Augustin Alexandre Darthé

Augustin Alexandre Darthé (1769 – May 27, 1797) was a French revolutionary.

Life

Revolutionary

Born in Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise, he became administrator of the département of Pas-de-Calais after the outbreak of the French Revolution, and, as an admirer of Maximilien Robespierre, became a public agitator.

He escaped the death penalty after the Thermidorian Reaction, and befriended François-Noël Babeuf, being one of the main contributors to the conspiracy planned by the latter against the French Directory.

The action ought to have reflected the Manifesto of Equals, written by Sylvain Maréchal, aiming at taking the power by violence and forcing an egalitarian society, questioning the fact that democratic elections can be trusted to improve society.

Arrest and trial

On May 10, 1796 Babeuf was arrested with many of his associates, among whom was Darthé. The common trial was fixed to take place before the newly constituted High Court of Justice at Vendôme.

On Fructidor 10 and 11 (August 27 and August 28, 1796), when the prisoners were removed from Paris, there were tentative efforts at a riot and planned rescue, but these were easily suppressed. The attempt of five or six hundred Jacobins (September 7) to rouse the soldiers at Grenelle met with no better success.

The trial, begun at Vendôme on February 20, 1797, lasted two months. On Prairial 7 (May 26) Babeuf and Darthé were sentenced to death, and guillotined at Vendôme the next day (8 Prairial).

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.