Louis Pierre Manuel

Louis Pierre Manuel (1751 - November 17, 1793), was a French writer and revolutionary.

He was born at Montargis (Loiret), and entered the Congregation of the Christian Doctrine, becoming tutor to the son of a Paris banker. In 1783 his pamphlet, Essais historiques, critiques, littéraires, et philosophiques, resulted in his being imprisoned in the Bastille. He embraced the revolutionary ideas, and after the storming of the Bastille became a member of the provisional municipality of Paris. He was one of the leaders of the émeutes of June 20 and August 10, 1792, played an important part in the formation of the revolutionary commune which assured the success of the latter coup, and was made procureur of the commune.

He was present at the September massacres and saved several prisoners, and on September 7, 1792 was elected one of the deputies from Paris to the convention, where he promoted the proclamation of the republic. He suppressed the decoration of the Cross of St Louis, which he called "a stain on a man's coat", and demanded the sale of the palace of Versailles. His missions to the king, however, changed his sentiments; he became reconciled to Louis XVI, courageously refused to vote for the death of the sovereign, and had to tender his resignation as deputy. In 1792 he was prosecuted for publishing an edition of the Lettres de Mirabeau à Sophie, but was acquitted. He retired to Montargis, where he was arrested, and was later guillotined in Paris.

Besides the work cited above and his political pamphlets, he was the author of Coup d'oeil philosophique sur le regne de St Louis (1786); L'Armée française (1788); La Bastille dévoilée (1789); La Police de Paris dévoilée (1791); and Lettres sur la Révolution (1792).

Reference

• This entry incorporates public domain text originally from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica.