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Jacques Antoine Rabaut known asRabaut-Pommier, (28 October 1744 – 16 March 1820),[1] was a politician of theFrench revolutionary era. He was a member of theNational Convention (1792–95)[2] and of theCouncil of Ancients (1795–1801). In 1816 he was exiled forregicide under theBourbon Restoration, though he later benefited from an amnesty. Deeply committed to medicine, he was an ardent advocate ofvaccination.
He was born on 28 October 1744 inNîmes, the son of Paul Rabaut, a pastor from theCévennes and of Madeleine Gaidan. His brothers wereJean-Paul Rabaut Saint-Étienne, a more famous politician, guillotined in Paris on 5 December 1793, andPierre-Antoine Rabaut-Dupuis, also politically active. He spent his childhood in the insecurity and anxiety which was the norm for families of pastors during the period when Protestantism was proscribed in France (known in French as 'the desert'). Like his brother Jean-Paul he was sent to theLausanne seminary (1763–65) to study theology. He was ordained as a pastor and took up posts first atMarseille in 1770 and later atMontpellier until 1792.[3]
In 1782, at Montpellier, he founded a new hospital with a group of friends. Throughout his years in the south of France he devoted himself to medical and scientific studies. During the campaign againstsmallpox, he defended the superiority ofvaccination overvariolation from 1780 onwards. He also noted the relationship betweensmallpox andcowpox:
"About 1780 he had observed in the environs of Montpellier the fact that smallpox, sheep scabs, and cow blotches were regarded as identical diseases known by the name of pox. He noticed that the affection was least serious in cows and that when, by chance, the peasants had contracted it in milking the animals, they could go through the country, protected from smallpox by this alone. So he concluded this procedure to be as certain as 'inoculation' for smallpox and less dangerous."[4]
Through a mutual friend, a Bristol merchant named James Ireland, Rabaut-Pommier passed his observations to an English physician, Dr. Pugh, who promised to pass them on to his colleagueEdward Jenner, who was interested in the same problem. After the publication of Jenner's book on vaccination (1798), Rabaut was surprised not to find in it any reference to the suggestions he had made. In 1811 James Ireland wrote to him saying that he remembered his conversation on cowpox with Dr. Pugh in 1784, but that similar observationshad been made in England before. In the view of some historians,"Rabaut-Pommier ought to have a large part of the glory which this great discovery has brought to the English savant".[5]
In 1790 he was elected to the magistracy of Montpellier[6] but his national political career began when he was elected to theNational Convention on 8 September 1792 for the department ofGard. He was elected seventh out of eight deputies with 288 votes out of a total 486 cast.[7] He maintained a low profile in the convention, broadly sharing his brother'sGirondin views. One of the issues he spoke out on was the contentious question of whethercommon land should continue to be owned collectively or whether it should be divided up and sold as private property. On 11 October 1792 the Convention passed a decree suspending legislation passed only two months previously and requiring common land to be utilised as it had been traditionally; Rabaut-Pommier urged that a report on the August legislation be made without delay, and the convention's Agricultural Committee charged him with producing it. The political difficulties of the issue meant that instead of producing clear recommendations, he presented a series of questions on common land which were debated by the Agricultural Committee between 29 December 1792 and 12 January 1793.[8] At theTrial of Louis XVI he voted for the king to be executed, but only after the decrees establishing the newFrench Republic had been ratified.
After the1793 insurrection against the Girondins he signed a letter condemning it on 6 June. He nevertheless avoided being outlawed along with his brother. He was threatened with arrest on 14 October but managed to go into hiding with his brother for six months. Finally arrested at the same time as him on 4 December, he was imprisoned in theConciergerie with 72 other co-signatories of the June declaration. He remained imprisoned until theThermidorean reaction, though, unlike his brother, he escaped the guillotine.
He resumed his seat in the convention on 18Frimaire Year II (8 December 1794), aligning himself with the deputies on the right of the chamber and maintaining a cautious line. He was elected secretary of the convention on 1Ventose Year III (19 February 1795), and had a decree passed which introduced asemaphore system to promote national cohesion and security. He declared:
'And if in time of peace allied despots wanted to invade our territory, the war cry 'to arms!' would become a decree and would sound throughout the Republic; citizens would leave their occupations to seize their arms and numerous armies formed suddenly would confront the surprised enemy with barriers which it would not be possible to surmount.'[9]
Rabaut-Pommier had the start of the telegraph line installed on the roof of the Unity Tower at thePalais National on 20Messidor (20 July 1795).
He served as Armaments Commissioner on theCommittee of Public Safety from 5 May 1795 – 1 September 1795.
On 16Vendemiaire (8 October 1795) the Convention voted to rehabilitateRabaut Saint-Étienne; he delivered the eulogy for his executed brother from the podium of the convention, and voted for his political writings to be published at the convention's expense.[10]
Under theDirectory he was elected on 21Vendemiaire Year IV (13 October 1795) to theCouncil of Ancients by the departement ofGard, securing 143 of 225 votes cast. He became secretary of the council on 1Messidor year IV (19 June 1796). He aligned himself withPortalis, but was not condemned with him after theCoup of 18 Fructidor. He resigned from the legislature in May 1798.
He supported theCoup of 18 Brumaire that broughtNapoleon Bonaparte to power, and under theConsulate he held several posts of some responsibility, and Napoleon appointed him sub-prefect ofVigan 1800–1801.[11]
On 3 December 1802 theConsistory of Paris named him, together withPaul-Henri Marron andJean-Frédéric Mestrezat, one of the first three pastors of the reformed church in the city. The three pastors worked closely together at the head of the Consistory - their signatures appeared together on pastoral letters, and on their response to proposals for union with the Catholic Church.[12] The three pastors were awarded theLegion d'Honneur by theFirst Consul Napoleon on 5 July 1804,[13][14] They received this honour from his own hands.[15] and they were invited toNapoleon's coronation later that year. From this period date his only published works - 'Napoléon libérateur, discours religieux' (París, 1810) and 'Sermon d'actione de grâces sur le retour de Louis XVIII' (1814).
TheBourbon Restoration brought a change of fortune for Rabaut-Pommier. He had signed the 'acte additionel', effectively recognising Napoleon's legitimacy during theHundred Days, and the law of 12 January 1816 against regicides meant that he had to leave his church position. He left Paris on 17 March 1816 and went into exile inPrussia. However, as his vote had not counted in the death sentence of Louis XVI,Boissy d'Anglas was able to secure a partial amnesty for him two years later[16] on 11 February 1818. He returned fromCleves to Paris on 19 August 1818.
On his return to France he did not resume his position in the ministry - the Consistory had not dared to speak on his behalf - and he had already been replaced by Henri François Juillerat.[17]
He died two years after his return from exile on 16 March 1820 inParis, and was buried at thePère Lachaise Cemetery.[18]
