Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Groups, Theory of" to "Gwyniad": Volume 12, Slice 6Various
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Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Groups, Theory of" to "Gwyniad": Volume 12, Slice 6
Various
Encyclopedias and dictionaries
GUADET, MARGUERITE ELIE (1758-1794), French Revolutionist, was born at
St Emilion near Bordeaux on the 20th of July 1758. When the Revolution
broke out he had already gained a reputation as a brilliant advocate at
Bordeaux. In 1790 he was made administrator of the Gironde and in 1791
president of the criminal tribunal. In this year he was elected to the
Legislative Assembly as one of the brilliant group of deputies known
subsequently as Girondins or Girondists. As a supporter of the
constitution of 1791 he joined the Jacobin club, and here and in the
Assembly became an eloquent advocate of all the measures directed
against real or supposed traitors to the constitution. He bitterly
attacked the ministers of Louis XVI., and was largely instrumental in
forcing the king to accept the Girondist ministry of the 15th of March
1792. He was an ardent advocate of the policy of forcing Louis XVI.
into harmony with the Revolution; moved (May 3) for the dismissal of the
king's non-juring confessor, for the banishment of all non-juring
priests (May 16), for the disbandment of the royal guard (May 30), and
the formation in Paris of a camp of _federes_ (June 4). He remained a
royalist, however, and with Gensonne and Vergniaud even addressed a
letter to the king soliciting a private interview. Whatever negotiations
may have resulted, however, were cut short by the insurrection of the
10th of August. Guadet, who presided over the Assembly during part of
this fateful day, put himself into vigorous opposition to the
insurrectionary Commune of Paris, and it was on his motion that on the
30th of August the Assembly voted its dissolution--a decision reversed
on the following day. In September Guadet was returned by a large
majority as deputy to the Convention. At the trial of Louis XVI. he
voted for an appeal to the people and for the death sentence, but with a
respite pending appeal. In March 1793 he had several conferences with
Danton, who was anxious to bring about a _rapprochement_ between the
Girondists and the Mountain during the war in La Vendee, but he
unconditionally refused to join hands with the man whom he held
responsible for the massacres of September. Involved in the fall of the
Girondists, and his arrest being decreed on the 2nd of June 1793, he
fled to Caen, and afterwards hid in his father's house at St Emilion. He
was discovered and taken to Bordeaux, where, after his identity had been
established, he was guillotined on the 17th of June 1794.
See J. Guadet, _Les Girondins_ (Paris, 1889); and F. A. Aulard, _Les
Orateurs de la legislative et de la convention_ (Paris, 2nd ed.,
1906).
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