Description
CHAUMETTE (Pierre-Gaspard). Autograph letter signed to his friend Jean-Eugin Thomas. S.l.n.d. 2 pp. 1/4 in-4, address on spine; small loss due to opening without affecting text, some old restorations. INTERESTING LETTER ON THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION BY THE MAN WHO WOULD BECOME ONE OF THE MOST RELENTLESS SPOKESMEN OF THE DECHRISTIANIZATION CAMPAIGN WAGED IN 1793. " ... I am very sensitive to your memory, I would like to be in a position to be useful to you, I would do it with all my heart, but THE DEVIL IS IN MY KITCHENS, POLITICS ARE TURNING MY HEAD, I hardly notice my existence, for I no longer live for myself, my days and nights are devoted to politics. THE NEW LAWS [notably on the CIVIL CONSTITUTION OF THE CLERK, in July 1790] HAVE CHANGED NEITHER ORDER, NOR THE MISSION OF PRIESTS, NOR CULTE, NOR MORAL, they have changed nothing in intelligent harmony, they have only changed its vitiated mode and brought it closer to the principles of universal reason. France has not demolished its church, but rather polished its stones, bringing it back to its origins and patriarchal simplicity. The oath decreed by the Ass[emblée] Nat[ionale] has been like the sieve that separates the chaff from the wheat; THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SUBMITTED TO IT HAVE DECEALED TO HAVE AN AVARE AND PERFID HEART; they have shown that they were unworthy of their mission... You ask me how to study theology. Ah, my God! Well, my friend, the best way to succeed in this study is to burden your memory with this trivial jumble, and be careful to submit it to the light of common sense. Theology, bone Deus! Learn your lesson and that's it; but READ LOCKE, ROUSSEAU, VOLTAIRE AND BERNARDIN DE ST-PIERRE. THIS IS WHAT WILL FORM YOUR HEART AND MIND, this is the reading that will make you happy in whatever situation you find yourself... Don't forget me... I'll always be your friend, because I know the difference between a man and his clothes... " Jean-Eugin Thomas, who had entered the ecclesiastical profession, would eventually establish himself as a notary in Chapallement in the Nièvre region (Chaumette was born in Nevers). PROSECUTOR OF THE PARIS COMMUNE FROM 1792, PIERRE-GASPARD CHAUMETTE (1763-1794) embraced the most radical ideas of the Revolution, particularly in favor of the poorest sections of society, and played an important role in preparing the day of August 10, 1792, which led to the fall of royalty. He was also a member of the Société des Amis des Noirs (Society of Friends of the Blacks), and played a key role in getting the Convention to adopt the abolition of slavery. Although himself an opponent of the Gironde, he came up against the hostility of Maximilien de Robespierre: accused of being a foreign agent, he was brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal and executed in April 1794.
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CHAUMETTE (Pierre-Gaspard). Autograph letter signed to his friend Jean-Eugin Thomas. S.l.n.d. 2 pp. 1/4 in-4, address on spine; small loss due to opening without affecting text, some old restorations. INTERESTING LETTER ON THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION BY THE MAN WHO WOULD BECOME ONE OF THE MOST RELENTLESS SPOKESMEN OF THE DECHRISTIANIZATION CAMPAIGN WAGED IN 1793. " ... I am very sensitive to your memory, I would like to be in a position to be useful to you, I would do it with all my heart, but THE DEVIL IS IN MY KITCHENS, POLITICS ARE TURNING MY HEAD, I hardly notice my existence, for I no longer live for myself, my days and nights are devoted to politics. THE NEW LAWS [notably on the CIVIL CONSTITUTION OF THE CLERK, in July 1790] HAVE CHANGED NEITHER ORDER, NOR THE MISSION OF PRIESTS, NOR CULTE, NOR MORAL, they have changed nothing in intelligent harmony, they have only changed its vitiated mode and brought it closer to the principles of universal reason. France has not demolished its church, but rather polished its stones, bringing it back to its origins and patriarchal simplicity. The oath decreed by the Ass[emblée] Nat[ionale] has been like the sieve that separates the chaff from the wheat; THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SUBMITTED TO IT HAVE DECEALED TO HAVE AN AVARE AND PERFID HEART; they have shown that they were unworthy of their mission... You ask me how to study theology. Ah, my God! Well, my friend, the best way to succeed in this study is to burden your memory with this trivial jumble, and be careful to submit it to the light of common sense. Theology, bone Deus! Learn your lesson and that's it; but READ LOCKE, ROUSSEAU, VOLTAIRE AND BERNARDIN DE ST-PIERRE. THIS IS WHAT WILL FORM YOUR HEART AND MIND, this is the reading that will make you happy in whatever situation you find yourself... Don't forget me... I'll always be your friend, because I know the difference between a man and his clothes... " Jean-Eugin Thomas, who had entered the ecclesiastical profession, would eventually establish himself as a notary in Chapallement in the Nièvre region (Chaumette was born in Nevers). PROSECUTOR OF THE PARIS COMMUNE FROM 1792, PIERRE-GASPARD CHAUMETTE (1763-1794) embraced the most radical ideas of the Revolution, particularly in favor of the poorest sections of society, and played an important role in preparing the day of August 10, 1792, which led to the fall of royalty. He was also a member of the Société des Amis des Noirs (Society of Friends of the Blacks), and played a key role in getting the Convention to adopt the abolition of slavery. Although himself an opponent of the Gironde, he came up against the hostility of Maximilien de Robespierre: accused of being a foreign agent, he was brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal and executed in April 1794.
