Dominique Joseph Garat

Dominique-Joseph Garat
Born	8 September 1749(1749-09-08) Ustaritz near Bayonne
Died	9 December 1833(1833-12-09) (aged 84) Ustaritz near Bayonne
Nationality	French
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Dominique Joseph Garat (8 September 1749 – 9 December 1833) was a French (Basque) writer and politician.

Biography

Garat was born at Bayonne. After a good education under the direction of a relation who was a curé, and a period as an advocate at Bordeaux, he came to Paris, where he obtained introductions to the most distinguished writers of the time, and became a contributor to the Encyclopedie méthodique and the Mercure de France. He gained a reputation by an éloge on Michel de l'Hôpital in 1778, and was afterwards crowned three times by the Académie française for éloges on Suger, Montausier and Fontenelle. In 1785 he was named professor of history at the Lycée, where his lectures were as popular as those of GF Laharpe on literature.

Elected as a deputy to the states-general in 1789, Garat rendered important service to the popular cause by his narrative of the proceedings of the Assembly, in the Journal de Paris. His elder brother, Dominique (1735–1799), with whom he is sometimes confused, was also a deputy to the states-general. Georges Danton named him minister of justice in 1792, and in this capacity entrusted to him what he called the commission affreuse of communicating to King Louis XVI his sentence of death. In 1793 Garat became minister of the interior, in which position he proved quite inefficient. Though himself uncorrupt, he overlooked the most scandalous corruption in his subordinates, and in spite of a detective service which kept him accurately informed of every movement in the capital, he failed to maintain order.

At last, disgusted with the excesses which he had been unable to control, he resigned on 15 August 1793. On 2 October he was arrested for Girondist sympathies but soon released, and he escaped further molestation owing to the friendship of Barras and, more especially, of Robespierre. On the 9th Thermidor, however, he took sides against Robespierre, and on 12 September 1794 he was named by the Convention as a member of the executive committee of public instruction.

His works include, besides those already mentioned, Considerations sur Ia Révolution Française (Paris, 1792); Mémoire sur la Révolution, ou exposé de ma conduite (1795); Mémoires sur la vie de M. Suard, sur ses écrits, et sur le XVIII' siècle (1820) éloges on Joubert, Kléber and Desaix; several notices of distinguished persons; and a large number of articles in periodicals.

See also

• Les Neuf Sœurs

External links

• Article about a Garat's unpublished work of 1811: «D.-J. Garat et le projet de “La Nouvelle Phénicie”» (2006)

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Political offices
Preceded by Georges Jacques Danton	Minister of Justice 1792–1793	Succeeded by Louis Gohier
Preceded by Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière	Minister of the Interior 23 January 1793 - 20 August 1793	Succeeded by Jules-François Paré
Cultural offices
Preceded by Emmanuel-Félicité de Durfort de Duras	Seat 34 Académie française 1803–1816	Succeeded by Louis-François de Bausset

Persondata
Name	Garat, Dominique Joseph
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	8 September 1749
Place of birth
Date of death	9 December 1833
Place of death