Santerre

Santerre, ANTOINE JOSEPH, a French revolutionist, who for some time exercised an influence quite out of proportion to his abilities, was born at Paris, 16th March 1752. He followed the trade of a brewer in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, and his wealth and generosity gave him an immense influence in the district. On the establishment of the National Guard in 1789 he received the command of a battalion, and took part in the storming of the Bastille. During the year 1792 the Jacobin agitators of the faubourgs often met in the brewery of Santerre, and it was there that the émeute of the 20th June was preconcerted, on which occasion Santerre marched at the head of the mob who invaded the National Assembly and turned out the Girondists. He also played a conspicuous part on 10th August, when he was made commander-in-chief of the National Guard. He was charged to keep order at the execution of the king, and it was he who bade the drummers drown the king's voice when he essayed to speak to the people from the scaffold. On 30th July he was appointed a general of division in the French army, and marched at the head of 20,000 men against the Vendéan royalists, but was miserably beaten (18th September), and in consequence recalled and imprisoned, and he only obtained his liberty after the death of Robespierre. He then withdrew into private life, and died 6th February 1809. Though he was hugely fond of 'brave words,' and menaced his opponents with all the bellicose grandiloquence of a French revolutionist, he was nearly as soft at heart as he was in the head. See Life by Carro (Paris, 1847).