Rene Levasseur ( FR René Levasseur (de la Sarthe) , May 27, 1747, Saint-Croix, Isle of Man , now Sarthe Department - September 17, 1834 Le Mans administrative center of the Sarthe Department) - French revolutionary, member of the National Convention since September 1792 to October 1795. A doctor and obstetrician by profession, known for his published works on medicine, which attracted attention not only in France [3] .
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The Early Years and Start of Business
He was born in a wealthy family and received a medical education. Before the revolution, he worked as an obstetrician at Le Mans. Levassoire's maternal uncle, David La Bross, was a wealthy planter in Santo Domingo and owned about 500 slaves. Childless uncle and intimacy with his nephew promised a bright future for the young surgeon. But it was this direct acquaintance with the institution of slavery that led Levasser to a complete denial of slavery [4] .
In 1790, Rene Levasser was elected to the municipality of Le Mans, and in 1791 to the administration of the department of Sarthe. At this time, he visited the Club Minimes ( French club de Minimes ), where he met with future representatives of the convention Pierre Filippo (1756-1794) and (1751-1817) [5] . During the anarchy and riots of 1789 and 1790, he contributed to the organization of public works in Le Mans, which reduced unemployment and the general state of tension and opposition in society [6] .
National Convention
On September 7, 1792, Rene Levasser was elected to the National Convention from the Department of Sarthe by a majority of 525 votes. He joined the Jacobin club and in the convention joined the Montagnards , the radical part of the meeting. In a vote on the fate of Louis XVI on January 15, 1793, he voted for death, without appeal or adjournment [3] .
Participated in the discussion of the Constitution of 1793 . He was one of the principal authors of the law on the abolition of slavery in the colonies, adopted by the convention on February 4, 1794 (16 pluviosis of the second year) [pr 1] . During the discussion of property rights and while being the secretary of the convention, he edited the decree directed against the supporters of the “agrarian” law: “The National Convention imposes the death penalty on anyone who proposes agrarian sludge to any other law that undermines land, commercial industrial property” [8 ] . Supports the creation of the Revolutionary Tribunal on March 9, 1793 and is one of the consistent opponents of the Girondins ; He supported the uprising on May 31 and June 2, 1793 , arguing that the law requires that all deputies who have lost the confidence of the people must be placed in custody, and that the Girondins lost this confidence because of their hostility to the people of Paris [9] . “They demand from us,” he said, “an order to temporarily arrest twenty-two in order to protect them in this way from popular anger.” I insist that they should be finally arrested if they deserve it. And they deserve it, and now I will prove it to you. ” In a long speech, he lists the crimes that are attributed to the Girondins, and adds that even if they are innocent of these crimes, at least they are suspected of having committed them and, as suspects, they should be judged by the Convention on the basis of laws " [10] .
As a representative of the Convention, Rene Levasser often went to army units in the north and east of France to reorganize the republic's armed forces and restore order in the most threatening areas. He was, for example, from April to July 1793 in the Ardennes [3] . On September 6-8, 1793, in the bloody battle of Ondskot, the French defeated the enemy corps of General Freytag and forced the Hanover, Hessian and English armies to hastily retreat. According to Manfred, the battle was fought thanks to the initiative and determination of the commissars and Levasser [11] . At 10 a.m. on September 8, considered the battle lost. If there hadn’t been a deputy of Delbril, he would have ordered a retreat. The attack resumed. Deputies Delbrelle and Levasser, along with the generals, led the convoys to attack. A horse was killed near Levasser. At one o'clock in the afternoon Freytag stepped back [12] .
During the struggle of the factions in the winter of 1794, he opposed the Dantonists in defense of the Ebertists ; demanded the release of Ronsen and Vincent . Mathieu describes the intensity of the debate at the Jacobin Club 3 Nivaza: “Levasser from the Department of Sarthe delivered an indictment against his fellow countryman Filippo , whom he called a liar and a chatterbox. Filippo objected to him in the same tone. ” [13] On the eve of Thermidor 9 , before the next departure to the mission as a representative of the convention, he witnessed a split in the government: “Levasser (from the Sarte’s department) who was present at the dispute claimed that the explanation was very stormy and gradually turned into a general quarrel. Billot and Collot again called Robespierre a dictator. ” [14] Returning to Paris after the Thermidorian coup, he supported the coup, which he later regretted in exile [pr 2] . True to his principles, he remained on the benches of the Montagnards in the convention and tried to counteract the onset of the Thermidorian reaction. After the uprising of the 12th Germinal of 1795, Levasser was arrested by the Thermidorians and sentenced to exile in Guiana . But thanks to the general amnesty of 4 Brumaire in 1795, he was released and returned to his native Le Mans, where he resumes his medical practice [16] .
After restoration
During the restoration in 1815, Foucher included Levassoer, almost seventy by this time, in the list of regicide ( fr. Régicide ). Levasser was arrested and held for some time in the Cologne prison before leaving for exile. [17] In the years 1815-1830, Rene Levasser lives in the Netherlands . He was quite successful as a doctor and in 1819 became a member of the University of Leuven . In 1822, he published a thesis on obstetrics in Brussels ( Fr. Dissertation sur la Symphyséotomie et sur l'enclavment: avec quatre figures en grandeur naturelle, Berthot, Brüssel 1822 ) [9] .
In 1829, the first volume of memoirs ( Fr. Mémoires de R. Levasseur (de la Sarthe) ex-conventionnel ) appeared in Paris, followed by three more volumes. The memoirs caused a real sensation and widespread recognition, as well as resentment from conservative circles [9] . While books hostile to the revolution appeared in large numbers, Levasser's memoirs were the first work to positively evaluate the revolution, written from the point of view of one of the active, decisive, and consistent participants - the Jacobins [18] . The government of Charles X issued an order to confiscate the book and fined the publishers of the memoirs for “outrage of the principles of the monarchy and religion” ( French outrageant les principes de la monarchie et la religion ) [9] . Young Karl Marx carefully studied the memoirs of Levasser and compiled a short summary: “The struggle of the Jacobins with the Girondins” [19] [18] .
After the July Revolution of 1830, Rene Levasser returned to France.
He died at home in Le Mans four years later [3] .
Memory
- Le Mans Boulevard bears his name.
- In 1911, a bronze statue of Rene Levasser was installed in front of the prefecture of Le Mans (now the square of Aristide Briand ). During the occupation of France during World War II, the monument was destroyed [20] .
- The obelisk dedicated to him is erected near the central cross (the so-called large cemetery) of the western cemetery at Le Mans. Visiting Le Mans, the German writer Ernst Junger noted this monument in his diary as of August 15, 1943 [21] .
- In 2015, Sarta’s departmental archives organized an exhibition of Rene Levasser in honor of the 220th anniversary of the abolition of slavery [1] .
Jean Jaurès so appreciates the ideas and principles of the Jacobin Levasser: “The future proved the correctness of Levasser and the remarkable optimism of the Revolution. A hundred years after the Revolution, having gone through numerous storms and despite the mass of restrictions that the Convention did not foresee and did not want, despite partial monarchical and oligarchic survivals, utopia as a whole became a fact. Universal suffrage has become a reality: democracy has gained its normal political form in France in the form of the Republic and is slowly, but with confidence in the need for accomplishments, developing in the direction of social equality, which will abolish privileges and hereditary power in both economic and political fields. The foundation of Levasser’s faith is not only an ardent desire for political freedom, but also the social experience of mankind, which is gradually liberating itself from all forms of slavery and finally has reached the age of majority. ”- Jean Jaures [22] |
Notes
- Comments
- ↑ On May 20, 1802, Bonaparte restored slavery in the colonies and legislated for racial inequality in civil rights [7] .
- ↑ Levasser, an enthusiastic Montagnard, also convicted and in need of Brussels, exclaimed in the presence of one of his compatriots, who only before he sympathized with his advanced age: “Tell your Parisian Republicans that you saw how old Levasser himself made his bed and took off his bed the foam from the pot in which the beans were boiled is the only food in need. ” “What is your opinion of Robespierre now?” The young Frenchman asked. “About Robespierre? Do not pronounce this name! This is the only way we can reproach ourselves: the Mountain was in a state of eclipse when it killed him, ”answered Levasser [15] .
- Sources
- ↑ 1 2 Sycomore / Assemblée nationale
- ↑ BNF ID : 2011 Open Data Platform .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Robert, 1890 , p. 143.
- ↑ Mémoires, 1829 , p. 44-46.
- ↑ Triger, 1889 , p. 290
- ↑ Mémoires, 1829 , p. 53.
- ↑ Adélaïde, 1992 .
- ↑ Olar, 1938 , p. 548.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Robert, 1890 , p. 144.
- ↑ Lamartine, 2013 , p. 159.
- ↑ Manfred, 1983 , p. 163.
- ↑ Mathiez, 1995 , p. 434.
- ↑ Mathiez, 1995 , p. 496.
- ↑ Mathiez, 1995 , p. 560.
- ↑ Lamartine, 2013 , p. 435.
- ↑ Mémoires, 1829 , p. 35.
- ↑ Mémoires, 1829 , p. 61.
- ↑ 1 2 Volgin, 1941 , p. 696.
- ↑ Marx, 1929 , p. 599.
- ↑ Bertin, 2009 , p. 123.
- ↑ Jünger, 1995 , p. 128.
- ↑ Jaures T. 6, 1983 , p. 152.
Literature
- Volgin, V.P. The French bourgeois revolution of 1789-1794 .. - M .: USSR Academy of Sciences, 1941.
- Jaures, Jean. The socialist history of the French Revolution in the 6th vol. - M: Progress, 1983 .-- T. 6.
- Lamartine, Alphonse. History of the Girondins. - M .: Zakharov, 2013 .-- T. II. - ISBN 978-5-8159-1148-2 .
- Manfred, A.Z. The French Revolution. - M: Science, 1983.
- Marx K. and Engels F. Compositions. - M. — L .: State publishing house, 1929. - T. III.
- Mathieu, Albert. The French Revolution. - Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 1995.
- Olard, Francois-Alphonse. The political history of the French revolution. - M: State socio-economic publishing house, 1938.
- Adélaïde, Jacques. La Caraïbe et la Guyane au temps de la Revolution et de l'Empire. - Paris: Karthala, 1992 .-- ISBN 2-86537-342-8 .
- Bertin, Serge. Le territoire partagé: guide des cimetières de la Sarthe. - Paris: editions Cénomane, 2009 .-- ISBN 2-267-01303-7 .
- Jünger, Ernst. Second journal parisien. - Paris: Christian Bourgois éditeur, 1995 .-- ISBN 978-2-916329-17-8 .
- Levasseur, R. Mémoires de R. Levasseur (de la Sarthe) ex-conventionnel. - Paris: Rapilly, 1829. - T. I.
- Robert, Adolphe. Dictionnaire des parlementaires français. - Paris: Bourlon, Editour, 1890. - T. IV.
- Triger, Robert. L'Année 1789 au Mans et dans le Haut-Maine. - Mamers: G. Fleury et A. Dangin, 1889.