REVOLUTION. Publicola CHAUSSARD (1766-1823) lawyer and man o - Lot 563

REVOLUTION. Publicola CHAUSSARD (1766-1823) lawyer and man of letters, administrator at the Comité de Salut public, inventor of the word nihiliste. 3 L.A.S. or P.A.S., 1793-[1794 or 1795]; 3 pages in-4 (repaired tear), 1 page in-4 and 3 1/2 pages large in-fol. Antwerp March 8, 1793, to the deputies of the Convention, and its commissioners in Belgium. Having received a letter from his colleagues in Brussels, requesting an important and urgent measure, he immediately transported himself and his colleagues to General Marassé [commander-in-chief in Antwerp, he will go over to the enemy with Dumouriez]: "I told him that I summoned him in the name of my powers to carry out the requisition made to him without delay; he felt sorry for himself, almost wept; I ended by telling him that he would be responsible for everything that happened, and for the slightest opposition. This seemed to determine him. [...] The steps taken have been fruitless; should I blame this on chance, or on Marassé's connections and weakness? Or had your decree and measures already transpired?"... He demands the power to overturn the provisional administration and municipality, whose perfidy risks provoking a popular insurrection... Paris 24 brumaire II (November 14, 1793). Certificate testifying to having heard citizen Gail profess "the principles of the republic and the revolution"... [1794 or 1795], to the People's Representatives composing the Comité de Surêté générale. Denounced to the Section du Muséum, he defends himself against accusations of having been "an agent of terrorism in Belgium, and of having contributed, along with Chapy, through misconduct, to our reverses", and of having been "an accomplice in Pache's conspiracy", of which he is said to have been secretary : he invokes the surveillance, in Belgium, of representatives Treilhard, Camus, Merlin de Douai and Gossuin, accuses Dumouriez's Mémoires of being the source of the slander, and indicates the limits of his employment at the town hall: two months of service unrelated to Pache... Therefore, "I ask you representans du peuple to give me back a liberty I did not deserve to lose"...