Alexis DUBOIS (1754-1796) general of the... - Lot 500 - Rossini

Lot 500
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Alexis DUBOIS (1754-1796) general of the... - Lot 500 - Rossini
Alexis DUBOIS (1754-1796) general of the Revolution. L.S., Givet 17 prairial III (June 5, 1795), to Representative of the People Pierre-Mathurin Gillet; 4 pages in-fol. Precious testimony on the day of prairial 3. Long letter of the Commander in chief of the Cavalry of the Army of the North, tracing "my conduct on the day of the third; day never memorable for me - when the National Convention entrusted me [...] the command of the Cavalry which was in Paris"... At ten o'clock he goes through the Sections, at 11 o'clock he goes to the counter of the Louvre on the orders of Delmas to dissipate a gathering. The Péletier section was already gathered at the Carrousel, and another gathering was held at the old Notre-Dame bridge. Each time an injunction of the representatives of the people is enough to disperse the crowd, without agitation. But at the Faubourg Antoine, they were blocked. The leaders were asked what they wanted: "bread and the Constitution of 1793! The soldiers are in battle order, and the cannons are pointed at the rebels. Dubois harangued the crowd, but it continued its march on the Convention. He then turns back and continues to walk through the sections of the center of Paris. At two o'clock, he realizes "that drink and malice have changed these spirits, and that a great rumor is stirring against the Convention. At three o'clock I arrived at the Place de la Révolution, where I found more than twenty thousand men, who invested my detachment and forced me to dismount; already my death warrant was pronounced". But he was saved by a brave invalid brother in arms who had lost his leg at his side in the battle of Charleroi. With several brave men they made a rampart of their body and managed to lead him to the Committee of Public Safety. They charged him to warn the Convention "that if a blow of saber, or of rifle was carried [...] it was done with the Convention". He got back on his horse and joined his company "which was in battle near the Carouzel gate". A quarter of an hour later he received orders from Delmas to attack the rebels and seize the cannons. It was at this moment that the National Convention sent ten of its deputies to parley with the insurgents: "I witnessed the words of peace". It was agreed that a deputation of six of the rebels would go to the Convention, but that Dubois would remain a prisoner in their lines, as a hostage: "my head would answer for the safety of this deputation". When he was released, he went to give an account of his conduct to Delmas and to the Committee of Public Safety, and then returned to the Sections, determined, if the worst came to the worst, to take action to reverse this plot. By dint of words, he managed to calm them down, but at 10 o'clock in the evening, he heard brigands shouting: "Our coup is missed, the gal Dubois deceived the people by appeasing them with his speeches, let's make sure to find him, we will do justice to him"... He asked the Convention for a token of satisfaction for his conduct: "when it is a question of saving his country, man is capable of anything, even to defeat himself. The truth of these statements can be attested to you by several officers who accompanied me all that day, and by the honored people of Paris, of which several came to thank me at my place"...
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