Tallien, Jean-Lambert

(1767-1820)

   political figure

   Born in Paris, Jean-Lambert Tallien was a member of the jacobin Club since the beginning of the revolution of 1789 and, in 1791, published a popular newspaper, L'Affiche des citoyens. Recording secretary of the insurrectionist Commune of Paris after August 10, 1792, he was elected to the Convention, where, joining with the montagnards, he opposed girondin policies and voted for the king's death. A member of the Committee of Public Safety, he was sent on a mission to bordeaux to organize the terror there. In Bordeaux, among the prisoners, he met Theresa de Cabarrus (mme tallien), whom he married in 1793. Under her influence, he adopted a more moderate position and, seeing a new opportunity, contributed decisively to the fall of maximilien Robespierre. Tallien played an active role in the Themidorian reaction (closing the Jacobin Club, suppressing the Revolutionary Tribunal and the Montagnard insurrection of Year III—May 20, 1795). A member of the Council of Five Hundred, he accompanied Napoléon Bonaparte (see napoléon i) to Egypt.