Joseph-Étienne Richard

[1] Before the French Revolution he was admitted to the bar in 1788 and in 1790 was elected 'procureur syndic' of the commune of La Flèche, later becoming its public prosecutor.

[2] He was first sent as a représentant en mission to Sarthe and Maine-et-Loire where he took part in several victories over the Vendée rebels, establishing the first military commission (16 June 1793) and surveillance committee (18 October 1793) at Tours.

He worked with the generals to restore discipline and gave the order that English soldiers in the garrisons of Ypres and Nieuport were to be treated as prisoners of war.

He also negotiated an agreement with the Batavian Republic whereby the Dutch agreed to maintain 25,000 French troops on their soil.

He resigned again in 1816 when the law of 12 January 1816 proscribing regicides was passed, but he retired quietly to Saintes and no action was taken against him.