Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles

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Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles
Élie Guadet
Succeeded byHenri Grégoire
Personal details
Born(1759-09-20)20 September 1759
First French Republic
Cause of deathExecution by guillotine
Political partyThe Mountain

Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles (French pronunciation: [maʁi ʒɑ̃ eʁo də seʃɛl], 20 September 1759 – 5 April 1794) was a French judge, freemason and politician who took part in the French Revolution.

Origins and early career

Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles at age 4 (François-Hubert Drouais)

Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles was born in Paris into a noble and well-known family. His grandfather was René Hérault, who had served as Lieutenant General of Police of Paris between 1725 and 1739. His great-grandfather was Jean Moreau de Séchelles (1690–1760), who had served as Controller-General of Finances between 1754 and 1756 and had given his name to the Seychelles archipelago. Jean Moreau de Séchelles's daughter, Hélène Moreau de Séchelles (1715–1798), was the second wife of René Hérault.

Most authors, however, consider that René Hérault was not the biological grandfather of Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles. His biological grandfather was most likely Louis Georges Érasme de Contades (1704–1795), Marshal of France, who had an affair with Hélène Moreau de Séchelles during her marriage to René Hérault. Hélène Moreau de Séchelles gave birth to a son in 1737, Jean-Baptiste Martin Hérault de Séchelles - the father of Marie-Jean, who died in 1759, at the Battle of Minden, where Contades was commanding the French army. Contades took care of Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles after the early death of his father. He had arranged to marry his illegitimate son Jean-Baptiste Martin Hérault de Séchelles to his wife's niece, so that he might present himself in society as the "uncle" of Marie-Jean.

Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles was also the first cousin of the famous

Duchess of Polignac, the friend and confidant of Queen Marie Antoinette. The Duchess of Polignac, who would later be the object of deep revolutionary disapprobation, was the daughter of Jeanne Charlotte Hérault (1726–1753 or 1756), herself the daughter of René Hérault and his first wife. Finally, he was also the nephew of Claude-Henri Feydeau de Marville
, Lieutenant General of Police of Paris between 1739 and 1747, who had married Marie-Jean's aunt - the second daughter of René Hérault and his first wife.

Hérault de Séchelles made his debut as a

Advocate General) at the Châtelet, in part due to the aid of the Duchess of Polignac. Associates of the Polignac family presented him to the queen, who pushed his appointment as Advocate General at the prestigious Parlement of Paris.[2]

Active

Les Neuf Soeurs lodge since its creation in 1776.[3]

His legal occupation did not prevent him from devoting himself to literature, and in 1785 he published an account of a visit he had made to the noted naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, the Comte de Buffon at Montbard: La visite à Buffon, ou Voyage à Montbard.[1] He was also the author of a philosophical work published after his death, Théorie de l'ambition.

Despite his upbringing, Hérault became an early proponent of Revolutionary ideas, and took part in the

département of Paris.[1][4] From the end of January to April 1791, Hérault was absent on a mission in Alsace, where he had been sent to restore order[1] following a period of civil unrest and to enforce the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Here he received death-threats.[5] On his return he was appointed Commissaire du Roi in the Cour de cassation.[1]

Legislative Assembly and initial missions

He was elected as a deputy for Paris to the Legislative Assembly,[1] and in September 1792 was elected a deputy to the convention,[6] where he gravitated towards the extreme left.[1] He also served as a member of several committees; during his time as a member of the diplomatic committee, on 11 June 1793, he presented a memorable report demanding that the nation should be declared to be in danger.[1]

During and after the

10 August 1792 insurrection, he worked alongside Georges Danton, one of the organizers and leading figures of this rising and, on 2 September, was appointed president of the Legislative Assembly.[1]

In 1792, he was elected to the

Louis XVI, but he made it known that he approved of his execution.[1]

1793–1794

On his return to Paris, Hérault was several times president of the convention, notably on 2 June 1793, the occasion of the attack on the

Louis de Saint-Just, as one of the writers and redactors of the 1793 Constitution
, which was fated never to be put into effect.

Hérault was a member of the

year II).[1][11]

Fictionalized accounts

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Anchel, Robert (1911). "Hérault de Séchelles, Marie Jean" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 333. In turn, it gives the following references:
    Aulard, F. A.,Voyage a Montbard, (Paris, 1890).
    Aulard, F. A., Les Orateurs de la Législative et de la Convention, 2nd ed. (Paris, 1906).
    Claretie, Jules, Camille Desmoulins, Étude sur les Dantonistes (Paris, 1875).
    Daudet, Ernest, Le Roman d'un conventionnel. Hérault de Séchelles et les dames de Bellegarde (904).
    Dr Robinet, Le Procès des Dantonistes (Paris, 1879).
    "Hérault de Séchelles, sa première mission en Alsace" in the review La Revolution Française, tome 22.
    Dard, E. (ed.), Hérault de Séchelles, Œuvres littéraires (Paris, 1907).
  2. ^ Chronicle of the French Revolution, Longman 1989 p. 34.
  3. ^ Dictionnaire universelle de la Franc-Maçonnerie, page 360 (Marc de Jode, Monique Cara and Jean-Marc Cara, ed. Larousse, 2011).
  4. ^ Chronicle of the French Revolution, Longman 1989 p. 188.
  5. ^ Chronicle of the French Revolution, Longman 1989 p. 208.
  6. ^ Chronicle of the French Revolution, Longman 1989 p. 297.
  7. ^ Chronicle of the French Revolution, Longman 1989 p. 341.
  8. ^ Chronicle of the French Revolution, Longman 1989 p. 344.
  9. ^ Chronicle of the French Revolution, Longman 1989 p. 398.
  10. ^ Chronicle of the French Revolution, Longman 1989 p. 409.
  11. ^ Chronicle of the French Revolution, Longman 1989 p. 416.
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