Jean Pelet, known as ''Pelet de la Lozère'' (

Saint-Jean-du-Gard Saint-Jean-du-Gard ( oc, Sant Joan de Gardonenca) is a commune in the Gard department in southern France. History This city of the Cévennes, first mentioned in a 12th-century papal bull (''San Johannis de Gardonnenca cum villa''), was very muc ...

, 23 February 1759 – Paris, 26 January 1842) was a French politician.

Life

Early life

Jean Pelet was descended from Pelet, baron de Salgas, who spent 14 years condemned to the galleys after being stripped of his rank and title, having his lands confiscated and his castles razed for refusing to renounce his Protestant faith. (Jean himself was a member of the

consistory Consistory is the anglicized form of the consistorium, a council of the closest advisors of the Roman emperors. It can also refer to: *A papal consistory, a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church * Consistor ...

of the reformed church of Paris and the father of Joseph Pelet de la Lozère (1785–1871), conseiller d'État, peer of France several times a minister in the

July Monarchy The July Monarchy (french: Monarchie de Juillet), officially the Kingdom of France (french: Royaume de France), was a liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 26 July 1830, with the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 23 F ...

). Jean was the son of the businessman Jean Pelet and his wife Marie Castanier. He became avocat to the parlement de Provence as a young man and was attached to the bar of

Florac Florac is a former commune of the Lozère department in southern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Florac-Trois-Rivières. History Medieval Raymond of Anduze held the barony of Florac and is recorded as using ...

Revolution

Like other Protestants, he welcomed the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

. President of the directory of the department of

Lozère Lozère (; oc, Losera ) is a landlocked department in the region of Occitanie in Southern France, located near the Massif Central, bounded to the northeast by Haute-Loire, to the east by Ardèche, to the south by Gard, to the west by Aveyron, ...

from 1791 onwards, on 5 September 1792 he was elected a deputy to the

French National Convention The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year National ...

for his department, coming fourth out of five, with 215 votes. Inclining towards the

Girondist The Girondins ( , ), or Girondists, were members of a loosely knit political faction during the French Revolution. From 1791 to 1793, the Girondins were active in the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention. Together with the Montagnard ...

position, he was absent on a government commission during the

trial of Louis XVI The trial of Louis XVI—officially called "Citizen Louis Capet" since being dethroned—before the National Convention in December 1792 was a key event of the French Revolution. He was convicted of high treason and other crimes, resulting in ...

, and supported the opponents of

Maximilien Robespierre Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman who became one of the best-known, influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. As a member of the Esta ...

on 9 thermidor in 1794, saying: As a result, he asked the surviving members of the former Committee of Public Safety to stand down. Becoming secretary of the assembly in October 1794, he proposed substituting the death penalty with banishment on pain of death in certain cases. He presided over the assembly from March to April 1795 during the

insurrection of 12 Germinal, Year III The insurrection of 12 Germinal Year III was a popular revolt in Paris on 1 April 1795 against the policies of the Thermidorian Convention. It was provoked by poverty and hunger resulting from the abandonment of the controlled economy after disman ...

and then, after the sitting when the head of député Féraud was shown to the delegates, he said: He was sent to the armée des Pyrénées-Orientales and began the negotiations with Spain which led to the

Peace of Basel The Peace of Basel of 1795 consists of three peace treaties involving France during the French Revolution (represented by François de Barthélemy). *The first was with Prussia (represented by Karl August von Hardenberg) on 5 April; *The sec ...

. After the constitutional session, 71 departments elected him their deputy on the

Council of Five Hundred The Council of Five Hundred (''Conseil des Cinq-Cents''), or simply the Five Hundred, was the lower house of the legislature of France under the Constitution of the Year III. It existed during the period commonly known (from the name of the ...

on 23 vendémiaire year 4, including Lozère by 123 votes out of 129. He presided over the council from 19 June 1796, speaking in favour of émigrés' children and the freedom of the press. He left the Council in May 1797 and retired to his birthplace.

Consulate and First French Empire

After the coup of

18 brumaire The Coup d'état of 18 Brumaire brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power as First Consul of France. In the view of most historians, it ended the French Revolution and led to the Coronation of Napoleon as Emperor. This bloodless ''coup d'état'' over ...

, Bonaparte made Pelet prefect of

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.council of state A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head o ...

(in ordinary service from 27 fructidor year 10 to 1810). Pelet was also put in charge of the third arrondissement of the imperial general police in 1805 and then, during the general reorganisation of the police department, he was detached to head up the second division of the imperial general police, embracing 42 departments in the

Midi MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and ...

from 1806 to 1813. He held these roles until 1814 and remained loyal to Napoleon's police chief Joseph Fouché, though he and Fouché disliked each other, with Pelet mistrusting him for his intrigues and use of torture. It was Pelet who discovered the

Malet conspiracy The Malet coup of 1812 was an attempted coup d'état in Paris, France, aimed at removing Napoleon I, then campaigning in Russia, from power. The coup was engineered by Republican general Claude François de Malet, who had spent time in prison ...

's ramifications in southern France in 1812. In 1801 he bought the château du Solier ( Lasalle) from the family of Cadolle de Voguë. He also became a conseiller d'Etat in ordinary service from 1810 to 1814 and was also attached to the commission for petitions in 1808 and 1809. He was made commissioner extraordinary in the 9th military division ( Montpellier) on 26 December 1813. He was made a knight (9 vendemiaire year 12) then a commander (25 prairial year 12) of the Légion d'honneur, then a

comte de l'Empire As Emperor of the French, Napoleon I created titles of nobility to institute a stable elite in the First French Empire, after the instability resulting from the French Revolution. Like many others, both before and since, Napoleon found that th ...

(18 May 1808) and a commander of the Ordre de la Réunion in 1813.

Bourbon Restoration and July Monarchy

Père-Lachaise - Division 37 - Otto-Pellet 11

At the

First Restoration The First Restoration was a period in French history that saw the return of the Bourbon dynasty to the throne, between the abdication of Napoleon I in the spring of 1814 and the Hundred Days, in March 1815. The regime was born following the vict ...

he retired from office and, though he was made interim minister of police from 23 June to 9 July 1815 during the Hundred Days, he retired again after Waterloo. In return, on 5 March 1819,

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...

made him a peer of France with an annual pension of 4,000 francs. Pelet took an oath in preparation for becoming a member of the upper chamber during the

, but ill health meant that he could only attend very occasionally. He died aged 83 and was buried in the

Pere Lachaise cemetery Pere may refer to: *Pere, Hungary, a village in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county * Rangimārie Te Turuki Arikirangi Rose Pere (1937–2020), Māori New Zealand educationalist and spiritual leader * Wi Pere (1837–1915), a Māori Member of Parliament ...

Coat of arms

''D'azur à trois bandes d'or, au lion d'argent lampassé de même, rampant sur la bande inférieure, bordure de sinople ; franc-quartier de comte conseiller d'Etat.''

References

External links

facsimiles of works by Pelet
at the Bibliothèque nationale de France
''PELET Jean dit Pelet de la Lozère (1759–1842)'' on www.appl-lachaise.net
;

; * ttp://www.napoleonica.org/na/na_docview.asp?scope=ROOT&QueryText=Pelet+de+la+Loz%E8re&DocStart=6&ResultCount=1 ''Pelet de la Lozère, Jean Pelet dit, (1759–1852)'' on www.napoleonica.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Pelet 1759 births 1842 deaths People from Gard Counts of the First French Empire French Calvinist and Reformed Christians Girondins Presidents of the National Convention Deputies to the French National Convention Members of the Council of Five Hundred Members of Parliament for Lozère Members of the Chamber of Peers of the Bourbon Restoration Members of the Chamber of Peers of the July Monarchy Conseil d'État (France) Prefects of Vaucluse Commanders of the Legion of Honour