Louis-Jérôme Gohier | |
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 Portrait byJacques-Augustin-Catherine Pajou,c. 1802 | |
| Born | (1746-02-27)27 February 1746 Semblançay,Indre-et-Loire, France |
| Died | 29 May 1830(1830-05-29) (aged 84) Eaubonne,Val d'Oise, France |
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Louis-Jérôme Gohier (27 February 1746 – 29 May 1830) was a French politician of theRevolutionary period.
Gohier was born inSemblançay, in theIndre-et-Loire department ofFrance. The son of a notary, he practiced law inRennes. In 1789, he was one of the deputies of thetiers état (Third Estate, representing the "Commoners") elected to represent the town in theEstates-general. In theLegislative Assembly, he representedIlle-et-Vilaine, taking a prominent part in the deliberations. He protested against the exaction of anew oath from priests (22 November 1791), and demanded the sequestration of theémigrés' property (7 February 1792).
Gohier wasMinister of Justice from March 1793 to April 1794, overseeing the arrest ofGirondists, and a member of theCouncil of Five Hundred. He succeededJean Baptiste Treilhard in theFrench Directory (June 1799), where he represented therepublican view in the face of growingroyalist opposition.
WhenBonaparte suddenly returned from theEgyptian campaign in October 1799, he repeatedly tried to win the support of Gohier, who was then president of the Directory, for his political projects. After Bonaparte's18 Brumaire (9 November 1799)coup d'état, Gohier refused to resign his office. He sought an audience with Bonaparte at theTuileries Palace, in an attempt to save the Republic, but was put under arrest and escorted to theLuxembourg Palace. On his release, two days later, he retired to his estate atEaubonne.
In 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte made Gohierconsul-general atAmsterdam (in theBatavian Republic), and on the union of theKingdom of Holland with theFrench Empire, he was offered a similar post in the United States. However, Gohier's health did not permit him to take up this new appointment. He thenceforward suffered from diseases for more than 20 years, before dying atEaubonne (16 kilometers north of Paris). His wife, who had been a close friend toJoséphine de Beauharnais, had died in 1825, and, upon his death, Gohier left his wealth and surname toMélanie d'Hervilly Hahnemann.
Gohier is buried next to his wife at thePère Lachaise cemetery.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Gohier, Louis Jérôme".Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Minister of Justice 1793–1794 | Succeeded by |
French Directory (2 November 1795 to 10 November 1799) | |||||||||||||||
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