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BRISSOT, JACQUES PIERRE (1754-1793)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 575 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BRISSOT, JACQUES See also:PIERRE (1754-1793) , who assumed the name of DE WARVILLE, a celebrated See also:French Girondist, was See also:born at See also:Chartres, where his See also:father was an See also:inn-keeper, in See also:January 1754. Brissot received a See also:good See also:education and entered the See also:office of a lawyer at See also:Paris. His first See also:works, Theorie *s lois criminelles (.781) and Bibliotheque philosophique du legislateur (1782), were on the See also:philosophy of See also:law, and showed how thoroughly Brissot was imbued with the ethical precepts of See also:Rousseau. The first See also:work was dedicated to See also:Voltaire, and was received by the old philosophe with much favour. Brissot became known as a facile and able writer, and was engaged on the Mercure, on the Courrier de l'See also:Europe, and on other papers. Ardently devoted to the service of humanity, he projected a See also:scheme for a See also:general See also:con-course of all the savants in Europe, and started in See also:London a See also:paper, See also:Journal du Lycee de Londres, which was to be the See also:organ of their views. The See also:plan was unsuccessful, and soon after his return to Paris Brissot was lodged in the See also:Bastille on the See also:charge of having published a work against the See also:government. He obtained his See also:release after four months, and again devoted himself to pamphleteering, but had speedily to retire for a See also:time to London. On this second visit he became acquainted with some of the leading Abolitionists, and founded later in Paris a Societe See also:des Amis des Noirs, of which he was See also:president during 1790 and 1791. As an See also:agent of this society he paid a visit to the See also:United States in 1788, and in 1791 published his Nouveau Voyage clans See also:les bats-Unis de l'Amerique Septentrionale (3 vols.). From the first, Brissot threw himself See also:heart and soul into the Revolution. He edited the Patriote See also:francais from 1789 to 1793, and being a well-informed and capable See also:man took a prominent See also:part in affairs.

Upon the demolition of the Bastille the keys were presented to him. Famous for his speeches at the Jacobin See also:

club, he was elected a member of the See also:municipality of Paris, then of the Legislative See also:Assembly, and later of the See also:National See also:Convention. During the Legislative Assembly his knowledge of See also:foreign affairs enabled him as member of the See also:diplomatic See also:committee practically to See also:direct the foreign policy of See also:France, and the See also:declaration of See also:war against the See also:emperor on the loth of See also:April 1792, and that against See also:England on the 1st of See also:July 1793, were largely due to him. It was also Brissot who gave these See also:wars the See also:character of revolutionary propaganda. He was in many ways the leading spirit of the See also:Girondists, who were also known as Brissotins. See also:Vergniaud certainly was far See also:superior to him in See also:oratory, but Brissot was See also:quick, eager, impetuous, and a man of wide knowledge. But he was at the same time vacillating, and not qualified to struggle against the fierce energies roused by the events of the Revolution. His party See also:fell before the See also:Mountain; See also:sentence of See also:arrest was passed against the leading members of it on the 2nd of See also:June 1793. Brissot attempted to See also:escape in disguise, but was arrested at See also:Moulins. His demeanour at the trial was quiet and dignified; and on the 31st of See also:October 1793 he died bravely with several other Girondists. See Memoires de Brissot, sur ses contemporains et la Revolution francaise, published by his sons, with notes by F. de Montrol (Paris, 183o) ; See also:Helena See also:Williams, Souvenirs de la Revolution francaise (Paris, 1827) ; F. A.

See also:

Aulard, Les Orateurs de la Legislative et de la Convention 2nd ed., Paris, 1905); F. A. Aulard, Les Portraits litteraires a la fin du X VIII' siecle, See also:pendant la Revolution (Paris, 1883).

End of Article: BRISSOT, JACQUES PIERRE (1754-1793)

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