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DUMAS, GUILLAUME MATHIEU, COUNT (1753...

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 657 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DUMAS, See also:GUILLAUME MATHIEU, See also:COUNT (1753-1837) , See also:French See also:general, was See also:born at See also:Montpellier, of a See also:noble See also:family, on the 23rd of See also:November 1753. He joined the See also:army in 1773, and entered upon active service in 178o, as aide-de-See also:camp to See also:Rochambeau in the See also:American See also:War. He had a See also:share in all the See also:principal engagements that occurred during a See also:period of nearly two years. On the conclusion of See also:peace in 1783 he returned to See also:France as a See also:major. He was engaged from 1784 to 1786 in exploring the See also:archipelago and the coasts of See also:Turkey. He was See also:present at the See also:siege of See also:Amsterdam in 1787, where he co-operated with the Dutch against the Prussians. At the Revolution he acted with See also:Lafayette and the constitutional liberal party. He was entrusted by the See also:Assembly with the command of the escort which conducted See also:Louis XVI. to See also:Paris from Varennes. In 1791as a marechal de camp he was appointed to a command at See also:Metz, where he rendered important service in improving the discipline of the troops. Chosen a member of the Legislative Assembly in the same See also:year by the See also:department of See also:Seine-et-See also:Oise, he was in the following year elected See also:president of the Assembly. When the extreme republicans gained the ascendancy, however, he judged it prudent to make his See also:escape to See also:England. Returning after a brief See also:interval, under the See also:apprehension that his See also:father-in-See also:law would be held responsible for his See also:absence, he arrived in Paris in the midst of the Reign of Terror, and had to flee to See also:Switzerland.

Soon after his return to France he was elected a member of the See also:

Council of Ancients. After the 18th Fructidor (1797) Dumas, being proscribed as a monarchist, made his escape to See also:Holstein, where he wrote the first See also:part of his Precis See also:des evenements militaires (published anonymously at See also:Hamburg, 1800). 4 Recalled to his native See also:country when See also:Bonaparte became First See also:Consul, he was entrusted with the organization of the "Army of Reserve " at See also:Dijon. In 18or he was nominated a councillor of See also:state. He did See also:good service at See also:Austerlitz, and went in 18o6 to See also:Naples, where he became See also:minister of war to See also:Joseph Bonaparte. On the See also:transfer of Joseph to the See also:throne of See also:Spain, Dumas rejoined the French army, with which he served in Spain during the See also:campaign of 18o8, and in See also:Germany during that of 1809. After the See also:battle of See also:Wagram, Dumas was employed in negotiating the See also:armistice. In 1810 he became See also:grand officer of the See also:Legion of See also:Honour and a count of the See also:empire. In the See also:Russian campaign of 1812 he held the See also:post of See also:intendant-general of the army, which involved the See also:charge of the administrative department. The privations he suffered in the See also:retreat from See also:Moscow brought on a dangerous illness. Resuming, on his recovery, his duties as intendant-general, he took part in the battles of 1813, and was made prisoner after the See also:capitulation of See also:Dresden. On the See also:accession of Louis XVIII., Dumas rendered his new See also:sovereign important services in connexion with the See also:administration of the army.

When See also:

Napoleon returned from See also:Elba, Dumas at first kept himself in retirement, but he was persuaded by Joseph Bonaparte to present himself to the See also:emperor, who employed him in organizing the See also:National Guard. Obliged to retire when Louis XVIII. was restored, he devoted his leisure to the continuation of his Precis des evenements militaires, of which nineteen volumes, embracing the See also:history of the war from 1798 to the peace of 1807, appeared between 1817 and 1826. A growing weakness of sight, ending in See also:blindness, prevented him from carrying the See also:work further, but he translated See also:Napier's See also:Peninsular War as a sort of continuation to it. In 1818 Dumas was restored to favour and admitted a member of the council of state, from which, however, he was excluded in 1822. After the revolution of 183o, in which he took an active part, Dumas was created a peer of France, and re-entered the council of state. He died at Paris on the 16th of See also:October 1837. Besides the Precis des evenements militaires, which forms a valuable source for the history of the period, Dumas wrote Souvenirs du lieut.-general See also:Comte Mathieu Dumas (published posthumously by his son, Paris, 1839).

End of Article: DUMAS, GUILLAUME MATHIEU, COUNT (1753-1837)

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