Bex's Art

My friend, I read with satisfaction the letter from M. the Marquis of Crest and the one from you, but I fear that these letters will only be received by frostiness by the members of the committee, or at least by several of them. The Literary Society was for them the most attractive bait. The self-loving weighed on the love for humanity and perhaps they shall in the surrender which is made of the literary establishment see a skillful and honest way of evading it and of not founding this establishment. They wee also so convinced that the Palais Royal would support their views, that they would have difficulty in imagining such a delay. Add here that the project had leaked out to the public and that they will find themselves stung by a delay which they will regard as a refusal. Rest assured that I will spare nothing to bring back the spirits. I'm going to call a meeting tomorrow. I am very happy that you have chosen me as one of the members of the Gallo-American society.  I haven’t heard anything about Desauger. All to you. Pétion de Villeneuve. Chartres, 6 February 1787. To Monsieur, Monsieur Brissot de Warville, secretary general of the chancellery of M. the duke of Orléans. Paris. Letter from Pétion to Brissot February 7 1787

Chartres, 25 February 1787.  This morning, we were impatiently awaiting the copy. I immediately sent someone to search for your letter in the office. Not only do I have nothing to say against M. Meslier's son, but I desire with all my heart that he gets the position he is seeking. Letter from Pétion to Brissot February 25 1787

To Monsieur Brissot de Warville, Secretary General of the Chancellery of H.M.S.M., the Duke of Orléans, in Paris.  Please, my good friend, never make an announcement that does not come true punctually. You tell me about a conspicuous letter for the Literary Society, and I don’t receive it. You tell me, on February 23, that on the 24th, MM. the Lieutenant-General, the Mayor of the city will receive letters, and your letters do not arrive. Do you know what happens? People come to my house, they ask me for news, I report what you tell me, and I unintentionally mislead. For more than six days these MM. have expected to at any moment receive a letter, and you would not believe how much distrust and discouragement these delayed words give my colleagues. Yesterday, our session was very languid. By raising the causes of begging in Chartres, almost everyone considered it impossible to eradicate it, even to do any significant good to the suffering class. We dwelled on the ills, we exaggerated them, we doubted the effectiveness of the remedies, we doubted the abundance of help. Several voices were raised to say that we were forming an enterprise which would never be successful, that from the first year we would be forced to abandon it, that the Palais-Royal gave no certain promise, that we varied in the price. Judge what situation I was in. I did everything I could to bring the spirits back together, and finally the session ended with the conclusion that everyone would make their observations on the regulations of the Society of Orléans, which in general were not very well received. The letters you tell me about will give a salutary jolt to the machine.  You can also count on all my efforts. Take care of yourself. When you get interesting news, pass them to me. All to you,  Pétion de Villeneuve. Pétion to Brissot, February 27 1787

My friend, I am urged to print. M. de Lubersac to whom the prospectus has been communicated, finds it very good; it is generally appreciated. The common charity fund is perhaps the only way to eradicate begging. In Amiens, Le Mans, Châteauroux, there are similar ones, and it is assured that they produce great good. I have not given this idea all the developments of which it is susceptible. The Monday assembly was stormy, not as much as I expected. I hope we will manage to bring MM. the priests to our goal, there are two or three very stubborn ones. We have appointed commissioners to draft the statutes, and they will take care of it. It is the basis of the building, and it must be made solid. All to you. Pétion de Villeneuve. Pétion to Brissot March 13 1787

Two years later, March 20 1789, one Madame de la Seinie writes a letter to Brissot in which she reveals that Pétion has been elected to the Estates General and will do everything he can to try to make sure the same thing happens to him. Five days later she does however have to report that ”M. Pétion sends you all his sympathy that you were not elected a member of the Estates-General. If he had had a quarter to spare, he thinks he would have won. You only lacked four votes.”

Brissot therefore remained in Paris, while Pétion in May 1789 settled for Versailles and the Estates General. On June 18 he writes his friend the following letter, announcing that the third estate has declared itself the National Assembly:

Monsieur Brissot de Warville Rue de Gretry n. 1 Paris Versailles, 18/7 I write to you, my friend, with joy in my heart. I can only say two words to you, and you would probably learn nothing new. At yesterday’s session, we constituted ourselves as the National Assembly. To ensure our success, we declared taxes null and void and nevertheless authorized their collection until the day we no longer convene. To calm the concerns of the state's creditors, we assured their pledges on French honor. To merit the favor and blessing of the poor, we announced that we would immediately address the means behind the calamities that devastate the destitute classes. We ordered the printing of this decree for distribution throughout the provinces. With the exception of the constitution, the remainder was unanimously approved. Judge how well-disposed people were. I assure you that I will never neglect anything to ensure the triumph of good principles. I am ready to make every sacrifice for the public cause. The special committees are progressing well. The operations will give great energy to the spirits. All to you. Pétion de Villeneuve

Three months later, September 8 1789, we find yet another letter from Pétion in Versailles to Brissot in Paris, this time in regards to the royal veto:

I am undoubtedly very angry, my friend, not to have been able to confer with you on the veto question. I would doubtless have gained new insights from conversing with you. I have reflected as much as I could; I do not know if I am on the right path. So far I have not yet heard reasons given that have made me change my mind. I do not know if those who do not want any veto reflect well on our present position; our nation is very old, our monarchs are accustomed to great power, the people are still idolatrous of their kings; they would not see them stripped of all their prerogatives without murmuring; there are not twenty cahiers that recommend that deputies make the law in concert with the king: the king would retain a profound hatred of absolute spoliation; he would only seek means of revenge, and a great executive power has many opportunities to poorly execute what it has not consented to. The suspensive veto only leaves him with an appearance of power, which I find almost impossible for him to abuse with permanent assemblies. However, it is also possible that the Legislative Body does not always defend the rights of the people, and then the people are warned by a veto. The suspensive veto occurs in America itself, because the President of Congress may not sign, and the matter is subject to further examination. The duration of the veto and the manner in which it is lifted are important points to examine. I would like to speak with you for a moment about the appeal to the people; I cannot tell you how many means justify this appeal and how lightly one treats one of the most important matters, on which national liberty may depend for the future. Abbé Sieyès has advanced the most anti-political principles on the articles of representation and mandates. They tend toward nothing less than the constant stripping of constituent power, for, in his opinion, constituted powers can do anything, and the nation is free, as Rousseau said of the English nation, only when it holds its elections. I can tell you that I have delved into this matter somewhat, and perhaps I am no less prone to error. All to you. To Monsieur Brissot de Warville, Rue Grétry n. 1 Paris.

Not having obtained a place in the National Assembly, Brissot did instead choose to turn to journalism, founding the journal Le Patriote Français in July 1789, in which he supported Pétion and the other ”radicals” in the National Assembly.

On December 25 and December 27 1790 the two signed the wedding contract and attended the wedding ceremony of Camille and Lucile Desmoulins, Camille reporting to his father that ”I had as witnesses Péthion [sic] and Robespierre, the elite of the National Assembly, Sillery, who wanted to be there, and my two colleagues Brissot de Warville and Mercier, the elite among the journalists. […] The dinner was at my house, only M. and Mdm Duplessis, their daughter Adèle, the witnesses and the celebrant.”

In February 1791, Manon and Jean-Marie Roland moved from Lyon to Paris. In a letter to a friend towards the end of the month, Manon happily announces that the two have gotten to meet ”the brave Pétion.” In the memoirs she put together two years later, she reveals this was thanks to Brissot, with whom the couple had corresponded since at least 1787. Manon too underlines a certain closeness between Pétion and Brissot:

Born in Chartres, and comrade of Pétion, who came from the same town, Brissot became even more closely linked with him during the Constituent Assembly, where he through his knowledge and his work helped his friend several times. He made us get to know him, as well as several other deputies, that old relationships or the simple conformity of principles and the zeal for public affairs frequently brought together to confer on it.

A month later, in number 69 (March 21 1791) of Révolutions de France et de Brabant, Desmoulins spends ten pages addressing Brissot personally. Desmoulins begins by underlining that he still puts a high value on his fellow journalist, whose most honorable title is ”the friend of the irreproachable Péthion [sic].” After this, he does however regret the fact that they’re starting to drift apart, and writes that he would gladly ask Pétion to judge them both. When Brissot responded to Desmoulins in number 659 (May 29 1791) of Le Patriote Français, he did however just scoff at this idea, proclaming that it’s rather obvious whose side Pétion would choose: ”he knows my entire soul, my whole life, my current existence, my means, my views… interrogate him.” Desmoulins would however not appear to have been so satisfied with Brissot’s explanation. In number 81 (June 18 1791) of Révolutions de France et de Brabant, he describes how he a little while earlier had met Pétion at the jacobin club and talked to him about it. ”How, I said to him, you who are Brissot's friend, did you not at least make him feel the ridicule with which he covered himself by playing Monsieur Lafayette's Don Quixote, and by writing me three letters friendly and paternal in appearance, where he ends a lot of praise with telling me that I slander, like Marat and Fréron, his dear Lafayette?” To his surprise, Pétion responded by asking him to ”cite a single fact” against Lafayette.

On April 3 1791, Robespierre made the motion that the recently deceased Mirabeau be buried in the Panthéon. In his memoirs, Brissot claimed that ”Pétion reproached [Robespierre] for this the same day, he reproached him for it in my presence.” Five days later, we find the following letter from the Society of Friends of Blacks, co-authored by president Pétion and secretary Brissot:

Monsieur President, The Society of Friends of Blacks, always dedicated to the defense of these unfortunate people whom ignorance and greed pursue so relentlessly, hastens to place before the eyes of its brothers, the Friends of the Constitution, the new memoir which it has just published in favor of the colored citizens of our islands. It prides itself on having demonstrated beyond doubt that we cannot, without injustice, without hurting the principles and interests of France and those of the colonies, refuse them the rights of active citizens. It therefore implores the members of the National Assembly who are among the Jacobins to read it with the most serious attention. The in-depth discussion on the commercial relations of the metropolis and the colonies will shed light on this subject which will dissipate the false and perfidious terrors excited by greed. The Society of Friends of Blacks sends 400 copies to its brothers, the Jacobins.  We are very fraternally, M. President, The members of the Society of Friends of Blacks J. Pétion, president J-P. Brissot, secretary

This society had been founded by Brissot in 1788. Pétion, as well as many other members of the National Assembly, had joined it during the revolution and had then, in Brissot’s words, proven themselves to be ”colleagues ready to everyday defend the sacred cause that we were serving.” (J.-P. Brissot: Mémoires (1911), page 87) This can also be seen a month later, May 11 1791, when Brissot made his debut at the jacobin club and held a long speech arguing free people of color in the colonies should enjoy the same rights as active citizens. After the speech, two or three people asked for it to be printed only to be shut down by Barnave, who in his turn got covered in applause. Pétion did nevertheless step in to take his friend’s side, while Laclos instead supported Barnave. In the end, it was the latter camp that came out victorious. (La Feuille du jour, number 134 (May 14 1791) page 365-366)

Yet another month later, June 21 1791, the royal family left Paris and attempted to flee the country. In her memoirs, Manon Roland recalled that on the very same day she, Brissot and Robespierre all gathered together at Pétion’s house (on rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré n. 6, around twenty minutes walking distance from Brissot’s home on 1 Rue Grétry) discussing the flight, Robespierre being scared, but the childhood friends arguing that it presented an oppurtunity to start preparing people for a republic. The following night, the royal family was discovered in Varennes, and Pétion, alongside Barnave and Maubourg, was assigned to go escort them back. They reached Paris again on June 25. According to Étienne Dumont’s Souvenirs sur Mirabeau et sur les deux premières assemblées législatives (1832), in the days that followed, the following scene took place:

I remember that one day, gathered at Pétion's house to find out what would be proposed in the assembly on the return of the king, he was quietly playing his violin, and Brissot became seriously angry at this indifference and this frivolity when it was a question of the fate of the monarchy.

On September 30 1791, the National Assembly was finally closed to be replaced by the Legislative Assembly. Like many other journalists, Brissot provided a lenghty description of the triumphant exit Pétion and Robespierre made from there the very same day. Here is what he wrote in number 783(October 2 1791) of Le Patriote Français:

When the two Catos of the legislature, that is to say, Pétion and Robespierre, appeared, they were crowned with civic oak, to the sound of unanimous applause and the strains of a military band positioned on the terrace of the Feuillans. "Receive," they were told, "the prize for your civic virtue and your incorruptibility; in crowning you, we give the signal to posterity." As these deputies tried to avoid such well-deserved honors, they were stopped by young women, one of whom presented them with her little girl, a most charming child: "At least," she said, "you will allow my child to embrace you." They took her in their arms; and the applause, the cheers, the cries of "Long live the brave legislators, the SPOTLESS deputies!" redoubled and escorted them back to their homes. To escape the crowd, which was flocking from all sides accompanied by music, the two heroes of the celebration hastily climbed into a carriage. The horses were immediately unharnessed, and some citizens, fearing they hadn't sufficiently demonstrated their gratitude, themselves lingered behind the carriage. At this sight, the deputies had rushed towards the ground, trying to flee. Good citizens managed to restrain them and persuade the people that they should not stoop to this slave-like idolatry, thus giving ammunition to slander. They were then allowed to depart, to the sound of fanfares, applause, and the acclamations offered to reward three years of courage and incorruptibility.

A week later, October 7 1791, both Brissot and Pétion were elected by the jacobins to to take part in ”conferances on moral and constitution” alongside ten others. Soon enough, they would however each be handed heavier duties — on September 14, Brissot got elected to the new Legislative Assembly, and on November 16, Pétion got elected Mayor of Paris.

Throughout the following year, we find some more signs their friendship was known to the public. In number 112 (fall 1791) of Révolutions de Paris, Prudhomme calls Brissot ”the advicer and friend of Pétion,” and in number 649 (May 6 1792) of l’Ami du Peuple, Marat writes that ”people know about [Pétion’s] intimacy with Brissot.” In a letter written in the spring of 1792, Brissot’s wife Félicité also reports that ”everyday I go home to the mayor of Paris, M. Pétion, who has a charming garden overlooking the boulevards close to us. He’s leaving it soon, but M. Clavière, minister of finance, is going to move in there.” In Réponse de Maximilien Robespierre à Jérôme Pétion (November 1792), Robespierre also claimed Brissot exterted big influence over Pétion when it came to the election of new ministers in March 1792. He portrayed things as having gone down the following way:

When Brissot, and a few patriots of the Legislative Assembly of the same ilk, in concert with Narbonne, with Lafayette's consent, and through the mediation of several women, such as the Baroness de Staël, the Marquise de Condorcet, etc, had arranged everything, and the terms of the agreement were finalized, Brissot came to you and said: "Who shall we appoint as ministers? Roland, Claviere. They're good! Do you want them? Good Lord! Yes... Roland, Claviere... Oh! But do you know how wonderful it would be if we appointed them?" And you believed that the ministry was your creation.

In Observations de Jérôme Pétion, sur la lettre de Maximilien Robespierre (December 1792), Pétion claims that at midnight August 10 1792, Brissot and Guadet came over to the mayor’s office. The very first thing they told him — ”with the outpouring of the soul and the fire of feeling” — was: ”Finally the homeland is saved!” Robespierre on the other hand claimed in Réponse de Maximilien Robespierre à Jérôme Pétion (November 1792) that it was actually on August 11 or 12 the two had come over, but that it had not been to celebrate what had happened. Brissot would have instead have openly reprimanded Pétion for ”the ease with which you had complied with the popular wish,” accusing him of cowardice and summoning him to stop ”the chariot of the revolution.” This, according to Robespierre, caused Pétion to show up to the Paris Commune the following day to announce a plan to dismantle it and bring the old municipality back. Robespierre said he had obtained this anecdote from  an ”irreproachable citizen” that he nevertheless refused to name. Pétion denied any of it to be true.

During the trial of the girondins, Fabre d’Églantine also testified that he together with Danton had once dined at Pétion’s house and ”begged him to support the revolution of August 10th,” only to receive ”bloody insults in response.” A bit into the dinner Brissot arrived. According to Fabre, ”we judged, by the reception he received, the influence he held over this gathering.” (cited in Histoire parlementaire de la révolution française, volume 30, page 83)

On September 2 1792, the so-called September massacres broke loose in the prisons of Paris. In Histoire générale et impartiale des erreurs, des fautes et des crimes commis pendant la Révolution française (1797) Louis Marie Prudhomme claimed that, the following day, September 3, Théophile Mandar privately proposed creating a dictatorship in order to stop the massacres to Pétion and Robespierre. To that, the latter responded by crying out: ”Be aware! Brissot would become dictator! […] I hate dictstorships and I hate Brissot!” while Pétion didn’t say a word.

In Discours de Jérôme Pétion sur l’accusation intentée contre Maximilien Robespierre (November 5 1792) Pétion recounts how on the next day, September 4 1792, he and Robespierre met again at the mayor’s office, where they came to discuss Brissot. Robespierre would have started by accusing Pétion of being ”disposed against me, you see my enemies every day, you see Brissot and his party.” Pétion admitted that this was true, but firmly denied that Brissot would ever be capable of being some kind of brain behind a conspiracy like Robespierre was suspecting:

You’re right, I see Brissot, however rarely, but you don’t know him, and I know him since his childhood. I have seen him in those moments when the whole soul shows itself; where one abandons oneself without reservation to friendship, to trust: I know his disinterestedness; I know these principles, I assure you that they are pure; those who make him a party leader do not have the slightest idea of ​​his character; he has lights and knowledge; but he has neither the reserve, nor the dissimulation, nor these catchy forms, nor this spirit of consistency which constitutes a party leader, and what will surprise you is that, far from leading others, he is very easy to abuse.

Robespierre would then have admitted he believed Brissot to be allied with the Duke of Brunswick, a charge Pétion called straight madness:  ”this is how your imagination leads you astray: wouldn't Brunswick be the first to cut his head off? Brissot is not mad enough to doubt it: which of us can seriously capitulate! which of us does not risk his life! Let us banish unjust mistrust.” Danton then stepped in and put a stop to the argument between the two.

During the trial of the girondins, Convention deputy Duhem also testified that on September 5 1792, he had attended a dinner at Pétion’s house together with Brissot and several other deputies. Towards the end of it, ”the two doors opened, and I was quite astonished to see fifteen cutthroats enter, their hands dripping with blood; they had come to ask the mayor for orders regarding the eighty prisoners who still remained to be massacred at La Force. Pétion gave them something to drink and dismissed them, telling them to do their best.” The deputy Chabot also testified to have witnessed the very same event, but he placed it on September 3 instead. Regardless, Brissot firmly denied ”that anyone with hands dripping with blood presented himself at Pétion’s house, or that I drank with him” (cited in Historie Parlamentaire de la Révolution Française ou Journal des Assemblées Nationales, depuis 1789 jusqu’en 1815, volume 30, page 71-72, 105-106)

In the days following the massacres, both Brissot and Pétion were elected to the National Convention, both representing the Eure-et-Loire department. Soon thereafter, the contemporary descriptions underlining the close friendship between the two are replaced with ones designating Pétion as belonging to the ”girondin faction” surrounding Brissot (descriptions which, it can be noted, hadn’t circulated prior to this point). In number 685 (21 September 1792) of L’Ami du Peuple, Marat wrote that he ”know[s] full well that [Pétion] was continually possessed by the Brissot faction.” A few weeks later, October 6 1792, another journal, Journal de la République française, called Pétion ”Brissot’s patron.” At the end of the month, October 29 1792 Merlin de Thionville exclaimed to the jacobins: ”isn’t Pétion human? Isn’t he weak? Isn’t he Brissot’s friend? Doesn’t he see Roland? Doesn’t he receive all the intriguers that we’re hunting?” In Réponse de Maximilien Robespierre à Jérome Pétion (November 30 1792) Robespierre wrote: ”Brissot, praised by you (Pétion), seems to be praising himself. One does not consult a disciple on the ability of his master, nor a lover on the charms of his mistress.” He also reminded Pétion that ”you have told me twenty times over that Brissot was a child.” On December 30 1792, Hébert wrote ”To hell with Brissot, Condorcet, Vergniaud, Pétion, Buzot” in his journal Père Duchesne. On February 27 1793, Pétion got struck from the Jacobin club’s list of members (the same thing had happened to Brissot already on October 10 1793), on the suggestion of Monestier, who argued that ”his (Pétion’s) ties to them (Manuel and Brissot) amply confirm that he is pursuing the same course of action.” (Journal des hommes libres number 120 (1 March 1793)

In his memoirs, Pétion recalls that the night between May 30 and 31 1793 was the very first during which he didn’t sleep at home, choosing instead to stay at the house of a respectable old couple. Early in the morning of May 31 he left to take cover at the house of yet another citizen. He met Brissot there, and the two spent some time together. Out of fear someone in the house would recognize them, reveal their location and get the apartment surrounded, they did however soon start planning on retreating. After almost blowing their cover by accidentally starting a fire and then quickly putting it out, the two managed to leave the house and go their own ways. The next day, they met again at the house of the deputy Meillan, alongside several other girondins (Pétion writes that the most prominent were Vergniaud, Gensonné, Guadet and Buzot) to discuss what to do if the Convention was to gave in to the demands from the mob which had surrounded the building that same day and call for their arrest. The group ended up spending the entire night together, lying on chairs and listening to the toscin ring. The next day, right as they were working on drawing up a declaration for the French people explaining their principles, the brother of Rabaut Saint-Étienne stormed in and said: ”There is no longer a Convention, they are bursting into the hall and seizing deputies. Every man for himself! Every man for himself!” The group therefore quickly split up without taking further measures, choosing instead to seek retreat. (Mémoires inédits de Pétion et mémoires de Buzot & de Barbaroux (1866) page 108-110)

This was the last time Pétion and Brissot ever saw each other. Already the next day, June 3, Pétion got captured and placed under house arrest. Brissot on the other hand had more luck and managed to escape the capital. A week later, June 10, he had reached Moulins, where he was identified and detained. On June 22 he was back in Paris, where he got locked up in an actual prison rather than just being placed under house arrest. In his memoirs, Pétion writes that it was when he learned of Brissot’s return, along with the harcher measures for those still under house arrest brought about by it, he decided to make a second escape attempt, and this time he succeeded, reaching Caen and then eventually Saint-Émilion.

With their roles now reversed — Pétion in hiding and Brissot under arrest — and with a threat of death looming over over them both, Brissot and Pétion both set about writing. In his memoirs, pieced together during his four months long prison stay as well as last period alive, Brissot admits that ”I was known to be closely linked with Pétion.” (J.-P. Brissot: Mémoires (1911), page 12) He also calls Pétion an ”irreproachable man” (page 90) whose ”firmness is devoid of harshness, and nothing is gentler or more sensitive than the depths of his heart,” without that affecting his patriotism in any negative way (page 125), and praises both his efforts for people of color as well as his conduct when escorting the royal family back from Varennes in 1791. Brissot also wrote a long response to the report made on him and his fellow accused, written by Saint-Just and read to the Convention on July 6. Brissot firmly dismissed the charge there printed that Pétion during the Insurrection of August 10 would have given the Swiss guards order to fire on the people invading the Tuileries palace — ”this order has never existed.” (page 244-245) He also claimed that on September 6 1792, Pétion had gone over to the la Force prison alone and called for the massacre of prisoners to stop. (page 246)