Louis-Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux | |
|---|---|
%2c_conventionnel%2c_membre_du_Directoire_-_P993_-_Mus%25C3%25A9e_Carnavalet.jpg) Portrait byGerard van Spaendonck afterFrançois Gérard, c. 1797 | |
| Member of theFrench Directory | |
| In office 1795 – 18 June 1799 | |
| Deputy to theNational Convention | |
| In office 1792–1795 | |
| Deputy to theEstates-General of 1789 | |
| In office 1789–1789 | |
| Member of theCommittee of Public Safety | |
| In office 1795–1795 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1753-08-24)24 August 1753 |
| Died | 24 March 1824(1824-03-24) (aged 70) |
| Resting place | Père Lachaise Cemetery |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux (French pronunciation:[lwimaʁidəlaʁevɛljɛʁlepo]; 24 August 1753 – 24 March 1824)[1] was a deputy to theNational Convention during theFrench Revolution. He later served as a prominent leader of theFrench Directory.
He was born atMontaigu (Vendée), the son ofJ. B. de la Révellière. He adopted the name Lépeaux from a small property belonging to his family, and he was known locally as M. de Lépeaux. He studiedlaw atAngers andParis, being called to thebar in 1775.
A deputy to theEstates-General of 1789, he returned at the close of the session to Angers, where with his school-friendsJ. B. Leclerc andUrbain-René Pilastre he sat on the council ofMaine-et-Loire, and had to deal with the firstVendéen outbreaks. In 1792 he was returned by thedépartement to theConvention, and on 19 November he proposed the famous decree by which France offered protection to foreign nations in their struggle for liberty.[2]
Although La Révellière-Lépeaux voted for the death ofLouis XVI, he was not in general agreement with the extremists. He was proscribed with theGirondins in 1793, and remained in hiding until the revolt of9 Thermidor (27 July 1794). After serving on the commission to prepare the initiation of the new constitution he became in July 1795 president of the Assembly, and shortly afterwards a member of theCommittee of Public Safety. His name stood first on the list of directors elected, and he became president of the Directory.[2]
Of his colleagues he was in alliance withJean-François Rewbell and to a lesser degree withPaul Barras, but the greatest of his fellow-directors,Lazare Carnot, was the object of his undying hatred. His policy was marked by a bitter hostility to theChristian religion, which he proposed to supplant as a civilizing agent bytheophilanthropy. The credit of thecoup d'état of 18 Fructidor (4 September 1797), by which the allied directors made themselves supreme, La Révellière-Lépeaux arrogated to himself in hisMémoires, which in this as in other matters must be read with caution.[2]
Compelled to resign by theCoup of 30 Prairial Year VII (18 June 1799), he lived in retirement in the country, and took no further part in public affairs even after his return to Paris ten years later.[2]
He died on 24 March 1824.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "La Révellière-Lépeaux, Louis Marie de".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.French Directory (2 November 1795 to 10 November 1799) | |||||||||||||||
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