Gregoire

Gregoire, Henri (1750-1831), a French priest who played a prominent and not dishonourable part in the Revolution, was born near Luneville. Before the Revolution he had published several works, and was sent by the clergy of Nancy in 1789 to represent them in the States-General. He was one of the first four of his order who joined the Third Estate, and took an active part in the proceedings of the Constituent Assembly. He accepted the position of Bishop of Blois under the new Civil Constitution of the Church, but continued to sit in the Assembly. In the Convention he proposed the motion for the abolition of the monarchy, but opposed the execution of the king and the state renunciation of Christianity. It was on his motion also that the negroes in the West Indies were enfranchised. He showed himself superior to most of the leading revolutionists by doing all he could to restrain vandalism and to protect men of letters. He was a member of the Council of Five Hundred, and also of the Legislative Assembly constituted after the 18th Brumaire; and, although he voted against the Empire and the divorce of Josephine, he was created a Count and an officer of the Legion of Honour. In 1819 he made an attempt to re-enter political life, but his election was annulled. When he died the Church refused him her rites.