Louis Pierre Manuel (; July 1751 – 14 November 1793) was a
republican French writer, municipal administrator of the police, and
public prosecutor
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in civil law. The prosecution is the legal party responsible ...
during the
French Revolution who was arrested, trialled and guillotined.
Life
Revolutionary
He was born at
Montargis,
Loiret
Loiret (; ) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of north-central France. It takes its name from the river Loiret, which is contained wholly within the department. In 2019, Loiret had a population of 680,434. , and entered the
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, becoming
tutor
Tutoring is private academic help, usually provided by an expert teacher; someone with deep knowledge or defined expertise in a particular subject or set of subjects.
A tutor, formally also called an academic tutor, is a person who provides assis ...
to the son of a Paris banker. In 1783 his clandestine
pamphlet
A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a Hardcover, hard cover or Bookbinding, binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' ...
, ''Essais historiques, critiques, littéraires, et philosophiques'', resulted in his being imprisoned in the
Bastille
The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was stormed by a ...
.
Manuel, a
man of letters
An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the world of culture, either ...
passionately embraced the revolutionary ideas, and after the
storming of the Bastille
The Storming of the Bastille ( ), which occurred in Paris, France, on 14 July 1789, was an act of political violence by revolutionary insurgents who attempted to storm and seize control of the medieval armoury, fortress, and political prison k ...
became a member of the provisional municipality of Paris, administrating the
Garde Nationale and
gendarme
A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to "men-at-arms" (). In France and som ...
. Early December 1791 he was elected as ''procureur public'' of the commune, charged with both the investigation and prosecution of crime and representing the King. In a discussion about the right of
veto
A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president (government title), president or monarch vetoes a bill (law), bill to stop it from becoming statutory law, law. In many countries, veto powe ...
(to suspend a law for a period or until the fulfillment of a condition) he told the Jacobins as a patriot he did not like the King, but he should have the right to leave or to abdicate. As Manuel was not from Paris he lost popularity. On 24 February 1792 Manuel was installed as
procureur of the commune, gave a speech warning against anarchy. He proposed to sell the portraits of bishops hanging inside the building.
Manuel was associated with the
Demonstration of 20 June 1792
The Demonstration of 20 June 1792 () was the last bloodless attempt made by the revolutionaries of Paris to persuade King Louis XVI of France to abandon his current policy and adopt a more compliant role in the escalating frenzy of the French R ...
, which he visited as a private person. Afterwards he and
Pétion de Villeneuve, the mayor were dismissed on 6 July by the Conseil Général, but reappointed on 23 July by the Assembly. During the
10 August storming of the Tuileries Palace, he was up all night and played a part in the formation of the
insurrectionary Paris Commune which assured the success of the latter attack (begun by the taking of the ''
Hôtel de Ville'').
On 12 August
Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; ; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman, widely recognised as one of the most influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. Robespierre fer ...
and Manuel visited the
Temple prison to check on the security of the royal family. Manuel and Pétion were against their imprisonment. At the end of the month and with a sense of
martyrdom
A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In colloqui ...
, Manuel or Robespierre seem to have ordered the sections to maintain their posts and die if necessary. On 28 August he helped
Madame de Stael and released some of her friends. It is not clear if he saved the life of
Beaumarchais
Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (; 24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) was a French playwright and diplomat during the Age of Enlightenment. Best known for his three Figaro plays, at various times in his life he was also a watchmaker, invent ...
who was jailed on the 23rd and released a week later, only three days before a massacre took place in the prison where he had been detained.

Manuel lived at
Place Dauphine
The Place Dauphine () is a public square located near the western end of the Île de la Cité in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, first arrondissement of Paris. It was initiated by Henry IV of France, Henry IV in 1607, the second of his projects ...
and was present at the nearby
Abbaye Prison on the first day of the
September Massacres. The door was closed, but the killing was resumed after an intense discussion with Manuel, on people's justice and failing judges. Manuel belonged to a deputation sent by the general council (Conseil général) of the commune to ask for compassion. They were insulted and escaped with their lives. Late in the evening, Madame de Stael was conveyed home, escorted by Manuel. He saved the life of governess
Madame Tourzel, because of her mother.
On 7 September 1792, he was elected one of the deputies from Paris to the
National Convention
The National Convention () was the constituent assembly of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for its first three years during the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the ...
. On 3 November, he declared in the gallery of the
Jacobin Club
The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential List of polit ...
that "the massacres of September had been the
Saint Bartholomew's Day of the people, who had shown themselves to be as wicked as a king, and that the whole of Paris was guilty of having suffered these assassinations.
He suppressed the award of the
Cross of Saint Louis, which he called "''a stain on a man's coat''", requested that
Pétion de Villeneuve, the first president of Convention be housed in the palace of the
Tuileries, and demanded the sale of the
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...
.
Independent politics and execution
In 1792 he was prosecuted for publishing four volumes of the ''
:fr: Lettres à Sophie'', a collection of correspondence written between
Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau
Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Count of Mirabeau (; 9 March 17492 April 1791) was a French writer, orator, statesman and a prominent figure of the early stages of the French Revolution.
A member of the nobility, Mirabeau had been involved in numerous ...
while he was incarcerated in the
Vincennes dungeon, and Sophie de Monnier, his mistress, while she was confined in a convent in Gien. The letters were alleged to contain indecent content. He was acquitted.
Manuel changed his opinions on King
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...
through his connection with Pétion and the
Brissotins; he refused to vote in favor of the
execution of the former sovereign. Never before the Convention was like a court. He accused
The Mountain
The Mountain () was a political group during the French Revolution. Its members, called the Montagnards (), sat on the highest benches in the National Convention. The term, first used during a session of the Legislative Assembly, came into ge ...
of being anarchists and murderers. Consequently, he resigned as deputy. succeeded by
Fouquier-Tinville as public prosecutor. He retired to Montargis, where his house was attacked by the crowd on 14 March 1793. Heavily bleeding he was taken to the
liberty tree
The Liberty Tree (1646–1775) was a famous Elm, elm tree that stood in Boston, Massachusetts near Boston Common in the years before the American Revolution. In 1765, Patriot (American Revolution), Patriots in Boston staged the first act of def ...
, arrested, and put in prison almost naked. At the end of August he was transported to the
Prison de l'Abbaye and on 13 November to the
Conciergerie
The Conciergerie () () is a former courthouse and prison in Paris, France, located on the west of the Île de la Cité, below the Palais de Justice. It was originally part of the former royal palace, the Palais de la Cité, which also included ...
. In his trial Fouquier-Tinville accused him of being a
libertine, offering wine to the "
septembriseurs", stealing money and organizing a
conspiration against the
one and indivisible republic. He was guillotined the same day, 24
Brumaire
Brumaire () was the second month in the French Republican calendar. The month was named after the French 'fog', which occurs frequently in France at that time of the year.
Brumaire was the second month of the autumn quarter (''mois d'automne ...
.
[Gazette nationale ou le Moniteur universel, 16 novembre 1793; Feuille du salut public, 16 novembre 1793; Mercure français, 23 novembre 1793]
Works
*
''Lettre d'un garde du roi, pour servir de suite aux mémoires sur Cagliostro''(1786)
* ;
''Lettre a la reine''(1789)
''Sur la séance nationale du vingt-cinq juin et lettre à Monsieur le comte d'Artois sur la séance royale du 23''(1789)
''Seconde lettre à Monsieur le comte d'Artois''(1789)
'' Le nobiliaire des trois ordres''(1789)
*;
*;
* According to the bibliographer
Antoine-Alexandre Barbier, in his ''Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes et pseudonymes, Volume 1'', the pamphlet was not written by Manuel, as often cited, but by a Charpentier.
''Lettre a Monsieur, frere du roi''(1791)
''Lettre de M. Manuel, procureur de la Commune de Paris, aux ministres''(1791)
''La Police de Paris dévoilée''. Tome premierTome second
avec gravure et tableau (1791)
* ''Lettres sur la Révolution'' (1792).
''Le trone des Français ne s'emporte pas. lettre superbe & extraordinaire de M. Manuel, procureur de la Commune de Paris, au roi''
(1792)
''P. Manuel a ses concitoyens''
(1793)
''P. Manuel aux officiers municipaux de Montargis''
(1793)
''Opinion de P. Manuel, sur la premiere question, pour le jugement de Louis XVI''
(1793)
References
;Attribution
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manuel, Louis Pierre
1751 births
1793 deaths
People from Montargis
Deputies to the French National Convention
French essayists
18th-century French historians
Historians of the French Revolution
French police officers convicted of crimes
French people executed by guillotine during the French Revolution
French male essayists
18th-century French essayists
18th-century French male writers
Prisoners of the Bastille
Executed writers