Jean Debry’s proposed Legion of Tyrannicides (26 August 1792)
On 26 August 1792, Jean Debry advanced an extraordinary proposal at the National Convention: the creation of a corps des tyrannicides, composed of 1,200 volunteers whose primary mission would be to assassinate the generals, princes and kings of the enemy Coalition. Although the proposed decree was at first received enthusiastically, with Merlin de Thionville and Chabot even announcing their intention to join the corps, it was ultimately referred to the commission extraordinaire after several interventions (notably by Vergniaud and Henry-Larivière).
Even if the proposal did not amount to anything in the end, it offers a valuable insight into the political and emotional climate following the journée of 10 August and the military setbacks of the summer of 1792.
Jean Debry. I think that a setback must not surprise us and make us adopt false or premature, or thoughtless measures. (Lively applause.) Nonetheless, I believe that, having decreed revolutionary measures against the interior conspirators, we also have to decree them against the enemy leaders. I took the floor in order to propose one which will seem rather unusual.
Then, M. Jean Debry, after having elaborated the motifs in an energetic speech, proposes the levy and organisation of a corps of 1,200 volunteers, whose primary mission will be to attack, in close combat, the leaders of the enemy armies and the kings who direct them.
He concludes: Five or six men claim to overthrow the liberty of a great people ; the soldiers who defend the cause of the allied kings against French liberty are only kept in their party by the ignorance of their true interests ; in order to spare their blood as much as ours, we have to direct all of our blows only against the heads who move it. It is according to these principles, whose consequences may appear extraordinary, but which are nonetheless drawn in the sentiment of humanity, that I propose the following decree.
Article I. A corps of 1,200 men will be levied, who will be placed in the armies and trained in the same manner as the battalions of volunteers ; their only purpose will be to prevent war calamities by directly attacking, in close combat, the enemy army leaders and the kings that are allied against France.
Article II. The friends of liberty and equality are invited to present themselves and to enrol for the formation of this corps, which will always be maintained complete: these volunteers will bear the name Twelve Hundred.
Article III. The submissions of the citizens who will desire to enrol, will be addressed to the Ministry of War, with certificats de civisme, and the minister will pass their record on to the National Assembly.
Article IV. The volunteers will be armed with a rifle, two pistols, a short sabre and a dagger: they will have the uniform of the other national volunteers, and yet, they will be able, according to the circumstances, to dress and arm themselves at their discretion. These Twelve Hundred will be maintained at the expense of the State during their entire life ; their pay will be 2,000 livres.