He was brought under the notice of Maréchal de Costires, then Minister of Marine, who appointed François Procurator to the General Council in the Colony of St. Domingo, now the Island of Hayti. After spending five years in the West Indies, the young magistrate obtained leave of absence, and started for France, bringing with him the literary work of five years, including a complete translation of the works of Ariosto. His ship was wrecked, and he was cast on a desert island; all his manuscripts going down with the ill-fated vessel. François Neufchâteau considered this loss to be the great catastrophe of his life. He was finally rescued, reaching France in safety, and receiving a pension of 3000 livres (£120), proposed to devote his life to literature and poetry. The events of 1789 altered the current of his existence. He was elected a member of the Assembly, and the following year sent as Commissionary to the Vosges for the organisation of that new Department. He was eventually appointed President of the first Legislative Assembly. He refused the Ministry of Justice, choosing instead the humbler but safer position of _juge de paix_ in the Department of Vosges. His friends persuaded him to return to Paris to superintend the rehearsal of his play “Pamela” (translated from one of Goldoni’s comedies) at the Théâtre Français. Produced on August 1, 1793, this innocent and simple drama achieved an immense success, and was played for eight consecutive nights. The curtain was just about to rise upon the ninth performance, when a message from the Committee of Public Safety arrived to stop the play, the author was summoned before the Committee the same evening, and ordered to bring with him the manuscript of the piece. Neufchâteau submitted humbly to all demands as to corrections and excisions, altered, as desired, the fourth and fifth acts of the play, and even gave it a different ending. Robespierre and his Council permitted the performance of the revised play. It was reproduced September 1, and again ran for eight nights; upon the ninth evening this verse was applauded:-- Ah! les persécuteurs sont les seuls condamnable, Et les plus tolérants sont les plus raisonnable. Before the play was finished, the Committee of Public Safety served the following order at the Théâtre Français: “The _Théâtre Français_ is to be immediately closed, the actors, actresses, and _employées_ arrested, together with the author of ‘Pamela,’ and conveyed to the Prison of La Force.” In this prison Neufchâteau remained eleven months, until August 4, 1794, when he was released, and shortly afterwards appointed Judge of the High Court during the Directorate, after being Governmental Commissionary for some time in the district of the Vosges. He became Minister of the Interior in 1797. In all these appointments he gave many proofs of capacity, judgment, moderation, and kindliness of heart.