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MONTMORIN DE SAINT HEREM, ARMAND MARC...

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 788 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MONTMORIN DE See also:

SAINT HEREM, ARMAND MARC, See also:COMTE DE (1745-1792) , See also:French statesman, belonged to a See also:cadet See also:branch of a See also:noble See also:family of See also:Auvergne. He was See also:gentleman-in-waiting to See also:Louis XVI. when dauphin, and was subsequently appointed See also:ambassador at See also:Madrid. From Madrid he was suddenly summoned to the governorship of See also:Brittany, and in 1787 was appointed by the See also:king to succeed See also:Vergennes in the See also:ministry of See also:foreign affairs. Montmorin was a devoted admirer of See also:Necker, whose See also:influence at the See also:court he was mainly instrumental in maintaining. He retired when Necker was dismissed on the 12th of See also:July 1789, but on Necker's recall after the taking of the See also:Bastille again resumed his See also:office, which he continued to hold till See also:October 1791. See also:Mirabeau (q.v.) had approached him so See also:early as See also:December 1788, with a See also:plan for the policy to be pursued by the court towards the new states See also:general; but Montmorin, offended by Mirabeau's attacks on Necker and by his Histoire secrete de la tour de See also:Berlin, refused to see him. With the progress of the Revolution, however, this attitude was changed. The comte de la Marck was exerting himself to bring Mirabeau into See also:touch with the court (see MIRABEAU), and for this purpose it was important to secure the assistance of Montmorin. The convenience of an understanding between the two men was obvious; and they were soon on the closest terms. While Montmorin continued See also:minister in name, Mirabeau became so in fact. Montmorin did not dare to come to a decision without consulting his masterful friend, but on the other See also:hand neither Mirabeau nor La Marck were under any illusions as to the broken See also:character of the See also:reed on which they had perforce to lean. Mira-beau complained bitterly that Montmorin was " slack " (Jlasque) and a " See also:poltroon " (gavache).

On the other hand, La Marck thought that Montmorin's feebleness was occasionally useful in restraining Mirabeau's impetuosity. The See also:

death of Mirabeau in See also:April 1791 was a severe See also:blow to Montmorin, the difficulty of whose position was enormously increased after the See also:flight of the royal family to Varennes, to which he was not privy. He was forced to resign office, but still continued to advise Louis, and was one of the inner circle of the king's See also:friends, called by the revolutionists " the See also:Austrian See also:Committee. In See also:June 1792 his papers were seized at the foreign office, without anything incriminating being discovered; in July he was denounced, and after the loth of See also:August was proscribed. He took See also:refuge in the See also:house of a washerwoman, but was discovered, haled before the Legislative See also:Assembly, and imprisoned in the Abbaye, where he perished in the See also:September massacres. His relative, Louis See also:Victor See also:Henri, See also:marquis de Montmorin de Saint Herem, See also:head of the See also:elder branch, also perished in the See also:massacre. See A. See also:Bardoux, Pauline de Montmorin, comtesse de See also:Beaumont: Etudes sur la fin du XVIII'eT'° siecle (See also:Paris, 1884), for a See also:defence of Montmorin's policy ; F. See also:Masson, Le Departement See also:des affaires etrangeres See also:pendant la revolution, 1787—1804, ch. ii. (Paris, 1897) ; A. de Bacourt, See also:Correspondence entre Mirabeau et le comte de La See also:Merck, 1789—1791 (3 vols., Paris, 1851), contains many letters of Montmorin; " Correspondence of the Comte de Moustier with the Comte de Montmorin," in the Amer. Hist. Rev., vol. viii.

(1902-1903).

End of Article: MONTMORIN DE SAINT HEREM, ARMAND MARC, COMTE DE (1745-1792)

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