1830.} 



Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 



357 



with the most unequivocal expressions of 

 their gratitude for his devoted attachment. 

 From the 23d of July to the 10th of Au- 

 gust, when the unfortunate Louis and his 

 family took refuge in the hall of the Assem- 

 bly, he was President of that body. It was in 

 consequence of his most powerful friendship 

 that, during the horrid massacre of Septem- 

 ber, the Abbe Sicard was snatched from the 

 jaws of death and the hands of the common 

 executioner. In the December following, 

 M. Lade'bat was arrested and confined on 

 the charges of favouring the escape of some 

 of the Swiss Guards, and receiving funds 

 from the Civil List ; but, having recovered 

 his liberty, he was appointed to the direc- 

 tion of the Finance department. In 1794, 

 he was again arrested, and immured in the 

 prison of the Carmelites ; but, so eminent 

 were his talents, that his enemies felt the 

 absolute necessity of his services, preserved 

 the man who had been doomed to the scaffold, 

 and once more restored him to his family. 



In September, 1795, M. de Ladebat was 

 elected by the departments of the Seine and 

 the Gironde, a Member of the Council of 

 Ancients, in which, evincing his usual wis- 

 dom and moderation, he was a frequent 

 speaker on financial subjects. On the 20th 

 of May, 1797, he was elected Secretary to 

 that Assembly ; and, on the 18th of May, 

 he was called to the President's Chair. On 

 the reading of some addresses from the 

 Army of Italy, he ventured to propose the 

 cashiering and arrest of General Buona- 

 parte. On the memorable 18th Fructidor 

 (September 4, 1797), all his endeavours to 

 frustrate the insidious plans of the Direc- 

 tory having failed, he and several of his 

 colleagues were seized and imprisoned in 

 the Temple; and, two days afterwards, 

 they were sent, in iron cars, to Rochefort, 

 whence they were conveyed, in a frigate, to 

 the burning deserts of Sinamari. There, 

 amongst the numerous friends whom M. de 

 Ladebat speedily saw perish around him, 

 was the virtuous and eloquent Francon 

 Ducoudrey. Many of the exiles effected 

 their escape ; but M. Ladebat refused to 

 participate in their plans ; and, at the very 

 moment of their departure, it appeared so 

 certain that he was on the point of falling a 

 victim to the epidemic disease of the cli- 

 mate, that, when his companions reached 

 France, they reported his death, which was 

 generally believed. Of seventeen indivi- 

 duals who had been thus expatriated, he 

 and M. de Marbois alone remained to com- 

 bat with the harassing and iniquitous vexa- 

 tions to which they were subjected by the 

 Commissioners, who, under the Directory, 

 governed the colony. However, amidst his 

 misfortunes during twenty-one months of 

 exile, he unceasingly devoted himself to 

 his studies, and, from much valuable and 

 important information which he collected, 

 he prepared a pamphlet relating to the state 

 of the colony. Unfortunately, other cares, 

 and other labours, afterwards prevented its 

 publication. 



One of the first acts of the Consular Go- 

 vernment was to recal the exiles of the 18th 

 Fructidor. The liveliest interest and the 

 warmest feeling greeted the return of Messrs. 

 Ladebat and Marbois, the victims of Direc- 

 torial tyranny ; but they were not equally 

 rewarded for their unmerited sufferings. 

 Several of the departments of France gave 

 their suffrages in favour of Ladebat, as a 

 candidate for the senate ; but Buonaparte 

 refused to confirm his election. Marbois 

 was appointed to the most distinguished 

 situations; but, Ladebat was left to pine in 

 obscurity. After his long services in the 

 financial department, his administration of 

 the public revenue was attacked by his ene- 

 mies; but, by a severe and laborious inves- 

 tigation, he was, in 1813, most honourably 

 acquitted. However, the eventful restora- 

 tion of the Bonrbons did not repair the mis- 

 chief or assuage the sufferings which the 

 Imperial Government had so cruelly ne- 

 glected. 



In 1815, M. Ladebat came to England 

 to recover some property which he had 

 deposited in the Bank twenty-two years 

 before. During his stay in London, he 

 collected a mass of information respecting 

 the finances, and the commerce of the coun- 

 try, its public schools, charitable institu- 

 tions, &c. After his return, he presented 

 to Louis XVIII. an interesting work on 

 the French finances. 



M. Laffon de Ladebat's political career 

 was now at an end ; but, with unremitting 

 ardour, he applied himself to meliorate the 

 condition and promote the welfare of so. 

 ciety, by taking an active part in the con- 

 duct of many moral, religious, and other 

 institutions. He was one of the Directors 

 of the Institution for the Relief of the Infant 

 Blind ; he was a member of the Consistory 

 of the Reformed Church ; also of both dis- 

 trict Committees for the Propagation .of 

 Primary Instruction, both Catholic and 

 Protestant ; and, for three years, he pre- 

 sided over the Benevolent Protestant So- 

 ciety, established for mutual assistance. 



Nowithstanding the native vigour of his 

 mind, and his exercise of the truest Chris- 

 tian resignation, M . Ladebat was bowed to 

 the earth by a succession of private and do- 

 mestic calamities; and at length, after a 

 short illness, he recently expired in the 

 eighty-third year of his age. His remains 

 were interred in the cemetery of Est, near 

 those of his excellent wife, the companion 

 of his pleasures and his cares for forty years. 

 His four sons followed him to the grave; 

 and his funeral was attended by an immense 

 assemblage of persons of all ranks, various 

 deputations from societies, both religious 

 and philanthropical, to which he had be- 

 longed, joining in the mournful procession. 

 In the funeral address, delivered by his 

 pastor, M. Frederick Maurod, at the inter- 

 ment, it was stated that, for the last eleven 

 years, the deceased had, on the anniver- 

 sary of the day on which he had been bereft 

 of his beloved wife, repaired to the spot, 



