Jean-Pierre-François Nicole Robinet de La Serve (1791, Isle Bourbon – 20 December 1842,

Salazie Salazie () is a volcanic caldera and commune (administrative division) in the department and region of Réunion. The first settlement of the area took place in 1829 after a cyclone had devastated the nearby coast, and the municipality of Sal ...

) was a French journalist, lawyer and politician.''Robinet de La Serve : l'énergumène créole'', Patrick Imhaus, Océan Éditions – .

Biography

La Serve fought in the Indian Ocean during the Napoleonic wars. After La Réunion was captured by the British, he went to Paris, where he also fought in the defence of the city. He lived in the palace of Alexandre Chevassut, at rue des Saints-Pères. Chevassut was a remote relative, whose daughter he married, and who allowed him to join the '' Constitutionnel''. La Serve came to know

Benjamin Constant Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (; 25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a Franco-Swiss political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion. A committed republican from 1795, he backed t ...

and

Jacques-Antoine Manuel Jacques-Antoine Manuel (10 December 1775 – 20 August 1827) was a French lawyer, politician, and noted orator. Biography Manuel was born in the hamlet of La Conchette, in Enchastrayes (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), near Barcelonette. His family inc ...

, and became an opponent to the Bourbon Restauration, denouncing its excesses in '' De la Royauté'', an essay published in 1819. His positions attracted suspicions, and he came to be involved in an affair linked to that of the Four Sergeants of La Rochelle; he was trialed, and afterwards returned to La Réunion, where his mother was dying. At La Réunion, La Serve initiated and became one of the main contributors of the franc-créole movement. Constantly opposed to governor Étienne-Henri Mengin du Val d'Ailly, he obtained the creation of an elected body, the '' conseil colonial de Bourbon'' (colonial Council of Bourbon). However, his positions for the abolition of slavery cut him from his supporters. He died at

on 20 December 1842, retired from society, soon after his daughter."Conférence de Th. Troude", Thérèse Troude, Saint-Denis, 19 October 1933, in '' Le Journal de Marguerite'', Victorine Monniot, Océan Éditions – . Nicole Robinet de La Serve fathered Alexandre Robinet de La Serve, deputy and senator of La Réunion.

Legacy

Thérèse Troude contends that Nicole Robinet de La Serve is featured in '' Le Journal de Marguerite'', by Victorine Monniot, as Adrien de la Caze, the character who shelters the heroin, Marguerite Guyon, at Champ-Borne during her forced stay in Bourbon. The character also has featured of other historical figures, notably Adrien Bellier. Auguste Lacaussade was one of his familiars during his youth, soon before La Serve died, and dedicated of the poems of '' Poèmes et paysages'' to him.

Biography

Legacy

Notes and references

See also