Amé Thérèse Joseph Masclet (17 November 1760, Douai – 7 October 1833, Nice) was a French diplomat and an author of letters to Lafayette.

Biography

Former civil servant of

Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for "ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...

in the French Royal Navy, at

Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to refer ...

, he was then a lawyer of the Parlement of Paris in 1788. At the outbreak of the French Revolution, he was involved as a journalist for the ''Mercure National'', writing especially for press freedom. He enlisted in the French Revolutionary Army in 1790 as an officer in the 1st Regiment of Riflemen, first as

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

, and later as lieutenant, in 1792; he then served as aide-de-camp to general officers in the Army of the Rhine. Masclet, who was friend to

Rouget de Lisle Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle (), sometimes spelled de l'Isle or de Lile (10 May 1760 – 26 June 1836), was a French army officer of the French Revolutionary Wars. He is known for writing the words and music of the ''Chant de guerre pour l'armé ...

, wrote the last two verses of La Marseillaise. In an anonymous letter published in the '' Journal de Paris'' (1791) under his pseudonym "Eleuthere", he opposed

Collot d'Herbois Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois (; 19 June 1749 – 8 June 1796) was a French actor, dramatist, essayist, and revolutionary. He was a member of the Committee of Public Safety during the Reign of Terror and, while he saved Madame Tussaud from t ...

in the case of the Swiss of the

Château-Vieux Regiment The Nancy affair (french: Affaire de Nancy), commonly referred to in English as the Nancy Mutiny, was the crushing of a military mutiny in France on 31 August 1790, two years before the final overthrow of the French monarchy. The mutiny was of p ...

, that paradoxically became the symbol of freedom, and, in 1792, expressed with André Chénier his strongest claims against festivities given in their honor by the municipality of Paris. He was pro- Lafayette at that time and went to England during the

Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, ...

to save his life. He constantly wrote defending him, asking for his release from Prussian and Austrian prisons. He published numerous articles in '' The Morning Chronicle'' using the pseudonym Eleutheros (freeman). He worked to Lafayette's deliverance and succeeded in establishing a correspondence with Lafayette with the assistance of active agents. They became friends at that time. Later, he served as

sub-prefect A subprefecture is an administrative division of a country that is below prefecture or province. Albania There are twelve Albanian counties or prefectures, each of which is divided into several districts, sometimes translated as subprefecture ...

during Napoleonic era, respectively in Boulogne-sur-Mer, Lille, Douai and Cosne until 1814. In Boulogne, he was slandered as a double agent, a spy and a traitor. After the First Restoration, he was French consul at Liverpool from where he went to Edinburgh, and later to Bucharest, in 1824. He was French consul at Nice at the time of his death. Amé-Thérèse-Joseph Masclet was the eldest son of a large family. One of his brothers, died bishop in Moscow. Another one,

Hippolyte In Classical Greek mythology, Hippolyta, or Hippolyte (; grc-gre, Ἱππολύτη ''Hippolytē'') was a daughter of Ares and Otrera, queen of the Amazons, and a sister of Antiope (Amazon) , Antiope and Melanippe. She wore her father Ares' Zo ...

. was a court advisor in Russia.

References and notes

References

Notes

Quotes

* I receive with great pleasure the letter with which you have honored me, and I have perceived with extreme emotion your affecting and energetic address to the people of Great Britain on the subject of M. de Lafayette. ** Letter from

Edward Livingston Edward Livingston (May 28, 1764May 23, 1836) was an American jurist and statesman. He was an influential figure in the drafting of the Louisiana Civil Code of 1825, a civil code based largely on the Napoleonic Code. Livingston represented both ...

, Mayor of New York, Senator of Louisiana, Andrew Jackson's Secretary of State, addressed to Joseph Masclet,
Bibliorare
', New York, November 9, 1796 {{DEFAULTSORT:Masclet, Joseph 1760 births 1833 deaths People of the French Revolution French military personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars 18th-century French military personnel 18th-century French lawyers 19th-century French diplomats French journalists Knights of the Legion of Honour