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Jean Nicolas Pache

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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JEAN NICOLAS PACHE (1746-1823), French politician, was born in Paris, of Swiss parentage, the son of the concierge of the hotel of Marshal de Castries. He became tutor to the marshal's children, and subsequently first secretary at the ministry of marine, head of supplies ( munitionnaire general des vivres ), and comptroller of the king's household. After spending several years in Switzerland with his family, he returned to France at the beginning of the Revolution. He was employed successively at the ministries of the interior and of war, and was appointed on the 10th of September 1793 third deputy suppleant of Paris by the Luxembourg section. Thus brought into notice, he was made minister of war in the following October. Pache was a Girondist himself, but aroused their hostility by his incompetence. He was supported, however, by Marat, and when he was superseded in the ministry of war by Beurnonville (Feb. 4, 1 794) he was chosen mayor by the Parisians. In that capacity he contributed to the fall of the Girondists, but his relations with Hebert and Chaumette, and with the enemies of Robespierre led to his arrest on the 10th of May 1794. He owed his safety only to the amnesty of the 25th of October 1795. After acting as commissary to the civil hospitals of Paris in 17 99, he retired from public life, and died at Thin-le-Moutier on the 18th of November 1823.

See L. Pierquin, Me'moires sur Pache ((Charleville, 1900).