Jean Bon Saint-André

[
Jacques-Louis David] Jean Bon Saint-André (February 25, 1749—December 10, 1813) was a French politician of the Revolution era.

Early career and in the Convention

He was born at Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne), the son of a fuller. Although his father was a Protestant, Saint-André was brought up by the Jesuits at Marseille, and took orders. He turned Protestant, however, and became pastor at Castres and afterwards at Montauban.

The proclamation of liberty of worship made him a supporter of the Revolution, and he was sent as deputy to the National Convention by the "département" of Lot.

He sat on The Mountain, voted for the execution of King Louis XVI, and opposed the punishment of the authors of the September massacres. In July 1793 he was president of the Convention, entered the Committee of Public Safety the same month and was sent on mission to the Armies of the East fighting in the Revolutionary Wars.

Reign of Terror and later missions

On September 20, 1793, Saint-André obtained a vote of one hundred million francs for constructing vessels, and from September 1793 to January 1794 reorganized the military harbours of Brest and Cherbourg.

In May 1794, he fought with Admiral Villaret de Joyeuse the Glorious First of June against the British. Finally, after a mission in the south, which lasted from July 1794 to March 1795 and in which he showed moderation in contrast to the directives of the Reign of Terror, he was arrested on May 28, 1795, but was released by the amnesty of the year IV.

He was then appointed consul at Algiers and Smyrna (1798), was kept prisoner by the Ottoman Empire for three years (during the Napoleonic Wars), and then he subsequently became "préfet" of the "départment" of Mont-Tonnerre (1801) and commissary-general of the three "départments" on the left bank of the Rhine. He died at Mainz.

References

*1911 The 1911 "Encyclopaedia Britannica", in turn, gives as a reference:
** Levy-Schneider, "Le Conventionnel Jean bon St André" (Paris, 1901).