Pierre-Louis Bentabole

Pierre Louis Bentabole (or Bentabolle) was a revolutionary Frenchman, born in Landau Haut Rhin on 4 June 1756 and died in Paris on 22 April 1798. As lawyer, he presided practiced in the district of Hagenau and Saverne; he was deputy of the Bas-Rhin to the National Convention on 4 September 1792. He voted to execute Louis XVI. On 6 October 1794, he was appointed to the Committee of Public Safety.

Family

Bentabole was the son of a military contractor who made his fortune providing food for the military during the Seven Years' War. He studied law and was a lawyer in Colmar before the French Revolution. On 4 September 1792, he was elected to the National Convention for the Bas-Rhin, by 293 votes out of 386 possible.

Affiliation with the Montagnards

In 1792, he stood with the radical revolutionaries in Paris. In October, he urged the convention to seek the death penalty for the King. At the trial of Louis XVI, he unhesitatingly voted for the King's death: "I see Louis stained with the blood of his victims, for the peace of my country, for his happiness, I voted for the death." A bitter enemy of the Girondins , he attacked them vehemently during the question of a plebiscite on whether to execute the King.

True to the revolutionary ideals, Bentabole aligned with the Montagnards and he was one of its most ardent enthusiasts. He was faithful friend of Jean-Paul Marat; through this friendship with the so-called ''L'Ami du peuple,'' (Friend of the People, the title of one of Marat's pamphlets), Bentabole acquired the nickname "Marat Cadet". The death of Marat on 14 July 1793, brought some of the internal frictions of the Montagnards to head, principally between Bentabole and the powerful Robespierre. On the day following Marat's assassination, the Convention rushed to praise Marat for his fervor and revolutionary diligence. Robespierre did not join in the praise, simply calling for an inquiry into the circumstances of his death. The Convention discussed at length the plans for Marat's funeral, to be held in his honor; it would necessarily be an affair of State, and, because of Marat's poverty, would have to be at the State's expense. Robespierre was no great supporter of Marat, saw no need for a public funeral, fearing, perhaps that it would arouse popular anger or provoke violence, as the funeral of Claude Lazowski had earlier in the year. The dispute between Bentabole and Robespierre continued; Robespierre saw no need neither to bury the body need Mirabeau; Bentabole insisted.

Purification of the Revolution

At the beginning of the year 1794, he was elected member of the Committee of War.

In August 1793, he sent as a representative on mission to the Northern army.

By August 1794, Bentabole was already distancing himself from the arch-Montigards. The problem in the Committees was that attacks on any member of the convention could come from any source; a statement, whether muttered privately or pronounced from the dais, could generate a cascade of accusations. Bentabole had led an attack on the Jacobin Club, which he accused of seeking to supplant the convention and to be dominated by lobbyists.

Among the opinions offered to the Tribunal, I noticed Durand-Maillane's, for which I request that he give us a report. Every honest man should want that the freedom of opinion never be jeopardized by unproven charges or invective. We should not swear at men whom we look upon as 'weak beings' in order to shackle the opinions that they only want to express for the good of the People. If someone here believes that they should make a serious reproach toward one of his colleagues, let him explain himself and stipulate the facts, not just offer insults. Let the accused be heard, and let us not seek to make people fear from threats. Only the conspirators should be afraid."

His proposal received excited applause. Yet, while watching the Terror spread around him, Bentabole could do little to stop it, or thought as much, and sought as much time as he could away from Paris. In January 1794, he accepted an assignment into Sarthe; during this mission that he started a relationship with a wealthy aristocrat widow Adelaide Charlotte Chabot (a connection of the House of Rohan). When he returned to Paris in March 1795, she came with him, as his wife.Through this union, he bought land and became lord of La Bazoche-Gouet in Eure-et-Loir

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