François Chabot | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1756-10-23)October 23, 1756 |
| Died | April 5, 1794(1794-04-05) (aged 37) |
| Cause of death | Guillotine |
| Other names | Père Augustin |
| Political party | Jacobins |
| Other political affiliations | Cordeliers |
| Movement | ThePhilosophes |
| Spouse | Leopoldine Frey |
| Father | Étienne Chabot |
François Chabot (French pronunciation:[fʁɑ̃swaʃabo]; 23 October 1756 – 5 April 1794) was a French politician.
Born inSaint-Geniez-d'Olt (Aveyron), Chabot became aCapuchinfriar inRodez before theFrench Revolution, while continuing to be attracted to the works ofphilosophes - the reason for which he was banned from preaching in the respectivediocese.
After theCivil Constitution of the Clergy, he got married and continued to act as constitutional priest, becoming grandvicar ofHenri Grégoire,bishop of Blois; he was also the founder of theJacobin Club in Rodez. He was later elected to theLegislative Assembly, sitting at thefar left, and forming withClaude Bazire andAntoine Christophe Merlin the "Cordelier Trio".[1]
Re-elected to theNational Convention for thedépartement ofLoir-et-Cher, he voted for theexecution ofKingLouis XVI, and opposed the proposal to prosecute the authors of theSeptember Massacres, as there were heroes of theBattle of Jemappes among them.
In March 1793, Chabot arrived in Aveyron as one of twoRepresentatives-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 urban revolts (seen as parts of a single movement, and labelled by the Parisians as "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.[2]
On the 1st of November 1793, Chabot, speaking in the Jacobins explained why, from 1788 to 1793 freedom of the press "was necessary against tyranny" this was no longer true. Now, he claimed that France had a popular regime and the press would not be permitted to diverge from the proper path.[3]
In November 1793, François Chabot was denounced by several members of the Convention, notablyFabre d'Eglantine,Jacques-René Hébert and Louis Pierre Dufourny de Villiers, on the grounds that he had attempted to falsify the finances of theFrench 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, theBaron de Batz, with Hebert, Dufourny, andClaude Basire, a fellow Cordelier, as key accomplices, with the plot’s ultimate originator beingWilliam 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.[4]
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 bankerJunius 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:
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![5]
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 ofMarie Antoinette, on behalf of members of the Austrian royalty. Batz had proposed turning Chabot and other leading figures of the Revolution against each other by using or fabricating financial conflicts.[6]
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 theRevolutionary Tribunal. He was sentenced to death andguillotined at the same time as theDantonists, who protested their association with afripon ("loafer").[1]
Claude Basire andFabre 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.
Attribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Chabot, François".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 785.