Jean-Nicolas Pache

Jean-Nicolas Pache (1746 – November 18, 1823) was a French politician.

Pache was born in Paris, of Swiss parentage, the son of the concièrge of the hotel of Marshal de Castries. He became tutor to the marshal's children, and subsequently first secretary at the ministry of marine, head of supplies ("munitionnaire général des vivres"), and comptroller of the king's household. After spending several years in Switzerland with his family, he returned to France at the beginning of the Revolution.

He was employed successively at the ministries of the interior and of war, and was appointed on September 20, 1793 third deputy suppliant of Paris by the Luxembourg section. Thus brought into notice, he was made minister of war on October 3, 1792 [John W. Fortescue, "A History of the British Army", vol. IV, part I, London, Macmillan, 1915, p. ]

Pache was a Girondist himself, but aroused their hostility by his incompetence. He was supported, however, by Marat, and when he was superseded in the ministry of war by Beurnonville (February 4, 1794) he was chosen mayor by the Parisians. In that capacity he contributed to the fall of the Girondists. Jean Nicolas Pache would be the first to submit a petition to the National Convention on April 15th 1793 for the totemic 22 Girondist leaders to be removed from office. Although he was scoffed at, the Commune would publish a petition for the removal of the same 22 Girondins, reinforced with 12,000 signatures, and submit it to the Convention on April 18th. The petition would again be scoffed at by a Convention led by Girondins. However, Pache and Chaumette would lead a march on the Convention on May 31st. The Convention was ultimately forced to hand over the 22 in order to appease the threatening crowd, reinforced with National Guard troops, that had arrived on the Convention floor. [Andress, David The Terror New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005.] Pache also brought before the Convention a petition for a ’maximum’ on bread prices on April 18th. With a threat from the Commune issued to the Convention, the maximum was voted on May 4th. [Madelin, Louis The French Revolution London: William Heineman, 1923.] On June 2nd Pache turned his attention to the matter of the constitution. He wrote to the departments calling for them to give the people what they had fought for time and again: the new constitution that had been promised. Unfortunately, his relations with Hébert and Chaumette, and with the enemies of Robespierre led to his arrest on May 10 1794. Jean Nicolas Pache would be replaced as mayor by Lescot-Fleuriot, who was more subservient to the Convention. [Thompson, J.M. The French Revolution Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1966] He owed his safety only to the amnesty of October 25, 1795. After acting as commissary to the civil hospitals of Paris in 1799, he retired from public life, and died at Thin-le-Moutier on November 18, 1823.

Impact

Jean Nicholas Pache may not have single handedly brought down the Girondin, but his determination played an important role. Pache was a key player in changing the political scene in Paris in this time. Pache also helped to truly give power to the people of Paris. The people of Paris had successfully humiliated the Convention in forcing it to do their bidding and the Convention would not recover this lost power until the Thermidorian Reaction shattered the power of the Jacobin Clubs and sans culottes. The people of Paris would not forget this and the legacy of "the people in arms" would have a long-term impact on the French revolutionary tradition, in the readiness of the Parisian population to "rush to the barricades," through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

See L Pierquin, "Memoires sur Pache" (Charleville, 1900).:J.M. Thompson, "The French Revolution" (Oxford, 1966).:Louis Madelin, "The French Revolution" (London, 1923).:David Andress, "The Terror" (New York, 2005).

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