François René Mallarmé

François-René-Auguste Mallarmé (February 25, 1755—July 25, 1835) was a politician during the French Revolution.

Early life and mandates

The son of a lawyer, he was born at Nancy. Mallarmé followed his father's profession, and was appointed "procureur-syndic" of the district of Pont-à-Mousson.

During the Revolution he was elected by the "départment" of Meurthe deputy to the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention, where he attached himself to The Mountain and voted for the execution of King Louis XVI (without appeal or delay). He was elected president of the Convention on May 30, 1793, and his inaction during the crisis of the following day contributed to the success of the insurrection against the Girondists (he had delegated his responsibilities to Marie Jean Hérault de Séchelles).

Terror

During the Reign of Terror, Mallarmé took an active part in the "levée-en-masse" that marked the , and in November 1793 was given the task of establishing the revolutionary government in the "départments" of Meuse and Moselle (in Lorraine), where he gained the reputation of a murderer after by ordering the execution of the sentence of death decreed by the Revolutionary Tribunal on some young girls at Verdun who had offered flowers to the Prussian soldiers when they entered the town.

After the fall of Maximilien Robespierre in late July 1794, he joined the Thermidorian Reaction, and was sent on mission to the south of France, where he closed the Jacobin Club of Toulouse and set free a number of imprisoned "suspects". On June 1, 1795, he was denounced and briefly arrested.

Directory and later life

In 1796 he was appointed by the Directory commissioner for the organization of the "départements" of Dyle and Mont-Tonnerre. Under the Empire, Mallarmé was collector of the "droits réunis" (sales taxes) at Nancy, and lost his money in 1814 in raising the "levée" of volunteers.

Appointed "sous-préfet" of Avesnes during the Hundred Days, he was imprisoned by the Prussian authorities in revenge for the death of the maidens of Verdun, and held for six months in Wesel. He took refuge in Brussels and then Mechelen (with the Cellite monks), and remained in exile during the Bourbon Restoration. He died in Mechelen.

References

*1911