François Chabot
Encyclopedia
François Chabot was a French
politician.
(Aveyron
), Chabot became a Capuchin
friar
in Rodez
before the French Revolution
, while continuing to be attracted to the works of philosophe
s - the reason for which he was banned from preaching in the respective diocese
.
After the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
, he got married and continued to act as constitutional priest, becoming grand vicar
of Henri Grégoire
, bishop of Blois; he was also the founder of the Jacobin Club
in Rodez. He was later elected to the Legislative Assembly
, sitting at the far left
, and forming with Claude Bazire and Antoine Christophe Merlin
the "Cordelier
Trio".
for the département of Loir-et-Cher
, he voted for the execution
of King Louis XVI
, and opposed the proposal to prosecute the authors of the September Massacres
, as there were heroes of the Battle of Jemmapes among them.
On March 1793, Chabot arrived in Aveyron as one of two Representatives-on-mission to the department of Aveyron and the Tarn, the other being Jean-Baptiste Bô. As their first act, Chabot and Bô instituted a special commission for military recruitment from the region. Several days later, a war tax was instituted on the aristocrats and wealthy bourgeois. In an attempt to quell the specter of federalism, the two proceeded to suspend the democratic system, reserving the right to suspend or dismiss officials lacking in 'civic zeal'. Combined with crackdowns on local churches and the lifting of restrictions on governmental search and seizure, Chabot and Bô were infamous as two of the most activist Representatives-on-Mission in the country. On 5 May 1793, Chabot and Bô left their Aveyron commission; Chabot was reassigned to Toulouse, where his administration was quite similar.
In November 1793, François Chabot was denounced by several members of the Convention, notably Fabre d'Eglantine
, Jacques-René Hébert, Louis Pierre Dufourny de Villiers, on the grounds that he had attempted to falsify the finances of the French East India Company
, offering bribes to various elected representatives in the process. Chabot claimed to Robespierre that he had been, of his own initiative, infiltrating a pre-existing plot to meddle with the finances of the French East India Company
. The plot, Chabot claimed, was hatched by the known royalist, the Baron de Batz, with Hebert, Dufourny, and Claude Basire
, a fellow Cordelier, as key accomplices, with the plot’s ultimate originator being William Pitt
. Robespierre allowed Chabot to present his case before the Committee for Public Safety, from which he had been removed on suspicion of corruption one month earlier.
Little evidence was brought against Chabot in the counter-denunciation; the greater part of Dufourny’s speech on the floor concerned Chabot’s marriage to Leopoldine Frey, sister to Austrian-Jewish banker Junius Frey
. Her nationality, along with the substantial dowry which Chabot received, was key in the discrediting of Chabot’s testimony. To quote Dufourney's testimony:
In Dufourny's version of the East India scandal, Chabot and his close associates were working with the Baron de Batz, who had previously been accused of offering a bounty for the rescue of Marie Antoinette
, on behalf of members of the Austrian royalty.
Compromised both in the falsification of the decree suppressing the East India Company
and in the plot to bribe certain members of the Convention, Chabot was arrested and brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal
. He was sentenced to death and guillotine
d at the same time as the Dantonists
, who protested their association with a fripon ("loafer").
Claude Basire
and Fabre d'Eglantine
, accused by Chabot of involvement in the East India Company Scandal, and Chabot's brother-in-law Junius Frey were also executed alongside him.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
politician.
Early career
Born in Saint-Geniez-d'OltSaint-Geniez-d'Olt
Saint-Geniez-d'Olt is a commune in the Aveyron department in southern France.-Population:Its inhabitants are called Marmots.-External links:*...
(Aveyron
Aveyron
Aveyron is a département in southern France named after the Aveyron River.- History :Aveyron is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790....
), Chabot became a Capuchin
Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin is an Order of friars in the Catholic Church, among the chief offshoots of the Franciscans. The worldwide head of the Order, called the Minister General, is currently Father Mauro Jöhri.-Origins :...
friar
Friar
A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders.-Friars and monks:...
in Rodez
Rodez
Rodez is a town and commune in southern France, in the Aveyron department, of which it is the capital. Its inhabitants are called Ruthénois.-History:Existing from at least the 5th century BC, Rodez was founded by the Celts...
before the French Revolution
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...
, while continuing to be attracted to the works of philosophe
Philosophe
The philosophes were the intellectuals of the 18th century Enlightenment. Few were primarily philosophers; rather they were public intellectuals who applied reason to the study of many areas of learning, including philosophy, history, science, politics, economics and social issues...
s - the reason for which he was banned from preaching in the respective diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
.
After the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy was a law passed on 12 July 1790 during the French Revolution, that subordinated the Roman Catholic Church in France to the French government....
, he got married and continued to act as constitutional priest, becoming grand vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
of Henri Grégoire
Henri Grégoire
Henri Grégoire , often referred to as Abbé Grégoire, was a French Roman Catholic priest, constitutional bishop of Blois and a revolutionary leader...
, bishop of Blois; he was also the founder of the Jacobin Club
Jacobin Club
The Jacobin Club was the most famous and influential political club in the development of the French Revolution, so-named because of the Dominican convent where they met, located in the Rue St. Jacques , Paris. The club originated as the Club Benthorn, formed at Versailles from a group of Breton...
in Rodez. He was later elected to 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...
, sitting at the far left
Far left
Far left, also known as the revolutionary left, radical left and extreme left are terms which refer to the highest degree of leftist positions among left-wing politics...
, and forming with Claude Bazire and Antoine Christophe Merlin
Antoine Christophe Merlin
Antoine Christophe Merlin was a member of several legislative bodies during the era of the French Revolution. He is usually called "Merlin de Thionville" to distinguish him from Philippe-Antoine Merlin de Douai.He was born at Thionville, the son of a procureur in the bailliage of Thionville...
the "Cordelier
Cordeliers
The Cordeliers, also known as the Club of the Cordeliers, Cordeliers Club, or Club des Cordeliers and formally as the Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen , was a populist club during the French Revolution.-History:The club had its origins in the Cordeliers district, a...
Trio".
Convention
Re-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...
for the département of Loir-et-Cher
Loir-et-Cher
Loir-et-Cher is a département in north-central France named after the rivers Loir and Cher.-History:Loir-et-Cher is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Orléanais and...
, he voted for the execution
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
of King 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....
, and opposed the proposal to prosecute the authors of the September Massacres
September Massacres
The September Massacres were a wave of mob violence which overtook Paris in late summer 1792, during the French Revolution. By the time it had subsided, half the prison population of Paris had been executed: some 1,200 trapped prisoners, including many women and young boys...
, as there were heroes of the Battle of Jemmapes among them.
On March 1793, Chabot arrived in Aveyron as one of two Representatives-on-mission to the department of Aveyron and the Tarn, the other being Jean-Baptiste Bô. As their first act, Chabot and Bô instituted a special commission for military recruitment from the region. Several days later, a war tax was instituted on the aristocrats and wealthy bourgeois. In an attempt to quell the specter of federalism, the two proceeded to suspend the democratic system, reserving the right to suspend or dismiss officials lacking in 'civic zeal'. Combined with crackdowns on local churches and the lifting of restrictions on governmental search and seizure, Chabot and Bô were infamous as two of the most activist Representatives-on-Mission in the country. On 5 May 1793, Chabot and Bô left their Aveyron commission; Chabot was reassigned to Toulouse, where his administration was quite similar.
In November 1793, François Chabot was denounced by several members of the Convention, notably Fabre d'Eglantine
Fabre d'Églantine
Philippe François Nazaire Fabre d'Églantine , commonly known as Fabre d'Églantine , was a French actor, dramatist, poet, and politician of the French Revolution.-Early life:He was born in Carcassonne, Aude...
, Jacques-René Hébert, Louis Pierre Dufourny de Villiers, on the grounds that he had attempted to falsify the finances of the French East India Company
French East India Company
The French East India Company was a commercial enterprise, founded in 1664 to compete with the British and Dutch East India companies in colonial India....
, offering bribes to various elected representatives in the process. Chabot claimed to Robespierre that he had been, of his own initiative, infiltrating a pre-existing plot to meddle with the finances of the French East India Company
French East India Company
The French East India Company was a commercial enterprise, founded in 1664 to compete with the British and Dutch East India companies in colonial India....
. The plot, Chabot claimed, was hatched by the known royalist, the Baron de Batz, with Hebert, Dufourny, and Claude Basire
Claude Basire
Claude Basire was a French politician of the Revolutionary period.-Biography:Born in Dijon, he became a deputy for the Côte-d'Or in the Legislative Assembly, he made himself prominent by denouncing the Bourbon and the Tuileries Palace's comité autrichien...
, a fellow Cordelier, as key accomplices, with the plot’s ultimate originator being William Pitt
William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger was a British politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24 . He left office in 1801, but was Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806...
. Robespierre allowed Chabot to present his case before the Committee for Public Safety, from which he had been removed on suspicion of corruption one month earlier.
Little evidence was brought against Chabot in the counter-denunciation; the greater part of Dufourny’s speech on the floor concerned Chabot’s marriage to Leopoldine Frey, sister to Austrian-Jewish banker Junius Frey
Moses Dobruška
Moses Dobruška was the first cousin once removed of Jacob Frank, the founder of the Frankist sect who claimed to be the Jewish messiah. Dobruška was an alchemist, freemason, writer, and poet...
. Her nationality, along with the substantial dowry which Chabot received, was key in the discrediting of Chabot’s testimony. To quote Dufourney's testimony:
"When Antoinette was on trial before the revolutionary tribunal, when the nation was at its maximum of execration for foreigners, when our brothers who were [fighting] on the frontiers left us widows to console, sisters and family to succor, it was then that Chabot made a marriage of interests with an Autrichienne!"
In Dufourny's version of the East India scandal, Chabot and his close associates were working with the Baron de Batz, who had previously been accused of offering a bounty for the rescue of Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
, on behalf of members of the Austrian royalty.
Compromised both in the falsification of the decree suppressing the East India Company
French East India Company
The French East India Company was a commercial enterprise, founded in 1664 to compete with the British and Dutch East India companies in colonial India....
and in the plot to bribe certain members of the Convention, Chabot was arrested and brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal
Revolutionary Tribunal
The Revolutionary Tribunal was a court which was instituted in Paris by the Convention during the French Revolution for the trial of political offenders, and eventually became one of the most powerful engines of the Reign of Terror....
. He was sentenced to death and guillotine
Guillotine
The guillotine is a device used for carrying out :executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body...
d at the same time as the Dantonists
Georges Danton
Georges Jacques Danton was leading figure in the early stages of the French Revolution and the first President of the Committee of Public Safety. Danton's role in the onset of the Revolution has been disputed; many historians describe him as "the chief force in theoverthrow of the monarchy and the...
, who protested their association with a fripon ("loafer").
Claude Basire
Claude Basire
Claude Basire was a French politician of the Revolutionary period.-Biography:Born in Dijon, he became a deputy for the Côte-d'Or in the Legislative Assembly, he made himself prominent by denouncing the Bourbon and the Tuileries Palace's comité autrichien...
and Fabre d'Eglantine
Fabre d'Églantine
Philippe François Nazaire Fabre d'Églantine , commonly known as Fabre d'Églantine , was a French actor, dramatist, poet, and politician of the French Revolution.-Early life:He was born in Carcassonne, Aude...
, accused by Chabot of involvement in the East India Company Scandal, and Chabot's brother-in-law Junius Frey were also executed alongside him.
Quotes
- "ChristChristChrist is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
was the first sans-culotteSans-culottesIn the French Revolution, the sans-culottes were the radical militants of the lower classes, typically urban laborers. Though ill-clad and ill-equipped, they made up the bulk of the Revolutionary army during the early years of the French Revolutionary Wars...
." - "What is my law, you ask? I answer: the natural lawNatural lawNatural law, or the law of nature , is any system of law which is purportedly determined by nature, and thus universal. Classically, natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze human nature and deduce binding rules of moral behavior. Natural law is contrasted with the positive law Natural...
, the one saying: Poor people, seek the rich; girls, seek the boys. Follow your instincts."