He became a lawyer to the
Parlement of Paris then a notary at the
Châtelet de Paris, but sold his position in 1788 to concentrate on politics. However, he could not get elected to any role in Paris and so he went to Clermont-Ferrand, where he set up a Society of Friends of the Constitution on the model of the group of the same name in Paris – he also made himself its president. After setbacks at several elections he was elected to the
National Convention as member for the department of
Puy-de-Dôme. Passionately in love with
Manon Roland, he remained under her influence, sat with the moderates in the Convention and joined the constitutional committee and the
Committee of Public Instruction. He was one of four men sent with the Minister for War
Pierre de Ruel to
Charles François Dumouriez. He was handed over to the Austrians, though his imprisonment meant that unlike most of his
Girondin friends he escaped the guillotine. He was freed in exchange for the daughter of
Louis XVI in November 1795 and sat in the
Council of Five Hundred until May 1797, but made little impact within it. He then retired to Clermont-Ferrand, where he published
Du nouvel ordre social fondé sur la religion (
On the new social order founded on religion) and sank into mysticism, studying biblical Hebrew and Greek so as to read the original texts of the Bible. == Publications ==