Jean Julien known as Julien of Toulouse (1750 in
Nîmes – 1828) was a deputy to the
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 Nationa ...
and a political figure in 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 ...
.
Life
A Protestant minister in Toulouse at the outbreak of the Revolution, in September 1792 Julien was elected as deputy for the département of
Haute-Garonne
Haute-Garonne (; oc, Nauta Garona, ; en, Upper Garonne) is a department in the Occitanie region of Southwestern France. Named after the river Garonne, which flows through the department. Its prefecture and main city is Toulouse, the country' ...
at the National Convention which voted for the death of
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
. He was next sent on a mission to
Orléans
Orléans (;["Orleans"](_blank)
(US) and [Vendée
Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.] , in which he acted as a committed
Montagnard, before becoming a member of the
Committee of General Security
The Committee of General Security () was a parliamentary committee of the French National Convention which acted as police agency during the French Revolution. Along with the Committee of Public Safety it oversaw the Reign of Terror. The Committe ...
, in which he was put in charge of a report on the rebel and federalist administrators who resisted the events of 31 May. Due to this report
Robespierre accused him of being a
feuillant and counter-revolutionary, but Julien retracted his report and assured him he had been deceived.
Orders were then put out for his arrest for fraud or trafficking his opinions and speculating in financial companies with
Chabot,
Basire and
Delaunay, but he managed to evade arrest though designated a foreign agent and outlaw. After
9 Thermidor and Robespierre's fall, he appealed against his proscription, which he attributed to his hatred for Robespierre. On Marec's suggestion (full of praise for Julien), the Convention revoked his status as an outlaw but did not allow him to re-enter the legislative assembly. Included in the proscription 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 ...
, he was momentarily arrested and condemned to deportation, but this measure was not carried out and Julien went back to obscurity, from which he would never return. Forced to leave France in 1816 after the
Bourbon Restoration, he was unable to remain in Switzerland and so took refuge in
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...
.
Sources
* Alphonse de Beauchamp, ''Biographie moderne'', Paris, Leroux, 1816, p. 175-6.
{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2020
1750 births
1828 deaths
People from Nîmes
Deputies to the French National Convention
Regicides of Louis XVI