Historical Dictionary of the French Revolution 1789-1799 - Vol. 2

VADIER, MARC-GUILLAUME-ALEXIS ( 1736-1828), deputy, president of the Committee of General Security. Born in Pamiers (Ariège) in 1736, Vadier was the son of a receveur des dîmes. Educated at the Jesuit collège in Pamiers and then at the collège de l'Esquile in Toulouse, he joined the Piedmont regiment in 1753 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1755. He fought in the Battle of Rossbach in 1757 and then resigned his commission. He married in 1762 and was to have four sons. He became the leading landowner in his village of Montaut, near Pamiers, and in 1770 purchased the office of conseiller at the présidial court of Pamiers.

Vadier was elected to the Estates General in 1789, as representative of the Third Estate of the sénéchaussée of Pamiers. He signed the Tennis Court Oath and on 4 August 1789 supported the surrender of the privileges of the Comté de Foix. He defended the passive citizens of Pamiers against attempts to partition a plot of common land, known as La Boulbonne. Here, Vadier came into conflict with his local rivals, the Darmaing family, and in this conflict he represented the interests of Pamiers against those of the chef-lieu, Foix.

During the period of the Legislative Assembly, Vadier became president of the district court of Mirepoix (Ariège). After the flight to Varennes in 1791, Vadier, in a rare public speech, called for the suspension of the king, but finding this view too advanced for his audience, he withdrew the suggestion, and J.-P. Marat accused him of moral cowardice for doing so. In 1792, he denounced the royalist activities of the Darmaing family and was elected deputy for the Ariège to the National Convention. Vadier voted for the death of Louis XVI without reprieve and aligned himself with M. Robespierre in opposing a national referendum on the fate of the king. He vigorously opposed the federalist revolt in Toulouse. He was a member of the Jacobin club of Paris, the Convention's Comité de Secours Publics; and in September 1793 he entered the Committee of General Security. In Pluviôse Year II, he was elected the committee's pres

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