Jean-Baptiste Carrier
Jean-Baptiste Carrier was born in 1756 in Yolet a village in Upper Auvergne. He was born into a middle class family. He had a good education at a Jesuit College and would go on to work in a law office in Paris and as a attorney.
In 1792 he became a deputy in the National Convention having become moderately well known in both the Jacobin and Cordeliers club. In his early revolutionary career he voted for the execution of the King and called for the arrest of the Duke of Orleans.
As a Representative on Mission he was sent to Nantes in October 1793 where he was ordered to suppress the anti-revolutionaries there. He created a Revolutionary Tribunal to deal with the suspects. He also created the so called Legion of Marat to swiftly empty the jails. As time progressed he created more and more grotesque methods of killing prisoners. These included placing prisoners on boats and then sinking the boats in the Loire. This reached a more sadistic level when naked women and men were tied together and thrown in the river in a so called “Republican Marriage”. These killings have been referred to as the “Drowning of Nantes”. In an effort to find any evidence of counter revolutionary activities buildings were ransacked and burnt. His reign of terror included the murder of men, women, children, nuns and monks. He claimed to have “removed” 3,000 “rebels”.
Carrier returned to Paris shortly before the events of Thermidor where Robespierre and his allies were removed and then executed. In the changing climate Carrier was seen with far more suspicion especially as rumours were reaching Paris of what had been occurring in Nantes. He was subsequently arrested and put on trial. The jury found him guilty and he was executed on 16th December 1794.
Letter of Carrier to Citizen Derieu, Envoy of the Primary Assemblies, and Member of the Committee of Public Safety of Saint-Brieuc. Rennes September, 1793. Taken from Correspondence of Jean-Baptiste Carrier (People’s Representative to the Convention) During his mission in Brittany, 1793-1794, John Lane: The Bodley Head, New York (1920) p21-23
Great operations in connection with numerous reforms will keep me in Rennes for several days. I hope soon to visit Saint-Brieuc, where my presence is urgently desired and where I am exceedingly anxious to be among the numerous brave sans-culottes who, thanks to their energy and co-operation, are enjoying a complete triumph at the present moment. I was very pleased with the highly satisfactory arrangements that have been made by Citizen Hamelin, whom I saw daily and always with pleasure when he was at Rennes. The brave defenders of our country of the regiment formerly Forest, and one of your cannoneers, confirmed this news. All those excellent patriots assure me that you have made the most effective preparations to facilitate my operations in your town. Continue, worthy Republicans, to watch and to work, and to mark out all counter revolutionists, moderates, royalists, feuillants, and conspirators both for their cure and the national vengeance.
The triumph of the sans-culotterie must not be incomplete; all places must be filled by brave sans-culottes; and every one not wishing to be sans'culottized must be rigorously excluded from them and reduced by the firmest measures to powerlessness to injure. To prepare for the happy success of this I am sending you the most extended powers with an order for the arrest of Ruperon and Ducondic. Kindly communicate all this to your brothers of the Committee of Public Safety of which you are a member, and concert with them so that the promptest execution may be given to the two mandates of arrest and the placing of such persons as these orders authorize, and that the most vigorous and immediate measures may lead effectively to the disarmament and arrests which I have authorized pending my arrival to put the finishing touch to the reforms.
Greeting and eternal fraternity to all the patriots.
Carrier.
Letter of Carrier to the Committee of Public Safety, Rennes September 1793. Taken from Correspondence of Jean-Baptiste Carrier (People’s Representative to the Convention) During his mission in Brittany, 1793-1794, John Lane: The Bodley Head, New York (1920) p34
Citizen Colleagues,
Brittany was the first to rise for the Revolution; it will be the first to move for a counter-revolution if it has any opportunity. It is inconceivable, it is even treason against national liberty, that no one of my colleagues, that no citizen should have given the National Convention an account of the political situation of former Brittany. It is high time it should be known that there are only a few communes going with the Revolution ; that it is only among the sans'Culotterie of the towns that good principles are to be found ; everywhere else there is open counter-revolution;
The town which above all others requires your attention and care is Nantes. You probably know, or at least my colleagues there ought to have informed you, that the town is filled with foreigners; that the merchants and gentlemen who practically compose the whole town are recognized counter-revolutionists and in communication with the rebels of the Vendee, whose rebellions they encourage and support that the Nantais were the first to set the dire example of an advance to the ci-devant Comte d'Artois. I don't know what motives for circumspection there can be in the case of a town that might well become a second Lyons. From Nantes to Rennes there is a cordon of counter-revolution.
Everywhere, I repeat, everywhere the Constituted Authorities are in open counter-revolution; everywhere there is an open traffic in separate markets in money and assignats this counter revolutionary action has only disappeared in the Department of Ille-et-Vilaine. Nowhere have the measures of the 4th of May relative to provisions been taken. I can assure you that in Finistere and Morbihan, whither I intend to go as soon as possible, the counter-revolution is as strong as at Coblentz. Things had come to such a pass in Rennes that I had to spend eight days choosing patriots to fulfil administrative functions. I am going to work this change tomorrow; there are other secondary ones to follow, for I will not leave a single aristocrat in office. After that I will go where liberty seems most threatened by dangers.
Meanwhile, I have cleared the prisons in Rennes of all counter-revolutionists imprisoned in them; a great number had escaped, eight since I came here. I sent sixteen to the Revolutionary Tribunal……..
Letter of Carrier to the Committee of Public Safety, Nantes October 1793. Taken from Correspondence of Jean-Baptiste Carrier (People’s Representative to the Convention) During his mission in Brittany, 1793-1794, John Lane: The Bodley Head, New York (1920) p69
I must warn you that there are in the prisons of Nantes people arrested as prime movers of the Vendee. ^ Instead of amusing myself by bringing them to trial, I shall send them to their own homes to be shot. These terrible examples will overawe the ill-disposed and will restrain those who might have a desire to swell the cohort of the brigands. They are believed to be alive as long as their punishment is not actually seen.
Greeting and fraternity.
Carrier.
Letter of Carrier to the National Convention, Cholet October 1793. Taken from Correspondence of Jean-Baptiste Carrier (People’s Representative to the Convention) During his mission in Brittany, 1793-1794, John Lane: The Bodley Head, New York (1920) p80
Citizen Colleagues,
The Army of the West formed on the 14th in two columns ; one, composed of troops from Luçon, passed by Les Herbiers ; the other, of troops from Mayence, has marched from Montaigu on Tiffauges. This position was held by the brigands; they rang the tocsin on the approach of our Army and flung themselves into the woods, so that we entered Tiffauges without much trouble. The next day (the 15th), after the column had set out, Turreau had this resort of brigands burnt. The vanguard was marching towards Mortagne by the Cholet road, when our colleague Merlin sent word to us that he was marching towards the brigands at La Romagne ; we learnt a moment afterwards that he had passed them with his mounted chasseurs and the legions of Cassel and the Franks.
This well-known retreat of theirs to dispute the road to Cholet with us. We summoned a Council of War, consisting of the People's Representatives and Officers of the Staff, and there on a rock the order was issued to attack the enemy in two columns. Hardly was the order received when we heard the cannon. Merlin, with our colleague Cambon's brother, had gone to meet the enemy they found themselves surrounded. Cambon was unhorsed and slightly wounded they only returned to us by cutting their way through the midst of the enemy.
Following the road to Mortagne we found only a few outposts; all had fallen before the blows of our brave Republicans. Arrived in sight of Mortagne with the body of our Army, we saw the town occupied by the vanguard and our colleague Turreau, who in order to effect an entry had set fire to the suburbs and charged the brigands with his mounted chasseurs, who made more than twenty bite the dust. We learnt that the brigands had only evacuated this well-known retreat of theirs to dispute the road to Cholet with us. We summoned a Council of War, consisting of the People's Representatives and Officers of the Staff, and there on a rock the order was issued to attack the enemy in two columns. Hardly was the order received when we heard the cannon. Merlin, with our colleague Cambon's brother, had gone to meet the enemy they found themselves surrounded. Cambon was unhorsed and slightly wounded they only returned to us by cutting their way through the midst of the enemy.
Turreau marched with the column from Lugon, led by the brave General Bard. They were at first frightened by the number of the enemy and the heavy fire of their artillery. Merlin was with the column from Mayence, and encouraged by his presence, they achieved prodigies of valour. Seeing a movement on the enemy's right to pass over our left flank, General Beaupuy gave a bayonet charge from their rear, and took two pieces of cannon, which he caused to be pointed against them immediately, while General Kleber, whose coolness equals his bravery, and our colleague Turreau, were chasing the enemy to the very walls of Cholet, after having captured four pieces of cannon.
L'Echelle, the General-in-Chief, was at the head of Vimeux' division, and in his turn pursued the enemy on the right. The affair was very swift and hot. A few brave Republicans perished for the sake of their country. Among them was Tyrau, Commander of the Legion of Cassel; La Bruyere, Adjutant of General Besson, who himself sealed the people's cause with his blood; but they are avenged ; a number of brigands have bitten the dust, and many of their leaders have remained on the battlefield. All our wounded cried “Long life to the Republic” Of these are Generals Barge and Targe, (the latter) Chief of the Prankish Legion, who by his intrepid action at Port-Saint-Pere has already drawn upon himself the attention of the National Convention.
Every man did his duty; evening alone separated the combatants. Our cannon growled over Cholet all night. The attacking column remained in good order with the Army until dawn, but hardly had the light come than Targe, in spite of his wound, entered Cholet at the head of his Franks. The columns followed him soon after. This triumphant entry was only a passing through; we were careful not to let them stay there. They took up a position well to the fore.
We found in Cholet six pieces of cannon, twenty powder carts, a well-furnished arsenal, and the correspondence of the rebels, which we are forwarding to the Committee of Public Safety. At present we are taking the most effective measures to finish the extermination of the hordes of scoundrels who are bringing desolation to the heart of the Republic. Those who fought under my eyes love her as sincerely as they defend her bravely.
Greeting and fraternity,
Carrier.
Letter of Carrier to the Committee of Public Safety 12 November, 1793). Taken from Correspondence of Jean-Baptiste Carrier (People’s Representative to the Convention) During his mission in Brittany, 1793-1794, John Lane: The Bodley Head, New York (1920) p106
Kleber is the son of a Strasbourg peasant. In battle he shows unequalled coolness and courage. He is the General who has the greatest military knowledge in the Army of the West, of Brest, and perhaps of all the Republican Armies. Plans of campaign, arrangement of an army, order of march, he knows everything perfectly. He has the frankness, the speech, the habits, the sansculottism of a true Republican; the only defect that I can see in him is that he is a little too severe on fighting days.
Letter of Carrier to the Committee of Public Safety 12 November, 1793). Taken from Correspondence of Jean-Baptiste Carrier (People’s Representative to the Convention) During his mission in Brittany, 1793-1794, John Lane: The Bodley Head, New York (1920) p114
Brave Colleagues, the Revolution marches with giant strides: prejudice and fanaticism crumbles beneath the irresistible force of right the torch of philosophy brightens everything and consumes her enemies; the Convention enjoys the greatest confidence; circumstances look well for us, the wind of Revolution blows strong. Now is the appointed time; the French people have delivered into your hands the thunderbolt of vengeance let it roar; shatter it in lightning upon counterrevolutionary heads; be terrible as it is when in anger! Despotism must make liberty's foundations sure. Her earliest benefits and the trials she has undergone when in her cradle, can only be appreciated by patriots. The Republican rod must descend pitilessly on those who disdain to bend their haughty heads beneath equality's yoke. Strike, and strike hardily; track to earth every prejudiced person; the time has come. The vicissitudes of a Revolution are only too great large measures have saved Liberty; they will give her firm and lasting support. With these principles engraven on my heart, I practise them with that Republican steadfastness which only sees the image of a shattered Fatherland and strives boldly to piece it together again. ^ I have every suspect arrested and disarmed; the greatest and most wealthy of them are in the cells. I have further measures to mature of which I shall inform you; you shall judge if they be revolutionary! I promise not to leave a single counter-revolutionist, not one monopolist, at large in Nantes in a few days' time, and this in spite of the swarms of them in the commune.
Greeting, fraternity,
Carrier.
Letter of Carrier to General Avril 30th November, 1793. Taken from Correspondence of Jean-Baptiste Carrier (People’s Representative to the Convention) During his mission in Brittany, 1793-1794, John Lane: The Bodley Head, New York (1920) p136
Liberty. Equality.
Department of Morbihan.
Nantes. 10th Frimaire,
Year 2 of the French Republic,
One and Indivisible.
Carrier, People's Representative, attached to the Army of the West, to Citizen Avril, Adjutant-
General, Chief of Brigade.
Continue, Citizen, to carry terror and death to all the counter-revolutionists" of Morbihan and the surrounding communes. Let every individual suspected of incivism or of having dabbled in counter-revolutionary plots be instantly incarcerated in safe prisons. Let every individual whom you may find armed against the Republic or taking part in counter-revolutionary assemblages be instantly put to death and their property consigned to the flames. Summon before you the inhabitants of each commune, and if by means of information upon which you can rely you obtain the names of absentees or of counter revolutionists, or of persons bearing arms against the Republic, deliver their property to the flames forthwith and see that the Constituted Authorities cause their goods to be confiscated. These orders I delegate to you with confidence, and I hope you will carry them out with as much firmness as zeal. Carrier.
Letter of Carrier to the National Convention 1st December 1794. Taken from Correspondence of Jean-Baptiste Carrier (People’s Representative to the Convention) During his mission in Brittany, 1793-1794, John Lane: The Bodley Head, New York (1920) p237
(Carrier writes) that the Commission established at Nantes which declared it had condemned only four to five hundred brigands, acknowledges already one thousand eight hundred. Moreover, it is certain that in calculating the days it was in function and the number of brigands it had sentenced to execution, there were at least four thousand of them put to death; it tried one hundred and fifty to two hundred of them per day. He concludes from this that the depositions contradict each other, and he asks in consequence the deposit at the record-office of the Revolutionary Tribunal of the Registers of the Military Commission of Nantes. The Revolutionary Tribunal has refused him this just request under pretence that he wished to gain time by this method.
The Guillotine blade that dispatched Jean-Baptiste Carrier. In the Wellcome Collection London