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( 472 J
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BlEMOIR OF HENRI GREGOIRE , BISHOP OF BLOIS .
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[ Translated from Le Gfobe . 1 Why is it that we have to commence by a reproach on liberalism this last tribute to one of its most pure and courageous heroes ? He who had presided during times of difficulty over our two great revolutionary Assemblies ; who had consecrated his life to the abolition of slavery , to the establishment of religious liberty , to forwarding national education , has passed his old age in solitude and neglect , in that country which his zeal had so ably served .
And when the electors of a department , making themselves the interpreters of the public gratitude , wished to pay that homage to his name which they thought the most impressive , by inscribing it amongst those of the representatives of his country , counter-revolutionary voices having basely traduced him , tlie Assembly knew no better than to evade his defence by a parliamentary subterfuge . And when French liberty had again triumphed over the backsliding princes whom she had already once overthrown , she thought not of
withdrawing from oblivion one of her patriarchs—she thought not of restoring to him a place in the bosom of the learned society of which he was one of the founders , and of which revenge had robbed him . The retreat of the old man became more obscure than ever ; and , as under the restoration , sonow he found himself surrounded by only a small number of friends , whose minds and hearts were elevated by his instruction and example . Is it then true that liberty , which has such power for destruction , knows not how to * reward its defenders ?
Henri Gr ^ goire , born at Ve ' tro , near Luneville , in 1750 , exercised the pastoral duties at Embermenil . He had made himself known , in 1772 , by ' An Eulogium on Poetry , " for which honours were awarded to him by the Academy of Nanci ; and some years after , by an essay upon " The Political , Physical , and Moral Improvement of the Jews" ( a liberal work ) ; when , in ] 789 , he was appointed deputy from the clergy of Lorraine to the States-general . The Rector of EmbermeJiil was one of the first ecclesiastics who united
himself to the Tiers-etat . He assisted at the sitting of the Jeu-de-Paume , where his presence , as well as that of Rabaud-St .-Etienne , and of the Don Gerle , has furnished David with an ingenious episode in the story of his admirable picture . Gregoire was likewise the first ecclesiastic who took the oaths to the constitution for the clergy . The example of a man whose pious zeal and whose acquirements were well known , and the discourse which he delivered , to shew his motives for taking the oath , had great influence upon other members of the order to which he belonged . Thence may be dated the violent hatred of which he was the object all his life , and which revived with redoubled intensity in his last moments .
The suffrages of two departments , La Sarthe and Loir-et-Cher , conferred upon him the Constitutional Episcopacy : he chose the latter department , and was soon invested with the affection and the confidence which pointed him out for the central administration , and subsequently to represent the department in the Convention . Among his principal political acts in the Constituent Assembly , we ought to mention the proposition for a declaration of duties , indispensable , in his
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1831, page 472, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2599/page/40/
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