Honoré Mirabeau

Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Comte de Mirabeau, (often referred to simply as Mirabeau) (March 9, 1749 - April 2, 1791) was a French writer, popular orator and statesman. During the French Revolution, he was a moderate, favored a constitutional monarchy built on the model of Great Britain, and conducted secret negotiations with the king in order to reconcile the monarchy and the revolution--an effort that failed.

Death

For indeed in the beginning of 1791 his death was very near; and he knew it to be so. The wild excesses of his youth and their terrible punishment had weakened his strong constitution, and his parliamentary labours completed the work. So surely did he feel its approach that some time before the end he sent all his papers over to Sir Gilbert Elliot, who kept them under seal until claimed by Mirabeau's executors. In March his illness was evidently gaining on him, to his great grief, because he knew that he alone could yet save France from the distrust of her monarch and the present reforms, and from the foreign interference, which would assuredly bring about catastrophes unparalleled in the history of the world. Every care that science could afford was given by his friend and physician, Cabanis, to whose brochure on his last illness and death the reader may refer. The people kept the street in which he lay quiet; but medical care, the loving solicitude of friends, and the respect of all the people could not save his life. When he could speak no more he wrote with a feeble hand the one word "dormir" (sleep), and on April 2, 1791 he died.

Related Topics:
Cabanis - April 2 - 1791

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He received a grand burial, and it was for him that The Panthéon in Paris was created as a burial place for great Frenchmen. In 1792, his secret dealings with the king were uncovered, and his remains were removed from the Pantheon in 1794.

Related Topics:
The Panthéon - Paris

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