At the beginning of the
French Revolution, he was a municipal officer, fulfilling administrative and judicial functions. Arrested on May 31, 1793 as an influential
federalist, he was imprisoned in the
Sainte-Marie d'en-Haut monastery in Grenoble. He was released after a few days for health reasons and confined to his home instead. Eventually released, he left Grenoble in 1794 and took refuge in Paris to escape the
Law of Suspects. There he dropped the name Dumolard, by which he was best known, retaining only his family name. Linked by interests and affection to the party that overthrew
Robespierre, he was appointed, on 9
Thermidor Year II, Secretary General of the
Committee of General Security, where he carried out the perilous mission of affixing seals to the warrants against the Robespierre brothers. He also ordered the release of a large number of prisoners. He then joined the
Ministry of the Interior as head of division, then as secretary general of the
Ministry of Justice, and he became a commissioner of the Directory at the Civil Court of Paris and then at the
Court of Cassation. ==Later life==