François Louis Michel Chemin Deforgues
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François Louis Michel Chemin des Forgues (born 29 September 1759, in
Vire Vire () is a town and a former commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Vire Normandie. Geography The town is located on the river Vire. Much of it ...
– 10 September 1840, in
Maincy Maincy () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. The chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte is located in the commune. Demographics Inhabitants are called ''Maincéens''. See also *Communes of t ...
( Seine-et-Marne)) was a French politician, and Foreign Minister.


Biography

Son of Jean Forgues Path and Anne-Bertrand Thomas de la Marche, he came to Paris, at twelve years old, studying at the College Louis-le-Grand and then to law school. According to Madame Roland, he was clerk to Danton, when he was attorney for the
Parliament of Paris The Parliament of Paris (french: Parlement de Paris) was the oldest ''parlement'' in the Kingdom of France, formed in the 14th century. It was fixed in Paris by Philip IV of France in 1302. The Parliament of Paris would hold sessions inside the ...
, He was also committed to the authority of the octroi of Paris. Member of the Commune of Paris, created 10 August 1792 and protected by Danton, he was appointed bureau chief of illumination, on 24 August and was deputy, from 2 September, with Marat, of the Supervisory Committee the town. On 3 September, he co-signed a Committee circular to justify the September massacres and considered a call to imitate the example of the "common good of Paris." Later, he protested his innocence, saying that his name had replaced another. On 30 Thermidor Year III (17 August 1795), he published a pamphlet entitled: "Deforgues to citizens (to defend themselves for having participated in massacres of September)", in which he claimed to have been attached to the administration of police on 14 September. However, according to Maurice Barthelemy, it was reported that at the worst moment, he imprisoned in the Abbaye citizen Claude Sujet who perished on the spot. He was the first Secretary General of the
Committee of Public Safety The Committee of Public Safety (french: link=no, Comité de salut public) was a committee of the National Convention which formed the provisional government and war cabinet during the Reign of Terror, a violent phase of the French Revolution. S ...
of The Mountain, dominated by Danton and Barère then, at the request of Jean-Nicolas Pache, was appointed Deputy Minister of War Bouchotte, 5th Division, on 9 May 1793. Miot de Melito, who knew him, said he was "a firm and decided, with the spirit of the enlightenment. His aristocratic origin had approached Barère." " After 2 June he was appointed by the Convention at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Executive Council, replacing Lebrun-Tondu on 21 June 1793, on motion of Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles who introduced him as: "a true Republican, a well spoken sans-culotte", and explained: "Deforgues has a well-organized mind, he loves the book and has done a lot." In fact, he thought only a little about the conduct of diplomatic business. In fact Barère, who had the upper hand on the diplomacy of the Year II, tightly controlled the machinery. Thus, at the request of Barère, he recruited agents of British counter intelligence, such as
Richard Ferris Richard Ferris (died 1649, aged 67) was a wealthy merchant from Barnstaple in Devon, England who served as a Member of Parliament for Barnstaple in 1640 and served twice as Mayor of Barnstaple in 1632 and 1646.Lamplugh, p. 156. He founded the ...
, with missions to England and Ireland. His name appears not only in the English ministerial papers - particularly those of
Lord Grenville William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, (25 October 175912 January 1834) was a British Pittite Tory politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1806 to 1807, but was a supporter of the Whigs for the duration of ...
- but also in the letter from the Foreign Office to Perrégaux asking 'Chemin-Deforgues' - (spelling adopted during the Revolution) - to promote disorder and "push the Jacobins in paroxysms of fury". With the endorsement of Barère, he was paid by the British government, among others, to counter the business of United Irishmen and disrupted services by untimely hiring, as he employed Jean Baptiste Noël Bouchotte at the Department of War. On 4 March 1794
Jacques Hébert Jacques René Hébert (; 15 November 1757 – 24 March 1794) was a French journalist and the founder and editor of the extreme radical newspaper ''Le Père Duchesne'' during the French Revolution. Hébert was a leader of the French Revolution ...
denounced him to the
Cordeliers The Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (french: Société des Amis des droits de l'homme et du citoyen), mainly known as Cordeliers Club (french: Club des Cordeliers), was a populist political club during the French R ...
as follows: "A Deforgues who takes the place of Foreign Minister and well known that I call the Minister for Foreign Affairs!". On 13 Germinal Year II (2 April 1794) he was deposed and replaced by
Martial Joseph Armand Herman Martial Joseph Armand Herman (29 August 1759, Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise – 7 May 1795, Paris) (guillotined), was a lawyer and a chief judge during the Reign of Terror. His most famous cases were against Marie Antoinette and Georges Danton. As the c ...
. Arrested, he was imprisoned in Luxembourg for four months. On 14 Germinal, the warrant for his arrest was signed by du Barran,
Élie Lacoste Élie Lacoste (18 September 1745 in Montignac – 26 November 1806 in Montignac) was a French politician during the French Revolution. He became the administrator of the newly created Dordogne department in 1790. He was a deputy of the Le ...
, Vadier,
Moyse Bayle Moyse Antoine Pierre Jean Bayle (16 July 1755, in Ch̻ne Рbetween 1812 and 1815) was a French politician of the French Revolution. Life Before the Convention Bayle was member of Marseille's Jacobins in 1790, he protected Charles-Jean-Mar ...
,
Robespierre Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; 6 May 1758 â€“ 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman who became one of the best-known, influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. As a member of the Esta ...
, Prieur de la Côte-d'Or, Barère - (his friend) -
Saint-Just Saint-Just, Saint-Juste, St-Juste, or St Just may refer to: Music * ''Saint Just'' (album) *Saint Just (band), an Italian progressive rock band Places France * Saint-Just (Lyon), a section of the city of Lyon * Saint-Just, Ain, in the Ain ' ...
, Amar, Carnot and
Collot d'Herbois Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois (; 19 June 1749 – 8 June 1796) was a French actor, dramatist, essayist, and revolutionary. He was a member of the Committee of Public Safety during the Reign of Terror and, while he saved Madame Tussaud from t ...
; he wrote to the "Incorruptible", attributing his imprisonment as a result of his intimacy with Danton. In this letter, he took advantage of the protection of Barère.see the letter in ''Papiers inédits trouvés chez Robespierre, Saint-Just, Payan, etc., supprimés ou omis par Courtois précédés du rapport de ce député à la Convention nationale'', Paris, Baudoin frères, 1828, tome II, pp. 189-193 He was released after the 9th Thermidor. His detention attributed to "Robespierre" exempted him from accounting for his deplorable administration. He "matures" somehow, and having to be diplomatic for his own interests, he was appointed in October 1799, at the Anglo-Russian invasion, Minister Plenipotentiary to the Batavian Republic, where he attended and succeeded Florent Guiot. He was recalled after 18 Brumaire, and replaced by Semonville. He lived in retirement when, in 1804, after the Louisiana Purchase in the United States, he was sent to New Orleans as trade commissioner. He spent five years in the country, where he married. On his return journey he was captured at sea by the English, but almost immediately released. Exiled to twenty leagues from Paris by Napoleon, he retired in August 1815 to Maincy, where he died.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deforgues, Francois Louis Michel Chemin 1759 births 1840 deaths French Foreign Ministers People from Vire Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni French expatriates in the United States