Henri Grégoire in Nice: The Communication Strategy of a National Convention Member in the Alpes-Maritimes Department, 1793

Abstract

Drawing on the writings of Henri Grégoire, abbot and constitutional bishop, member of the French National Convention, and other sources, the authors of the article analyse various aspects of the religious policy of the French revolutionary authorities in the new French department of Alpes-Maritimes (until 1792 — the county of Nice within the Kingdom of Sardinia). In March — April 1793, members of the Convention, in their capacity as commissioners of Paris, were on a mission to Nice, where they were engaged in organising new institutions of power and dealing with other issues of social and religious life. In historiography there is a good tradition of research on the activities of Grégoire and Jagot in the Alpes-Maritimes Department (Henri Moris, Joseph Combet, Françoise Hildesheimer, Michèle-Helyett Siffre, Georges Doublet, Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall, Marc Ortolani). However, a number of important pieces of evidence have remained out of the historians’ view. As the authors demonstrate, in many respects the members of the Convention were successful. They reorganised all the municipalities, formed three new districts, organised the election of administrators, magistrates, judges and members of the Convention, settled relations with people’s societies which, during the breakdown of power, had tried to take over some of the administrative powers, and forced the enrolment of “new citizens” in the National Guard and as volunteers. Only the “question of religion” remained unresolved. Grégoire and Jagot avoided radical steps: the time for the total “de-Christianisation” that swept across France in waves in 1793—1794 was not yet ripe. Examples of a cautious “preaching” strategy in this matter are the numerous letters and instructions of the Convention commissioners, as well as Grégoire’s “Address” to the citizens of Nice, published in Italian, apparently at the end of April 1793, which, so far, has not been studied by historians. The Appendix to this article contains the first Russian translation with commentary of “An Address to the Citizens of the Department of Alpes-Maritimes by Citizen Grégoire, Member the National Convention and Commissioner of the Same in This Department. Nice, 1793” (“Indirizzo a’ cittadini del dipartimento dell’ Alpi Marittime del cittadino Gregoire deputato, e commissario della Convenzione Nazionale in questo dipartimento. Nizza, 1793”).