Mallet, or MALET, CLAUDE FRANÇOIS DE, a conspirator against Napoleon I., was born 28th June 1754, at Dôle in Franche-Comté, and became an eager supporter of the Revolution.
Entering the army, he had risen to the rank of a brigadier-general by 1799. But in 1801 he was detected in a conspiracy against Napoleon, and again in 1808; he was arrested and kept in confinement until 1812. During Napoleon's campaign in Russia Mallet made his escape from prison on the night of October 22-23, and by circulating the false news of Napoleon's death and by dexterous use of a forged decree of the senate won over some of the national guards. Whilst the latter occupied the principal public offices in his name, Mallet himself proceeded to liberate his fellow-conspirators, Generals Guidal and Lahorie, from prison. But at the house of Hullin, commandant of the troops in Paris, Mallet was himself taken prisoner by Hullin's adjutant, Laborde. He was shot, along with his fellow-conspirators, 29th October 1812. See histories of the conspiracy, by Lafon (1814), Saulnier (1834), and Dourille (1840).