ANTOINE BARNAVE (1761-1793) Autograph manuscript titled «Quelques résultats sur la politique extérieure» (Some results on foreign policy)

1 p. 1/4 in-4. In French. One of the great orators of the Revolution, Antoine Barnave was a brilliant young lawyer and an early revolutionary in the Dauphiné, where he was the leader of the «journée des tuiles» in 1788. He defended advanced ideas as a deputy to the States General and to the Constituent Assembly (which elected him president in October 1790), and as a member of the Jacobin Club (for which he drafted the rules). After Mirabeau’s death, he became more moderate and eventually expressed opinions more favourable to the royalty: having been charged with bringing the royal family arrested in Varenne back to Paris, he was indeed seduced by the queen’s personality, believed he could convert her to the new ideas, and engaged in a secret correspondence with her. His popularity waned, and in January 1792 he decided to return to the Dauphiné. However, arrested in August 1792 after the discovery of a compromising document, he was judged and condemned by the revolutionary court in November 1793.