Frev friendships â PĂ©tion and Brissot
Brissot and PĂ©tion were both born in Chartres, Brissot on January 15 1754, PĂ©tion almost exactly two years later, January 3 1756. We unfortunately know very little about their relationship back then, this extract from PĂ©tionâs Discours de JĂ©rĂŽme PĂ©tion sur lâaccusation intentĂ©e contre Maximilien Robespierre (1792) being the strongest indicator of it:
âŠIâve known [Brissot] since his childhood. Iâve seen him in these moments where the soul completely shows itself.
I so far havenât found any hard evidence PĂ©tion attended the college of Chartres, where Brissot studied between age eight to sixteen, even if that certainly sounds plausible. In his Notice sur Brissot (1794) PĂ©tion also shares the following details regarding Brissotâs studiesâŠ
Brissot, from his childhood, showed a passion for study;Â he spent the nights reading, and serious works occupied him at this age when most men dream only of dissipations and pleasures. He was always at the head of his fellow students in classes, and numerous prizes were awarded to his early work.
âŠwhich match up rather well with what Brissot, unbeknownst to his friend, had written about the same subject in his memoirs:
At eight years old, I entered college; At nine, I was in fifth grade and people were already talking about my successes. I owed them to a prodigious love of work which devoured me, and this love came from the encouragement and help given to me by a professor who had taken a liking to me. [âŠ] Abbot Comusle had a fairly well-stocked library, he left it to me. It was with some pride that at that age I immersed myself in reading instead of sharing the games of my college comrades. [âŠ] I will only cite one trait to give an idea of ââmy tireless zeal. The day was not enough for my ardor, I devoted part of the nights to it. My elder sister, who, out of devotion, went to the cathedral at four o'clock in the morning, gave me light, and I enclosed it in a dark lantern, so that it would not be seen by my father, whose room was next door to mine. It was in this concentrated light that I studied my Latin authors.
In the same memoirs, Brissot also mentions that both he and his âfellow patriot and unfortunate friendâ PĂ©tion got their second lastnames de Warville and de Villeneuve from the name of the towns they had been wetnursed in, âfollowing the custom of Beauce.â
Throughout the first months of 1787 we find a series of letters (the first conserved ones that we have) from PĂ©tion in Chartres to Brissot in Paris, regarding the establishment of a philanthropic institution in Chartres. PĂ©tion addresses Brissot with tutoiement, suggesting the two are close:
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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.Â
I havenât heard anything about Desauger.
All to you.
PĂ©tion 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 PĂ©tion to Brissot February 7 1787
Chartres, 25 February 1787.Â
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 PĂ©tion to Brissot February 25 1787
To Monsieur Brissot de Warville, Secretary General of the Chancellery of H.M.S.M., the Duke of OrlĂ©ans, in Paris.Â
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 donât 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 OrlĂ©ans, which in general were not very well received. The letters you tell me about will give a salutary jolt to the machine.Â
You can also count on all my efforts.
Take care of yourself. When you get interesting news, pass them to me.
All to you,Â
PĂ©tion de Villeneuve.
PĂ©tion 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, ChĂąteauroux, 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.
PĂ©tion de Villeneuve.
PĂ©tion 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 PĂ©tion 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 âM. PĂ©tion 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.â
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 yesterdayâs 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.
PĂ©tion 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 SieyÚs 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 PĂ©tion and the other âradicalsâ 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 âI had as witnesses PĂ©thion [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. [âŠ] The dinner was at my house, only M. and Mdm Duplessis, their daughter AdĂšle, the witnesses and the celebrant.â
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 âthe brave PĂ©tion.â 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 PĂ©tion and Brissot:
Born in Chartres, and comrade of PĂ©tion, 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 RĂ©volutions 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 âthe friend of the irreproachable PĂ©thion [sic].â After this, he does however regret the fact that theyâre starting to drift apart, and writes that he would gladly ask PĂ©tion 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 itâs rather obvious whose side PĂ©tion would choose: âhe knows my entire soul, my whole life, my current existence, my means, my views⊠interrogate him.â Desmoulins would however not appear to have been so satisfied with Brissotâs explanation. In number 81 (June 18 1791) of RĂ©volutions de France et de Brabant, he describes how he a little while earlier had met PĂ©tion at the jacobin club and talked to him about it. âHow, 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 FrĂ©ron, his dear Lafayette?â To his surprise, PĂ©tion responded by asking him to âcite a single factâ against Lafayette.
On April 3 1791, Robespierre made the motion that the recently deceased Mirabeau be buried in the PanthĂ©on. In his memoirs, Brissot claimed that âPĂ©tion reproached [Robespierre] for this the same day, he reproached him for it in my presence.â Five days later, we find the following letter from the Society of Friends of Blacks, co-authored by president PĂ©tion 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.Â
We are very fraternally, M. President,
The members of the Society of Friends of Blacks
J. PĂ©tion, president
J-P. Brissot, secretary
This society had been founded by Brissot in 1788. PĂ©tion, as well as many other members of the National Assembly, had joined it during the revolution and had then, in Brissotâs words, proven themselves to be âcolleagues ready to everyday defend the sacred cause that we were serving.â (J.-P. Brissot: MĂ©moires (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. PĂ©tion did nevertheless step in to take his friendâs 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 PĂ©tionâs house (on rue du Faubourg-Saint-HonorĂ© n. 6, around twenty minutes walking distance from Brissotâs home on 1 Rue GrĂ©try) 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 PĂ©tion, alongside Barnave and Maubourg, was assigned to go escort them back. They reached Paris again on June 25. According to Ătienne Dumontâs Souvenirs sur Mirabeau et sur les deux premiĂšres assemblĂ©es lĂ©gislatives (1832), in the days that followed, the following scene took place:
I remember that one day, gathered at PĂ©tion'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, PĂ©tion 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 PĂ©tion were elected by the jacobins to to take part in âconferances on moral and constitutionâ alongside ten others. Soon enough, they would however each be handed heavier duties â on September 14, Brissot got elected to the new Legislative Assembly, and on November 16, PĂ©tion 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 RĂ©volutions de Paris, Prudhomme calls Brissot âthe advicer and friend of PĂ©tion,â and in number 649 (May 6 1792) of lâAmi du Peuple, Marat writes that âpeople know about [PĂ©tionâs] intimacy with Brissot.â In a letter written in the spring of 1792, Brissotâs wife FĂ©licitĂ© also reports that âeveryday I go home to the mayor of Paris, M. PĂ©tion, who has a charming garden overlooking the boulevards close to us. Heâs leaving it soon, but M. ClaviĂšre, minister of finance, is going to move in there.â In RĂ©ponse de Maximilien Robespierre Ă JĂ©rĂŽme PĂ©tion (November 1792), Robespierre also claimed Brissot exterted big influence over PĂ©tion 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 JĂ©rĂŽme PĂ©tion, sur la lettre de Maximilien Robespierre (December 1792), PĂ©tion claims that at midnight August 10 1792, Brissot and Guadet came over to the mayorâs office. The very first thing they told him â âwith the outpouring of the soul and the fire of feelingâ â was: âFinally the homeland is saved!â Robespierre on the other hand claimed in RĂ©ponse de Maximilien Robespierre Ă JĂ©rĂŽme PĂ©tion (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 PĂ©tion for âthe ease with which you had complied with the popular wish,â accusing him of cowardice and summoning him to stop âthe chariot of the revolution.â This, according to Robespierre, caused PĂ©tion 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 âirreproachable citizenâ that he nevertheless refused to name. PĂ©tion denied any of it to be true.
During the trial of the girondins, Fabre dâĂglantine also testified that he together with Danton had once dined at PĂ©tionâs house and âbegged him to support the revolution of August 10th,â only to receive âbloody insults in response.â A bit into the dinner Brissot arrived. According to Fabre, âwe judged, by the reception he received, the influence he held over this gathering.â (cited in Histoire parlementaire de la rĂ©volution française, volume 30, page 83)
On September 2 1792, the so-called September massacres broke loose in the prisons of Paris. In Histoire gĂ©nĂ©rale et impartiale des erreurs, des fautes et des crimes commis pendant la RĂ©volution française (1797) Louis Marie Prudhomme claimed that, the following day, September 3, ThĂ©ophile Mandar privately proposed creating a dictatorship in order to stop the massacres to PĂ©tion and Robespierre. To that, the latter responded by crying out: âBe aware! Brissot would become dictator! [âŠ] I hate dictstorships and I hate Brissot!â while PĂ©tion didnât say a word.
In Discours de JĂ©rĂŽme PĂ©tion sur lâaccusation intentĂ©e contre Maximilien Robespierre (November 5 1792) PĂ©tion recounts how on the next day, September 4 1792, he and Robespierre met again at the mayorâs office, where they came to discuss Brissot. Robespierre would have started by accusing PĂ©tion of being âdisposed against me, you see my enemies every day, you see Brissot and his party.â PĂ©tion 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:
Youâre right, I see Brissot, however rarely, but you donât 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 ââhis 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 PĂ©tion called straight madness:Â Â âthis 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.â 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 PĂ©tionâs house together with Brissot and several other deputies. Towards the end of it, âthe 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. PĂ©tion gave them something to drink and dismissed them, telling them to do their best.â The deputy Chabot also testified to have witnessed the very same event, but he placed it on September 3 instead. Regardless, Brissot firmly denied âthat anyone with hands dripping with blood presented himself at PĂ©tionâs house, or that I drank with himâ (cited in Historie Parlamentaire de la RĂ©volution Française ou Journal des AssemblĂ©es Nationales, depuis 1789 jusquâen 1815, volume 30, page 71-72, 105-106)
In the days following the massacres, both Brissot and PĂ©tion 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 PĂ©tion as belonging to the âgirondin factionâ surrounding Brissot (descriptions which, it can be noted, hadnât circulated prior to this point). In number 685 (21 September 1792) of LâAmi du Peuple, Marat wrote that he âknow[s] full well that [PĂ©tion] was continually possessed by the Brissot faction.â A few weeks later, October 6 1792, another journal, Journal de la RĂ©publique française, called PĂ©tion âBrissotâs patron.â At the end of the month, October 29 1792 Merlin de Thionville exclaimed to the jacobins: âisnât PĂ©tion human? Isnât he weak? Isnât he Brissotâs friend? Doesnât he see Roland? Doesnât he receive all the intriguers that weâre hunting?â In RĂ©ponse de Maximilien Robespierre Ă JĂ©rome PĂ©tion (November 30 1792) Robespierre wrote: âBrissot, praised by you (PĂ©tion), 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.â He also reminded PĂ©tion that âyou have told me twenty times over that Brissot was a child.â On December 30 1792, HĂ©bert wrote âTo hell with Brissot, Condorcet, Vergniaud, PĂ©tion, Buzotâ in his journal PĂšre Duchesne. On February 27 1793, PĂ©tion got struck from the Jacobin clubâs list of members (the same thing had happened to Brissot already on October 10 1793), on the suggestion of Monestier, who argued that âhis (PĂ©tionâs) ties to them (Manuel and Brissot) amply confirm that he is pursuing the same course of action.â (Journal des hommes libres number 120 (1 March 1793)
In his memoirs, PĂ©tion recalls that the night between May 30 and 31 1793 was the very first during which he didnât 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 (PĂ©tion writes that the most prominent were Vergniaud, GensonnĂ©, 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-Ătienne stormed in and said: âThere is no longer a Convention, they are bursting into the hall and seizing deputies. Every man for himself! Every man for himself!â The group therefore quickly split up without taking further measures, choosing instead to seek retreat. (MĂ©moires inĂ©dits de PĂ©tion et mĂ©moires de Buzot & de Barbaroux (1866) page 108-110)
This was the last time PĂ©tion and Brissot ever saw each other. Already the next day, June 3, PĂ©tion 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, PĂ©tion writes that it was when he learned of Brissotâs 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-Ămilion.
With their roles now reversed â PĂ©tion in hiding and Brissot under arrest â and with a threat of death looming over over them both, Brissot and PĂ©tion 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 âI was known to be closely linked with PĂ©tion.â (J.-P. Brissot: MĂ©moires (1911), page 12) He also calls PĂ©tion an âirreproachable manâ (page 90) whose âfirmness is devoid of harshness, and nothing is gentler or more sensitive than the depths of his heart,â 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 PĂ©tion during the Insurrection of August 10 would have given the Swiss guards order to fire on the people invading the Tuileries palace â âthis order has never existed.â (page 244-245) He also claimed that on September 6 1792, PĂ©tion had gone over to the la Force prison alone and called for the massacre of prisoners to stop. (page 246)
PĂ©tionâs memoirs, which only concern themselves with telling us about his activities following the Insurrection of May 31, donât mention Brissot in more places than those already covered. In the beginning of 1794, a few months after the execution of Brissot and twenty other girondins, PĂ©tion did on the other hand dedicate a whole work to his friendâs memory, Notice sur Brissot (cited in J.-P. Brissot : MĂ©moires (1911), page 357-370). In it, PĂ©tion doesnât write anything about Brissotâs career after 1789, with the motivation that âthe things heâs done in the Legislative Assembly and the Convention are too well known to be talked about,â but does on the other hand provide a detailed and glorified portrait of his friendâs life prior to that. Already as a child he was studious and the best in his class. He always had a facility for learning and studied both science as well as several languages â English, Italien, Greek, Spanish and German. He also had an amazing memory and could cite his favorite authors almost by heart. Eventually the curiosity of his soul led him out of Chartres and into Paris, where he never let any of the big amusements the city had to offer distract him from his work, choosing instead to spend Sundays and holidays âwith Locke, Montaigne, and Montesquieu.â PĂ©tion brings up and praises all of Brissotâs pre-revolutionary works. In regards to one of them, BibliothĂšque criminelle du lĂ©gislateur et du philosophe (1782), a work on penal justice reform, he even writes that, had it been released by a more famous author, âit would have been celebrated, widely disseminated, and regarded as a benefaction to humanity.â PĂ©tion also underlines Brissotâs opposition towards âthe tyranny of academic bodiesâ and efforts for people of colour. He brings up the Society of the Friends of Black, and firmly rebukes those thinking it was a work of self profit rather than one of philantrophy â âNot only did Brissot derive no profit from acting as the unofficial defender and champion of this class of unfortunate men, but he also devoted his time to the cause without pay and spent his own money on it.â After returning to France from America in 1788, Brissot started busying himself with âways to cultivate the first seeds of public spirit and prepare the French people for liberty,â telling his friends: "Let us write, let us write, there is not a moment to lose." Finally, PĂ©tion also pays homage to the private person Brissot, writing that âeveryone who knew him was aware that he never indulged in luxuries nor led the life of a man with money to spare. It was impossible to be simpler in oneâs dress, to have less ostentatious living quarters, to keep a more frugal table, or, in short, to spend less money.â He never sought glory, willingly shared knowledge and source material with his friends without asking for credit and his only real concern was simply to be useful. According to PĂ©tion, Brissotâs biggest flaw, besides being utterly indifferent to his own interests, was simply that he was too trusting â âno one was more prone to being deceived than Brissot; his trust was boundless, and he believed in the good faith of others with the simplicity of a child.â PĂ©tion ended with the words: âHe was a good father, good husband, good citizen.â
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