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T\rancheJ of Kiiman Knowledge." which he intended, 

 mcrtrly »i an introJuiflion to a work on a moie cnlarired and 

 tomprclieiifivc plan. During the jirogrcfs of thcfe pohtical 

 and htcrary labours, to wl.ieh. with the confidence of 

 jouth, he had annexed ideas of fingular importance and 

 iitility, although liis notions were crude, and his knowledge 

 fuperlicial, he iirofecuted the lludy of feveral modern lan- 

 guages, and gained an acquaintance with the rudiments of 

 vanoub fcunces. 



BrilTot, at the ptrii>d of his refidencc at Boulogne, had 

 been introduced to niadcmoifellc Dupont, who was employed 

 under mad. de Genlis as reader to the daughter of the duke 

 of Oilcans, and whofe mother kept a lodging houfe in that 

 place: and having married this Kidy, whom mad. Roland 

 extols as a pattern of every domellic virtue, he found it nc- 

 celTary to exert his literary talents for gainin" a fubtiHence. 

 ISut as France did not alTord that unrcllrided liberty, which 

 as an author lie wilhed to indulge, he formed a del'ign of 

 printing, in SwifTerland or Germany, a feiies of works in a 

 kind of ptiiadienl publication, under the title of " An uiii- 

 verfal Correfpondence on Points intertlling to the Welfare 

 of Man and of Society," which lie propofcd to fmuggle 

 into France. With this view, he vifitcd Geneva and Nei'i- 

 chatel, in order to eftablifli coriefpondences ; and he alfo 

 made a journey to London, which was to be the central 

 point of the ellablilhment, and the fixed rcric!ence of the 

 \vi iters. His Intention.i!, however, were divulged by the 

 treachery of fomc of his confidential afTociates ; and the 

 fcheme, romantic in itfelf, whatever the judicious and candid 

 may think of its ultimate dcfign and tendency, totally fail- 

 ed. During his abode in London, he concerted the plan 

 of a period'cal work or journal, on the literature, arts, and 

 politics of England, wliich, bring piiblifhcd in London, 

 was allowed to be reprinted at Paris, and full appeared in 

 1784. The avowed objcd of thi* publication, as he him- 

 felf declares, was " the univerfal emancipation of men." Li 

 London, he was arreHed for debt ; but being liberated by 

 the generofity of a friend, he returned to Paris, where he 

 was committed to the baftille, in July 1 7S4, on the charge 

 of being concerned with the marquis Pclleport in a very ob- 

 noxious publication. But by the intercll of the duke of 

 Orleans, obtained by mad. Genlis at the interceflion of his 

 wife, he was releafed, on condition of never rcliding in 

 England, and difcontinuing his political correfpondence. 

 In 1785, he publifhtd two letters to the emperor joftph IL 

 " Concerning the Right of Emigration, and the Right of the 

 People to revolt," which he applied particularly to the cafe 

 of the Walachians : and, in the following year, appeared 

 liis " Pliilofophical Letters on the Hillory of England," in 

 2 vols, and " A critical Examination of the Travels of the 

 Marquis de ChatcUeux in North America." With a view of 

 promoting a clofe, political, and commercial union between 

 France and the United States, he wrote in 1787, with the 

 aflillance of Claviere, a traft, entitled " De la France et 

 dcs Etats Unis, &c." " On France and the United States; 

 or on the Importance of the Arr.crican Revolution, to the 

 Kingdom of France, and the reciprocal Advantages which 

 will accrue from a commercial Ir.tercourfe between the two 

 Nations." Of this work, an Englifh tranflation was pub- 

 lifhed, both in England and America. At this time, he 

 was in ihe fervice of the duke of Orleans, as fecretary to his 

 chancery, with a handfome falary, and apartments in the palais 

 royal ; and, without doubt, employed in aiding his fchemes 

 of ambition. In this fituation, he wrote a pamphlet againft 

 the adminiftration of the archbifhop of Sens, entitled " No 

 Bankruptcy, &c." which occafioned the iduing of a lettre 

 d« cachet againft him. But to avoid its effeft, he went to 



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Holland, England, and the Low Countries; and at Mech- 

 lin, he edited a newfpaper, called " Le Courier Belgique." 

 For the purpofe of promoting the views of a fociety at Pa- 

 ris, denominated " Lts Amis des Noirs," and ettablilhed 

 for the pUrpofe of abolifhing negix) flavery, he embarked 

 for America in 1 788; and, during his refidence in that coun- 

 try', he fought for a convenient lituation, in which a colony 

 of Frenchmen might be organized into a republic, according 

 to his ideas of political hberty. But his return washallened 

 in 1789 by the intelligence he received of the progrefsof the 

 French revolution ; after his arrival, he publiflied his " Tra- 

 vels in America ;" (Nouvcau Voyage dans les Etats Unis, 

 &c. ,3 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1791.) and as he found the atten- 

 tion of the public direfted to the approaching aflembly of 

 the States-General, he wrote his " Plan of Conduft for the 

 Deputies of the People." At this time, he had withdrawn 

 from the partifans of the duke of Orleans ; and he took an 

 aflive part in the plans that were then projected for the or- 

 ganization of the people, with a view to their imion and 

 energy in accomplifliing the revolution. To the lodgings of 

 BrifTot, as a perfou who was held in cllimation at this pe- 

 riod, the keys of the bailillc, when it was taken, were con- 

 veved ; he alfo became prefident of tlie Jacobin club ; and 

 he dillinguiflied himfelf in various ways as a zealous pro- 

 moter of thofe revolutionary principles, which, afterwards, 

 gave occafion to a great number of atrocious exceffes. Af- 

 ter the king's flight to Varennes, BrifTot openly fupported 

 the republican caufe ; nor does there feem to be fufiicient 

 reafon for fuppofing, that he was fecretly concerned in the 

 plot for raifing the duke of Orleans to the throne. But as 

 fome form of monarchy was ftill the objeft of the national 

 wifh, he was obliged to reihain his impetuofity. The po- 

 pularity acq\iircd by his writings, and conduft, was fuch, 

 as to induce the Parilians to return him as one of their 

 members in the " I>egi(lative national afTembly," which fuc- 

 ceeded the " Conllitucnt afTembly" in Odouer J 791, of 

 which adembly he was appointed fecretary ; and he became 

 afterwards a member of the committee of public inftruilion. 

 Although inferior to many others in talents and knowledge, 

 his aftivity raifed him to the rank of head or chief, in the 

 party denominated " Girondills" or " La Gironde," the 

 name of the department to which feveral of its members be- 

 longed, and alfo from his own name " BrifTotins." In hia 

 career of ambition, he does not feem to have been influenctd 

 by pecuniary confiderations ; power, more than wealth, 

 being the objedl of his aim ; for, at this time, he and his 

 family lodged in an apartment up four pair of flairs, and 

 fublilled on his ftipend as deputy, and the inconfiderable 

 gains accruing from a newfpaper. As a determined enemy 

 to monarchy, he was unremitting in his efforts to engage 

 the nation in a war, with the avowed purpofe of involving 

 the king and his miniflers in difliculties which would termi- 

 nate in their ruin ; and this part of his political condufl 

 mull ever be lamented and execrated by the friends of free- 

 dom, and of mankind. In the impeachment of M. Delef- 

 fart, the minillcr for foreign affairs, Biidot took a principal 

 lead ; and alleged againfl him feveral articles of accufation, 

 in confequence of which, he was apprehended, tried by the 

 high national court at Orleans, and condemned to die, with- 

 out being firll heard in his own defence, fo that he became 

 the firll vidim to that defperate faftion, which afterwards 

 deluged France with blood. His colleagues were fo com- 

 pletely terrified by this event, that they requtiled leave to 

 relign, and the miniltiy was at once completely diffblved. 

 Their fucceffors, appointed by the king, under the direc- 

 tion and influence of Briflbt, were Dumouricr, Roland, and 

 Claviere. This appoiatnaent was followed by a declaration 



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