Jean-François Rewbell

Jean-François Rewbell as a member of theFrench Directory

Jean-François Reubell(French pronunciation:[ʒɑ̃fʁɑ̃swaʁøbɛl]) orRewbell(6 October 1747 – 24 November 1807) was a French lawyer, diplomat, and politician of theRevolution.

The revolutionary

Born atColmar(now in thedépartementofHaut-Rhin), he became president of the local order oflawyers,and in 1789 was elected as a deputy to theEstates-Generalby theThird Estateof thebailliageof Colmar-Schlestadt.

In theNational Constituent Assemblyhisoratory,legal knowledge and austerity of life gave him much influence.A partisan of revolutionary reforms, Rewbell voted in favor of reforms such as theCivil Constitution of the Clergy,but opposed the recognition ofcitizenship rightsforAlsatian Jews.

In July 1791, after the flight ofLouis XVI,theconstitutional king,Rewbell left theJacobin Cluband joined theFeuillants.During the session of theLegislative Assembly,after the Constituent Assembly was dissolved in September of that year, he exercised the functions ofprocureur syndic,and was subsequently secretary-general of thedépartementof Haut-Rhin.He was elected to theRepublic'sNational Conventionin 1792, and was its envoy to theRhineland,advocating the union of theElectorate of the Palatinateand other territories with France.A zealous promoter of theTrial of Louis XVI,he was absent on mission at the time of the king's condemnation.

Directorate and retirement

He took part in theThermidorian Reactionmovement which led to the fall ofMaximilien Robespierre,and became a member of the reorganisedCommittee of Public Safetyand of theCommittee of General Security.In early 1795, he assistedEmmanuel-Joseph Sieyèsin negotiating the surrender of theBatavian Republicto theFrench Republic.Hismoderationcaused his election by seventeendépartementsto theCouncil of Five Hundred.

Appointed a member of theDirectoryin November 1795, he became its president in 1796; he then entered theCouncil of Ancients.In office, Rewbell dealt with theRoyalistattemptedcoup d'état(The 18 Fructidor), as well as theConspiracy of the Equals;he engineered theannexationof the Rhineland and the southernLow Countriesto the Republic, as well as the invasion of theOld Swiss Confederacyand the creation of theHelvetic Republic.He was retired byballotin 1799, after being held responsible for the Frenchdefeats of that yearin front of theSecond Coalition.

AfterNapoleon Bonaparte's coup of18 Brumairehe retired from public life, and died at Colmar.

References

• L. Sciout,Le Directoire(Paris, 1895—97).