Louis XVI.-Biography:...
.