Jacques Pierre Brissot

Jacques Pierre Brissot (, 15 January 1754 – 31 October 1793), also known as Brissot de Warville, was a French journalist, abolitionist, and revolutionary leading the faction of Girondins (initially called Brissotins) at the National Convention in Paris. The Girondins favored exporting the revolution and opposed a concentration of power in Paris. He collaborated on the Mercure de France and the ''Courier de l'Europe'', which sympathized with the insurgents in the American colonies.

In February 1788, Brissot founded the anti-slavery Society of the Friends of the Blacks. With the outbreak of the revolution in July 1789, he became one of its most vocal supporters. As a member of the Legislative Assembly, Brissot advocated for war against Austria and other European powers in order to secure France's revolutionary gains, which led to the War of the First Coalition in 1792. He voted against the immediate execution of Louis XVI which made him unpopular with the Montagnards. He was friendly with Jean-Paul Marat, but in 1793 they were the greatest enemies.

On 3 April 1793, Maximilien Robespierre declared in the Convention that the whole war was a prepared game between Dumouriez and Brissot to overthrow the First French Republic. Conflicts with Robespierre, who accused him of royalism, eventually brought about his downfall. On 8 October, the Convention decided to arrest Brissot. Like Madame Roland and Pétion, Brissot was accused of organising (or taking part in) conspicuous dinners. At the end of October 1793, he was guillotined along with 28 other Girondins by Charles-Henri Sanson.

Early life and family

Brissot was born in Chartres, the 13th child of a wealthy traiteur; but nine of his siblings died at infancy. Alongside his elder brother he was placed under the care of an uncle, residing in the countryside as priest. In 1762 he entered college, studying Latin and developing an admiration for the works of Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau. Transitioning to a career path, he began his tenure as a law clerk in 1769, initially in Chartres and later, from 1774, at the Parlement of Paris. Despite his legal aspirations, Brissot found himself embroiled in controversy due to the critical nature of some of his pamphlets, which scrutinized the government and the church. In 1777 Madame du Barry introduced him to Voltaire. In the same year he briefly visited London upon invitation. He relocated to Boulogne-sur-Mer when he was appointed editor of "Courier de l'Europe", a periodical that did not do well and failed.New Travels in the United States of America, p. V He decided to "anglicize" his last name by appending "Warville", after Ouarville, where his mother owned property. Brissot inherited a substantial amount of '' livres'' when his father died. In 1780 he moved to Reims to complete his studies.

His initial literary endeavors, including ''Théorie des lois criminelles'' (1781) and ''Bibliothèque philosophique du législateur'' (1782), delved into the philosophy of law, demonstrating a profound influence of the ethical principles championed by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. During a month-long stay with the affluent sugar and coffee planter Pierre-Alexandre DuPeyrou, Brissot found himself immersed in intellectual discourse. DuPeyrou, a Suriname native who relocated to Neuchâtel in 1747, had maintained a close relationship with Rousseau, providing financial support and overseeing the publication of his complete works. Brissot sent a summary to Voltaire, who praised his style and energy in a letter. Meanwhile, a law degree hardly charmed him, Brissot was more interested in linguistics and decided to become a journalist. In June he paid a visit to Clavière in Geneva. In September he married Félicité Dupont, the governess of the Duke of Chartres. Brissot visited London where he got engaged in establishing an Academy of Arts and Sciences; he lived at Newman Street with his wife and younger brother. Meanwhile, she translated English works, including those by Oliver Goldsmith and Robert Dodsley.

Writer on social causes

In the preface of ''Théorie des lois criminelles'', a plea for penal reform, Brissot explains that he submitted an outline of the book to Voltaire and quotes his answer from 13 April 1778. Brissot had a falling out with Catholicism, and wrote about his disagreements with the church's hierarchical system.
Brissot became known as a writer and journalist who was engaged on the ''Mercure de France'', the ''Courier de l'Europe'' and other facilitating the distribution of libelles. Devoted to the cause of humanity, he proposed a plan for the collaboration of all European intellectuals. His newspaper ''Journal du Lycée de Londres'', was to be the organ of this commercial enterprise starting at Pall Mall in January 1784. He was in conflict with Charles Théveneau de Morande. The plan was unsuccessful and Brissot lost his investments. In May he was arrested and put in jail at Gray's Inn Road; a friend paid the printer for the prospectus. Soon after his return to Paris, Brissot was on the charge of having published a pornographic pamphlet ''Passe-temps de Toinette'' against the queen of France Marie Antoinette. The pamphlet was considered extremely provocative as it was perceived as opposing the queen. On 12 July Brissot was imprisoned in the Bastille but was released after two months as he was not the author. He read Confessions six times and a popular account of the New World, ''Letters of an American Farmer'' by Jean de Crèvecoeur.

After gaining release, Brissot returned to pamphleteering, most notably his 1785 open letter to emperor Joseph II of Austria, ''Seconde lettre d'un défenseur du peuple a l'Empereur Joseph II, sur son règlement concernant, et principalement sur la révolte des Valaques'', which supported the right of subjects to revolt against the misrule of a monarch (in Bulgaria). Because of the controversy, this generated, he went to London for a time. He was influenced by the dissenters Richard Price and Joseph Priestley.

In 1785, the Duc d'Orléans, admirer of the British parliamentary system and the constitutional monarchy, the main opposition to the French absolute monarchy, approved Brissot's plan to dispatch the fencer Chevalier de Saint-Georges to London. He believed it was a way to ensure the Regent-in-waiting's support of Philippe as the future "Regent" of France. But Brissot had a secret agenda as well. He considered Saint-Georges, a "man of color", the ideal person to contact his fellow abolitionists in London and ask their advice about Brissot's plans for '' Les Amis des Noirs'' (Friends of the Blacks) modeled on the English Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade. It is supposed Saint Georges delivered Brissot's request to translate the publications of the abolitionists MPs William Wilberforce, John Wilkes, and Reverend Thomas Clarkson into French. On his first trip Saint-Georges passed Brissot's request to the British abolitionists, they complied by translating their publications into French for his fledgling '' Société des amis des Noirs''. Banat assumes Saint-Georges met with them again, but Adam Hochschild in Bury the Chains did not find any trace of this.

In collaboration with Clavière, Brissot published ''De la France et des Etats-Unis ou de l'importance de la révolution de l'Amérique pour le bonheur de la France'', an important advocacy of possible economic benefits to France stemming from the American Revolution. In summer 1787 he and Clavière visited Utrecht, then a "democratic eldorado" to study the resistance against the House of Orange and Habsburg. Just before the Prussian invasion of Holland they travelled to Rotterdam, where they met Abbé Sièyes, and then to Amsterdam where they met with a Dutch banker Pieter Stadnitski. By the end of September they were back in Paris. At some time Stadnitsky decided sent Brissot as an undercover asset scout to Philadelphia.

Abolitionists

On a second visit to London, accompanied by Charles-Louis Ducrest, the brother of Madame de Genlis, he became acquainted with some of the leading abolitionists. After returning to Paris on 19 February 1788, he and Clavière founded an anti-slavery group known as '' Society of the Friends of the Blacks'' (''Société des amis des Noirs'') and was their secretary. In 1788, Choderlos de Laclos, who replaced Brissot as Philippe's chief of staff, intensified Brissot's campaign to promote Philippe as an alternative to the monarchy.

As an agent of the newly formed society, Brissot travelled to the United States from June 1788 to January 1789 to visit abolitionists there. The country had gained independence several years before but was still a slave state. He also met with members of the constitutional convention in Philadelphia to find out what he could about the domestic debt of the United States and researching investment opportunities in Scioto Company. Brissot launched a plan to promote emigration to the United States. At one point, he was interested in emigrating to America with his family. Thomas Jefferson, the American ambassador in Paris when he returned, was familiar enough with him to note, "Warville is returned charmed with our country. He is going to carry his wife and children to settle there."David Andress, ''1789: The Threshold of the Modern Age'', 87. However, such an emigration never happened. In 1789 he published a pamphlet arguing that
French deputies owed any black Frenchman and any enslaved people in the French colonies their "sacred rights" as much as any white man. In 1789 he was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Brissot was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1789.

He was president of the Society of the Friends of the Blacks during 1790 and 1791. The rising ferment of revolution engaged Brissot in schemes for progress through political journalism that would make him a household name. In 1791 he published his ''Nouveau Voyage dans les États-Unis de l'Amérique septentrionale'' (3 vol.). Brissot believed that American ideals could help improve the French government. In 1791, Brissot along with Marquis de Condorcet, Thomas Paine, and Étienne Dumont created a newspaper promoting republicanism titled ''Le Républicain''.

French Revolution

From the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, Brissot became one of its most vocal supporters. He edited the ''Patriote français'' from 1789 to 1793 and took a prominent part in politics. Famous for his speeches at the Jacobin Club, he was elected a member of the municipality of Paris, then of the Legislative Assembly. He witnessed at the marriage of Camille and Lucile Desmoulins in December 1790, together with Pétion de Villeneuve and Robespierre.

Champ de Mars Massacre involvement

Leading up to this event, France was in political turmoil following the attempted escape of King Louis XVI and his family. The escape attempt heightened tensions and divisions within French society, particularly among the Third Estate. Brissot, a leading republican in the Girondin faction and a leading voice of the republican movement, was involved in drafting a petition demanding the removal of King Louis XVI. He along with other members managed to get approximately 6,000 signatures for the petition they circulated on 17 July 1791, during the gathering at the Champ de Mars. This petition, backed by the Cordeliers Club and other parties, argued that the king, by attempting to flee, had effectively abdicated his throne. The petition called for a national referendum on the future of the monarchy and was essentially a republican manifesto. In 1791 Robespierre persuaded the Jacobin clubs not to support the petition by Danton and Brissot.

Foreign policy

News of the Declaration of Pillnitz (27 August 1791) reached France shortly before the convening of the new Legislative Assembly, which Brissot rapidly came to dominate. The declaration was from Austria and Prussia, warning the people of France not to harm Louis XVI or these nations would "militarily intervene" in the politics of France. Threatened by the declaration, Brissot rallied the support of the Assembly, which subsequently declared war on Austria on 20 April 1792. They wanted to fortify and secure the revolution. This decision was initially disastrous as the French armies were crushed during the first engagements, leading to a major increase in political tensions within the country.

During the Legislative Assembly, Brissot's knowledge of foreign affairs enabled him as a member of the diplomatic committee to control much of France's foreign policy during this time. Brissot was a key figure in the declaration of war against Leopold II, the Habsburg monarchy, the Dutch Republic, and the Kingdom of Great Britain on 1 February 1793. It was also Brissot who characterized these wars as part of revolutionary propaganda.

On 26 March 1792, Guadet accused Robespierre of superstition, relying on divine providence. Shortly after Robespierre was accused by Brissot and Guadet of trying to become the idol of the people. Being against the war Robespierre was also accused of acting as a secret agent for the " Austrian Committee". The Girondins planned strategies to out-maneuver Robespierre's influence among the Jacobins. On 27 April, as part of his speech responding to the accusations by Brissot and Guadet against him, he threatened to leave the Jacobins, claiming he preferred to continue his mission as an ordinary citizen.

On 17 May, Robespierre released the first issue of his weekly periodical (''The Defender of the Constitution''). In this publication, he criticized Brissot and expressed his skepticism over the war movement.

Election

In August 1792 Brissot urged the preservation of the constitution, advocating against both the dethronement of the king and the election of a new assembly. Robespierre was no longer willing to cooperate with Brissot, who promoted the Duke of Brunswick, and Roland. On Sunday morning 2 September the members of the Commune, gathering in the town hall to proceed the election of deputies to the National Convention, decided to maintain their seats and have Rolland and Brissot arrested.

In Paris suspected Girondin and Feuillant candidates were boycotted; Robespierre made sure Brissot (and his fellow Brissotins Pétion and Condorcet) could not be elected in Paris. Mayor Pétion de Villeneuve, ("''Roi Pétion''") finally rallied to Brissot. Brissot refrained from further visits to the Jacobin club. Madame Roland wrote to a friend: "We are under the knife of Robespierre and Marat, those who would agitate the people."

In September 1792 he was elected deputy in the National Convention. where he represented Eure-et-Loir

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