Jeanbon Saint-André
Jeanbon Saint-André | |
---|---|
President of the National Convention | |
In office 11 July 1793 – 25 July 1793 | |
Preceded by | Jacques-Alexis Thuriot |
Succeeded by | Georges Danton |
Personal details | |
Born | Legion of Honor Baron of the Empire | 25 February 1749
Jean Bon Saint-André (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃bɔ̃ sɛ̃tɑ̃dʁe]; 25 February 1749 – 10 December 1813) was a French politician of the Revolutionary era.
Early career and role in the National Convention
He was born in Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne), the son of a fuller. Although his parents were Protestants, Saint-André was raised by the Jesuits at Marseille, and got baptized, as required by law.
As a member of The Society of the Friends of the Constitution, Saint-André sat on The Mountain, led by
While working with the Committee of Public Safety, Jeanbon Saint-André played a pivotal role in the restoration of the
Reign of Terror
On the Committee of Public Safety, his main responsibility was the navy, which he took over from
In 1793, the Federalist Revolt against the National Assembly in the port city of Brest was partly linked to Jeanbon Saint-André as its citizens viewed the Navy divided between the two major clubs, the Montagnards and the Girondins.[14] He reported that the destruction of the French fleet was a form of conspiracy against the Republic.[11] His theory was clear: the parallels he was observing between the situations at Brest and Toulon were based on the conspiracy of ex-nobles and officers against the Republic, as well as the presence of British influence in both cities. Both problems contributed to the seemingly impossible task set before Saint-André - achieving unity within the French Navy.[11] In response to the Quibéron mutinies, Jeanbon removed Captains Kerguelen, Thomas, Bonnefous, and Larichery from their positions.[11] Saint-André also arrested six more officers, and sent them off to Paris for trial. He later established a Revolutionary Tribunal, which trialled and sentenced the death of ten naval officers.[11] This caused anti-revolutionists, including Oscar Havard, to believe Jeanbon conspired to hand Brest to Britain; Jeanbon's true motives was to bring the downfall of the Navy in response to the dominance of Catholicism in French society.[11]
Under Saint-André's command, the Naval regime was reformed in such a way that the "lowest seaman could aspire to the rank of admiral".
Saint-André sought to regain control of Brittany by eliminating the easy-going and inattentive eyes of the old regime, emphasizing how "the negligence of a sleepy tyrant or of somnolent ministers does not agree with our [republican] principles."[10] On 20 November 1793, Saint-André and Jean-Jacques Bréard, another agent of the Committee, issued a decree with a regular naval penal code, a code which was later sanctioned by the Convention and applied to the entire navy.[16]
Downfall of Jacobin and later missions
On 31 January 1794, on his return from Brest, Saint-André presented a report to the Convention on the state of the navy. Saint-André did away with the hierarchical system of the old regime's navy, stripping officers of their traditional luxuries, such as food privileges, and emphasizing the need for officers to set an obedient example. An education system was also implemented, utilizing
Contributing to this success was the presence of Jacques-Noël Sané, a renowned ship engineer who had built Joyeuse's 118-gun flagship Montagne.[10] Though the reformation of the navy has not had as much historical acclaim as the work other Committee members performed on the army, with many critics pointing to its losses in the battle of the Glorious First of June in 1794, the reforms that took place were nonetheless vital in ensuring France's continued success in war.[16]
On 15 February 1794 Saint-André made the red, white, and blue vertical stripes flag the national flag of France.[5] Saint-André later participated in a mission in the south, which lasted from July 1794[2] to March 1795, and in which he showed moderation in contrast to the directives of the Reign of Terror. Shortly after, he was arrested on May 28, 1795 and imprisoned at the College of Four Nations, but was released by the amnesty of the year IV.[5] During this time, Saint-André wrote about his experiences in the Turkish cells entitled, "Tale of my captivity on the banks of the Black Sea."[20] On 28 July 1794, the Jacobin faction lost support of the crowd and most of its members, most notably Robespierre, were guillotined; the crowd saw that Saint-André had mostly spent his time on mission and had not participated in the decisions made during the Jacobins' control, so he was granted his life.[1] However, with the Jacobin bourgeoisie, he had justified the impediment of the representations of the people, which are the sectional societies: "Our greatest enemies are not outside; we see them: they are in our midst; they want to take revolutionary measures further than we do. "
He was then appointed consul at Algiers and Smyrna (1798) and was kept prisoner by the Ottoman Empire for three years (during the Napoleonic Wars).
References
- ^ ISBN 9780521893756.
- ^ ISBN 9780131337299.
- ^ Ducasse, Read-Admiral. "Jean Bon Saint-Andre Et La Marine." Revue Historique Des Armées2 (1989: 89-100). Historical Abstracts. Web. 10 Mar. 2017.
- ^ Lévy-Schneider, Leon (1901-01-01). Le conventionnel Jeanbon Saint-André, membre du Comit de salut public, organisateur de la marine de la terreur, 1749-1813 (in French). F. Alcan.
- ^ a b c "De Montauban à Mayence, l'étonnante destinée d'André Jeanbon Saint-André | Huguenots en France". www.huguenots.fr. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
- ^ ISBN 9780816019373.
- ISBN 9781400886173.
- ^ a b Thompson, James M. Robespierre. New York: Fertig, 1968. Print.
- ISBN 9780679726104.
- ^ ISBN 9780691051192.
- ^ ISBN 9780521893756.
- JSTOR 4465108.
- ISBN 9781851966233.
- ISSN 0008-4107.
- ^ Crook, Malcolm (1998). "Fair Shares for All. Jacobin Egalitarianism in Practice". The English Historical Review. 113 (454): 1334.
- ^ a b Stephens, Henry Morse (1886-01-01). A History of the French Revolution. C. Scribner's Sons.
- ^ Aulard, François-Alphonse (1910-01-01). The revolutionary government, 1793-1797. C. Scribner's Sons.
- ISBN 9780521289184.
- ISBN 978-0803222670.
- ^ "André Jeanbon Saint-André (1749–1813). Virtual Museum of Protestantism.
Suggested Reading
- Levy-Schneider, Le Conventionnel Jean bon St André. (Paris, 1901).
- Come, Donald R. French Threat to British Shores, 1793-1798. Military Affairs 16.4 (1952): 174. Google Scholar. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.
- Frey, Linda, and Marsha Frey. The French Revolution. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2004. Print. ISBN 978-0313321931
- Popkin, J. D. A Short History of the French Revolution. Hoboken: Pearson Education, 2014. Print. ISBN 978-0205693573