The life of J.P. Brissot, deputy from Eure and Loire, to the National Convention. Written by himself. Translated from the French
Authors of source text
Jacques-Pierre Brissot de Warville
Contributions
- James White
- translator
- John Debrett
- publisher
Related resources
- is translation of
- Réponse de J.-P. Brissot à tous les libellistes qui ont attaqué et qui attaquent sa vie passée has translation
Notes
Another version was published in January 1794 by John Stockdale, Debrett's sometime collaborator, and in Dublin by Zachariah Jackson.
The translator is tentatively identified as James White on the basis that he had also translated Rabaut St-Etienne's 'History of the French Revolution' for Debrett in 1792.
This 'life' was written by Brissot in the context of the 1791 elections to the Legislative Assembly to defend himself against the continual attacks published by his old enemy, Charles Thévenau de Morande in the Argus Patriote and elsewhere. According to Brissot, the campaign was orchestrated by the deputy and journalist Duquesnoy, who also hired other pamphleteers, such as the authors of Le Babillard and the Chant de coq. Brissot's defence against charges of embezzlement, espionage and general malfeasance provides an overview of his actions and publications to date, including some useful comments on questions of translation.
While it is unclear what motivated this translation three years later, apart from a wider interest in the career of the guillotined Brissot, there were positive reviews in 'The New Annual Register, Or General Repository of History, Politics, and Literature for the year 1794', p.228 and in 'The American Monthly Review or Literary Journal', vol.1 (1795), p.369.
See Simon Burrows, 'A King's Ransom. The Life of Charles Thévenau de Morande, Blackmailer, Scandalmonger & Master-Spy' (2010), p.194ff.