Born at Brives, January 3, 1742; died in Paris, 1810.
He began life as a lawyer, being a prominent notary at Limoges. The
whole aristocracy and higher clergy in the town put their business
affairs into his hands. In 1789 he was sent to Paris as a member of
the _Tiers État_. His opinions were moderate at first, but soon
became intensely democratic. It was he who undertook the business of
reporting on Church property, and he presided over the Ecclesiastical
Committee in the Assembly. He proposed and passed a decree which
suppressed all religious orders, and made the property of the Church
national. In 1791 he proposed that Voltaire should receive the honours
of the Panthéon, adding “that Voltaire was perhaps the man amongst the
dead who most deserved the honours accorded to great patriots.” During
the session of 1792, Treilhard presided over the criminal tribune of
the departments of Paris. He decreed that Louis XVI. was guilty of
conspiracy against public liberty, and against the security of the
State. At the King’s trial he voted for his death, but with a respite
and appeal to the people. He was sent to Bordeaux to suppress the
rising of the Girondins, but recalled under the accusation of showing
too much moderation, and was replaced by Tallien.
He was Minister of Justice under the Directorate. Later he underwent
much persecution, owing to the intrigues of Sieyès, who was his
enemy. Napoleon appointed him President (or Judge) of the High Court
of Appeal, and he held this appointment till 1808, when he became
President of the Council of State until his death, two years later, at
the age of sixty-eight.