Henri Grégoire, born near Lunéville, 1750, died in Paris, 1831,
was _Curé_ of Embermesnil. Elected to the States-General as
representative of the clergy of Lorraine he proceeded to Versailles,
1789.
His liberal opinions were already well known by a book he had
published, entitled “Regeneration of the Jews.” This book was in 1788
crowned by the Academy of Metz.
At Versailles the Abbé Grégoire soon became intimate with the leading
members of the _Tiers État_. He exercised an ever-increasing
influence over those among the clerical members of the Assembly who,
like himself, were drawn from the ranks of the people.
At the very moment when the attack upon the Bastille was proceeding,
and when a large proportion of the Deputies expressed apprehension,
fear and alarm, Grégoire delivered a vehement oration in the Assembly
in favour of the Revolution.
His influence in the Constitutional Assembly was invariably directed
towards the advancement of those reforms by which he hoped the
enfranchisement of the people might be accelerated. He took an active
part in the abolition of the privileges possessed by the nobility and
clergy, voted against the law of primogeniture, and demanded that Jews
and negroes should have equal civil rights with Christians and white
men.
When the Clerical Constitution was promulgated, Grégoire was the first
priest who took the oath; and he accepted the Bishopric of Blois under
the new _régime_. He represented the Department Loir et Cher
(in which his episcopal see is situated) in the Convention, and on
September 22 brought forward a motion in favour of the total abolition
of Royalty and the proclamation of a Republic; his favourite axiom
being, “The history of kings is the martyrology of the people.”
He was not present at the trial of Louis XVI., but wrote from Chambery
to the Convention, declaring his opposition to a death sentence upon
the King.
Grégoire became a prominent member of the Committee of Public
Instruction, and by his efforts the _Conservatoire des Arts et
Métiers_ was established.
He persuaded the Assembly to vote for the political and civil
emancipation of the Hebrew race in France, and to pass a law abolishing
negro slavery in the French colonies.
Grégoire continued to be an earnest and ardent Christian throughout
the bitter religious persecutions of “the Terror,” and constantly
proclaimed the sincerity of his religious beliefs. He had, indeed, been
first attracted towards the Revolution because he imagined it would
bring the adoption of Gospel principles into ordinary life. Bourdon de
l’Oise accused him in the Jacobin Club of a design to Christianise the
Revolution. Grégoire, in reply, declared this his earnest desire.
After the closing of the Convention, Grégoire joined the Council of the
five hundred; in 1798 he became a Member of the _Corps Législatif_
to the Presidency, of which he was soon after elected. He did not hold
this post many weeks. His intense Republicanism was distasteful to the
new Government, while his faith in Christianity aroused against him the
animosity of the Radical party.
Grégoire became a senator in 1801, and retained his senatorship
during Napoleon’s reign. He was opposed to the Imperial policy,
protesting against the occupation of the Papal States and the divorce
and re-marriage of Napoleon. After the Restoration Grégoire suffered
considerable persecution. The Government deprived him of his pension
as a Senator and of his membership in the Academy and Institute. He
was reduced to such a depth of poverty as to be compelled to sell his
library in order to support existence.
The next fifteen years of his life were spent in complete retirement;
he carried out during this period a vast amount of literary work, and
kept up a very extensive correspondence with eminent and learned men
belonging to various European countries.
His situation was not improved by the Revolution of 1830. Louis
Philippe obliged him to resign his commandership of the Legion of
Honour, and when, a few months later, he was upon his death bed,
the last sacraments were refused him, by the express order of the
Archbishop of Paris. A courageous priest, the Abbé Gallon, did,
however, administer the viaticum to the dying ex-bishop.