Tallien, JEAN LAMBERT

Tallien, JEAN LAMBERT, French Revolutionist, was born at Paris in 1769, and was first a lawyer's clerk, next employed in a printing-office, and made himself famous in the first months of 1791 by his Jacobin broad-sheet, L'Ami des Citoyens. He was conspicuous in the attack on the Tuileries (10th August), and became secretary to the Commune Insurrectionelle. He had his share in the infamous September massacres, and was elected by Seine-et-Oise to the Convention, where he was one of the most intemperate among the Jacobins, voted for the death of the king, was elected to the Committee of General Security, and played a part in the downfall of the Girondists (June 2). In September he went on his memorable mission to Bordeaux, where he extinguished all opposition under the guillotine, and disgraced himself by shameful profligacy. But a passion for one of his victims, the lovely Comtesse Thérèse de Fontenay (1775-1835), the daughter of the Spanish banker Cabarrus, changed his nature, and earned for her the title of 'our Lady of Pity.' He was recalled to Paris, yet on the 22d March 1794 was chosen president of the Convention. But Robespierre hated his insincerity and immorality, and Tallien, recognising his danger, rallied the trembling enemies of the Dictator with the energy of despair, and headed the successful attack upon him made on the 9th Thermidor. Tallien, now for a moment one of the most influential men in France, lent his aid to suppress the Revolutionary Tribunal and the Jacobin Club, and drew up the accusations against Carrier, Le Bon, and others of the Terrorists; but his importance ended with the Convention, and soon after the frail Thérèse, who had married him in December 1794 and reigned awhile the social queen of Paris, deserted him for a wealthy banker. Bonaparte carried him to Egypt, and for some time he edited the official Décade Égyptienne at Cairo, but was dismissed by General Menou. On the voyage homeward he was captured by an English cruiser, and brought to England, where the Whig Opposition were stupid enough to make a hero of him (1801). Soon after he returned to France, and was through Fouché and by Talleyrand sent as consul to Alicante. He outlived the empire of Napoleon, and died in poverty, and almost hunger, at Paris, 16th November 1820.