Wikipedia

Philippe-François-Joseph Le Bas

Philippe-François-Joseph Le Bas (4 November 1764 – 28 July 1794) was a French politician and revolutionary who was close to Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just. He married Élisabeth Duplay, and they had a son also named Philippe. After Robespierre was denounced by the National Convention as a tyrant, an arrest warrant was issued for Le Bas. During the coup of 9–10 Thermidor, he gathered with Robespierre and his other deputies in the Hôtel de Ville in Paris. As the authorities broke in to arrest them, Le Bas committed suicide.

Philippe-François-Joseph Le Bas
Sketch of Philippe-François-Joseph Le Bas by Jacques-Louis David.
Le Bas by Jacques-Louis David
Member of the National Convention
In office
6 September 1792 – 31 May 1794
ConstituencyPas-de-Calais
Personal details
Born(1764-11-04)4 November 1764
Frévent, Pas-de-Calais, Kingdom of France
Died28 July 1794(1794-07-28) (aged 29)
Hôtel de Ville, Paris, France
Cause of deathSuicide
PartyThe Mountain
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1793⁠–⁠1794)​
ChildrenPhilippe Le Bas

Biography

edit

Early life

edit

Le Bas was born on 4 November 1764 to a poor family in the Frévent commune in the Pas-de-Calais.[a] His father was Ange-François Le Bas, an intendant for the estate of the Prince of Rache and later postmaster of Frévent, and his mother was Augustine Antoinette Guislaine Hemery. Le Bas attended the Collège de Montaigu in Paris and then worked as a clerk in order to support his family, which included 13 children at the time.[2] He was described by someone who knew him as "grave in demeanor, with blue eyes and blond hair".[3]

Career

edit

After earning his law degree in April 1789, Le Bas was admitted to parliament as an attorney.[4] In September 1792, Le Bas was elected deputy to the National Convention for the department of the Pas-de-Calais in Saint-Pol.[5] Although Le Bas initially identified with the Girondins, he ultimately aligned with the Montagnards.[6] He became a close friend of Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, who he "worshiped ... as a paragon, almost a saint."[7]

Citizen Louis Capet (formerly King Louis XVI) being cross-examined at his trial at the National Convention.

During the trial of Louis XVI at the National Convention from December 1792 to January 1793, Le Bas voted to convict Citizen Louis Capet of high treason, along with an overwhelming majority of 683 members.[8] He then voted for the death penalty and against a stay of execution.[6][8] He corresponded with his father throughout the proceedings; on 20 January, the day before Capet was guillotined, Le Bas wrote to his father: "demain un grand acte de justice nationale s'accomplira" (transl. tomorrow a great act of national justice will be accomplished).[8]

On 2 August 1793, Le Bas and Duquesnoy, a fellow deputy from the Pas-de-Calais, were sent by the Committee of Public Safety to organize the Army of the North. They concluded that the rampant disorder in the army was due to officers' negligence, and they ordered the arrests of the generals Richardot and O'Moran for inability.[9] On 14 September, Le Bas was elected to the Committee of General Security.[6][10] Later, after setbacks during the Revolutionary Wars, Le Bas and Saint-Just were given "supreme civilian power" to reorganize the Army in the Rhine.[11]

In May 1794, the Committee of Public Safety created a new military school for teenage boys called the School of Mars. Given Le Bas' record as a représentant en mission and his status as an "object of boyish hero worship", he was appointed to lead the new school. A total of 3000 boys came from all over France to attend. They learned how to use a firearm and how to run drills, and they were "almost frantic with Revolutionary patriotism".[12]

Marriage and issue

edit

Le Bas first met his wife Élisabeth Duplay, the daughter of Maximilien Robespierre's host, on 24 April 1793, the same day that Jean-Paul Marat was acquitted by the Revolutionary Tribunal and then carried triumphantly into the assembly. Le Bas and Duplay continued to see each other at the assembly under supervision of a chaperone, but their courtship was interrupted when Le Bas suddenly fell ill and was unable to go to the assembly for a time.[13][14]

On 26 August 1793 (10 Fructidor, Year I), Le Bas and Duplay were married in Paris.[15][16] They were married in the presence of Jacques-René Hébert who acted as municipal officer, Robespierre, and the painter Jacques-Louis David.[16] On 17 June 1794 (29 Prairial, Year II), they had a son who they also named Philippe.[17] Le Bas' son Philippe would go on to become Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte's tutor until 1827,[18] then director of the library of the Sorbonne (1846–1860),[19] a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (1838–60),[20] and president of the Institut de France (from 1858).[21]

Death and the fall of Robespierre

edit

On 26 July 1794 (8 Thermidor, Year II), Maximilien Robespierre gave a controversial speech before the National Convention calling for the arrest of secret enemies of the Republic and defending himself against charges that he was seeking more power. He did not call for an end to the Terror, which led his political opponents to believe they needed to act fast. The next day on 27 July (9 Thermidor), Robespierre was denounced as a tyrant and shouted down when he tried to take the podium. The Convention called for his arrest, and "his friend Philippe Le Bas showed [his] devotion by demanding to be arrested with him."[22]

By the authority of the Convention, Le Bas was arrested with Robespierre, Saint-Just, Couthon, and Augustin Robespierre.[23] However, they were not detained long, because the prisons were staffed by Robespierre's supporters, who refused to incarcerate them.[24] Le Bas' wife Élisabeth met him when he was released from the Conciergerie prison and accompanied him to the Hôtel de Ville. When they arrived at the hotel, he urged her to go back home, because he anticipated that he would soon be killed.[25]

Painting of the Night of 9–10 Thermidor, Year II by Jean-Joseph Weerts
The Night of 9–10 Thermidor, Year II by Jean-Joseph Weerts

Le Bas joined Robespierre and other deputies inside the Hôtel de Ville to debate their next steps while guardsmen assembled at the Place de Grève nearby to defend them.[26] When the forces of the Convention learned that Robespierre and his deputies were no longer under arrest, they went to the Hôtel de Ville prepared for a confrontation, but, by the time they arrived, many of the guardsmen had left.[26] In the early hours of 28 July (10 Thermidor), Robespierre was shot in the jaw, either by his own hand or by Charles-André Merda.[27][28][29] As the anti-Robespierrists broke in, Le Bas grabbed a pistol and killed himself with it.[27][30]

Later on 28 July, Robespierre and survivors of the raid were tried by the Revolutionary Tribunal and sentenced to death.[31] Shortly after, Le Bas' wife Élisabeth was arrested with their 5-week-old son;[32][33] they were imprisoned for 100 days.[34]

Notes

edit
  1. ↑ Before the administrative reorganization of France during the French Revolution, the Pas-de-Calais was known as Artois.[1]

References

edit

Citations

edit
  1. ↑ Gochet 1896, pp. 223–224.
  2. ↑ Stéfane-Pol 1901, pp. 1–2.
  3. ↑ Palmer 1941, p. 323.
  4. ↑ Stéfane-Pol 1901, pp. 4–5.
  5. ↑ Stéfane-Pol 1901, pp. 25–26.
  6. 1 2 3 Hanson 2004, p. 187.
  7. ↑ Palmer 1941, p. 180.
  8. 1 2 3 Stéfane-Pol 1901, p. 45.
  9. ↑ Stéfane-Pol 1901, pp. 152–157.
  10. ↑ Stéfane-Pol 1901, p. 54.
  11. ↑ Palmer 1941, pp. 180–181.
  12. ↑ Palmer 1941, pp. 321–323.
  13. ↑ Le Bas 1901, pp. 102–106.
  14. ↑ Yalom 1995, pp. 116–118.
  15. ↑ Le Bas 1901, p. 128.
  16. 1 2 Hamel 1867, p. 293.
  17. ↑ Acte de naissance de Philippe Le Bas à Paris (in French), 17 July 1794, p. 43, retrieved 30 April 2026 – via Archives de Paris
  18. ↑ Simpson 1968, pp. 44–47.
  19. ↑ "1848 Nouveau plan de classement des collections". bis-sorbonne.fr. Archived from the original on 16 December 2024. Retrieved 12 May 2026. [Philippe Le Bas] occupe le poste d'administrateur de la bibliothèque de 1846 à 1860.
  20. ↑ Desjardins 1862, p. V.
  21. ↑ Les Amis de Philippe Le Bas and de la Famille Duplay. "Philippe Le Bas, l'helléniste (1794-1860)". philippe-le-bas.org. Retrieved 12 May 2026. Philippe aura une vie riche et dense, il la finira comme président de l'Institut de France et administrateur-conservateur de la bibliothèque de la Sorbonne.
  22. ↑ Popkin 2019, pp. 411–412.
  23. ↑ Popkin 2019, p. 412.
  24. ↑ Popkin 2019, pp. 412–413.
  25. ↑ Hamel 1891, p. 325.
  26. 1 2 Popkin 2019, pp. 413–414.
  27. 1 2 Palmer 1941, p. 379.
  28. ↑ Popkin 2019, p. 414.
  29. ↑ Hamel 1867, pp. 792–793.
  30. ↑ Hamel 1867, p. 793.
  31. ↑ Campardon 1862, p. 164–168.
  32. ↑ Yalom 1995, p. 126.
  33. ↑ Le Bas 1901, p. 139.
  34. ↑ Les amis de Philippe Le Bas et de la famille Duplay (23 March 2021). "Un amour en l'An II : Elisabeth Duplay et Philippe Le Bas". philippe-le-bas.org (in French). Retrieved 19 May 2026.

Bibliography

edit
edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Philippe-François-Joseph_Le_Bas&oldid=1358953269"