The Nuttall Encyclopedia

1. Pétion de Villeneuve, Jérôme

   born at Chartres; figured in the French Revolution as a zealous republican, member of the Tiers État, one of the commission to reconduct the royal family from Varennes; was mayor of Paris in the year of the September massacres, 1792; was first President of the Convention, and, though his influence was declining, member of the first Committee of Defence, 1793; his attack on Robespierre proving unsuccessful he committed suicide; his body was afterwards found on the Landes of Bordeaux half devoured by wolves; was surnamed the "Virtuous," as Robespierre the "Incorruptible"; was of the Girondist party; had "unalterable beliefs, not hindmost of them," says Carlyle, "belief in himself" (1783-1793).