Background
Henri was born at Veho near Luneville, on the 4th of December 1750, the son of a peasant.
( ...Clenard comptait à Lisbonne plus de Maures et de Nèg...)
...Clenard comptait à Lisbonne plus de Maures et de Nègres que de Blancs, et ces Noirs, disait-il, sont pires que des brutes. Les choses ont bien changé ; le savant secrétaire de lacadémie de Portugal, Correa de Serra, cite plusieurs Nègres instruits, avocats, prédicateurs et professeurs qui, à Lisbonne, à Riojaneiro, et dans les autres possessions portugaises, se sont signalés par leurs talents. En 1717, le Nègre don Juan Latino enseignait à Séville la langue latine ; il vécut cent dix-sept ans. La brutalité de ces Africains dont parle Clenard, nétait que le résultat de loppression et de la misère : lui-même reconnaît ailleurs leur aptitude. « Jenseigne, dit-il, la littérature à mes esclaves nègres ; jen ferai un jour des affranchis, et jaurai mon Diphilus comme Crassus, mon Tyron comme Ciceron ; ils écrivent déjà fort bien, et commencent à entendre le latin ; le plus habile me fait la lecture à table »... H.G.
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(Henri Jean-Baptiste Grégoire, également appelé labbé Gré...)
Henri Jean-Baptiste Grégoire, également appelé labbé Grégoire, né le 4 décembre 1750 à Vého (Trois-Évêchés, aujourd'hui dans le département de Meurthe-et-Moselle) et mort le 28 mai 18311 à Paris, est un prêtre catholique, évêque constitutionnel et homme politique français, l'une des principales figures emblématiques de la Révolution française. L'abbé Grégoire se rallie au Tiers état et, à l'Assemblée Constituante, il réclame non seulement l'abolition totale des privilèges et de l'esclavage mais prône aussi le suffrage universel. Fondateur3 du Conservatoire national des arts et métiers et du Bureau des longitudes, il participe à la création de l'Institut de France dont il devient membre. Voici un petit livre qui sera fort utile à tous ceux qui voudront, en quelques lignes, découvrir la personnalité et le combat politique de l'Abbé Grégoire. L'introduction - le discours prononcé par Aimé Césaire en décembre 1950, lors de l'inauguration, à Fort-de-France, de la place qui devait porter son nom - nous révèle un touchant portrait de cet illustre député. Elle retrace le long et inlassable combat que mena l'abbé Grégoire, depuis la dernière décennie du XVIIIe siècle jusqu'à la fin de sa vie, pour la liberté et les droits des esclaves noirs de France. (source http://raphael.afrikblog.com/archives/2013/06/01/27307738.html)
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(First published in French in 1808 and translated into Eng...)
First published in French in 1808 and translated into English two years later under the title An Enquiry Concerning the Intellectual and Moral Faculties, and Literature of the Negroes, this book was a touchstone for nineteenth-century abolitionists in England and the United States. Written by Abbe Henri Gregoire (1750-1831), it argued vigorously against assumptions of black inferiority and in favor of the humanity, equality, and cultural achievements of people of African heritage. His treatise summarized most of the available written thought on race up to that time. A leading activist in the French Revolution, Gregoire reflected in his arguments the spirit of "libertie, egalite, and fraternite" and anticipated twentieth-century race inquiry and theory. Although influential in its time, the first translation of Gregoire's work was incomplete and flawed. This new edition presents a fresh, accurate, and complete text of this key document in the history of Western racial thought. The book includes a substantial biography of Gregoire and analysis of the historical context in which he wrote and the impact of his work.
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(Excerpt from Le Flambeau, Vol. 2: Revue Belge des Questio...)
Excerpt from Le Flambeau, Vol. 2: Revue Belge des Questions Politiques Et Littéraires; Mai-Août, 1921 L'enseignement professionnel et l' Enseignement des adultes rousseau (blanche. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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(Amongst other things this book is a devastating critique ...)
Amongst other things this book is a devastating critique of Thomas Jefferson s Notes on the State of Virginia in which he mused about black inferiority Its publication in 1810 after Jefferson s opposition to its appearance was a major event for African Americans Gregoire was an early nineteenth century French Roman Catholic bishop who turned his attention to the place of African Americans in Catholic and Euro American thought His work is among other things a devastating critique of Thomas Jefferson s Notes on the State of Virginia in which the third president muses about black inferiority Gregoire s views made an American edition difficult as Jefferson opposed the book s appearance An Enquiry is one of the few of Gregoire s thirty plus books to be translated into English and its publication in Brooklyn in 1810 was an event for African Americans In this new edition Graham Hodges presents a pristine reproduction of the original text in modern font and offers a critical introduction to Gregoire Franco American abolitionism and the influence of this important work on the development of the African American intellectual tradition
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(Excerpt from Mémoires de Grégoire, Ancien Évêque de Blois...)
Excerpt from Mémoires de Grégoire, Ancien Évêque de Blois, Député A l'Assemblée Constituante Et A la Convention Nationale, Sénateur, Membre de l'Institut, Vol. 1: Précédés d'une Notice Historique sur l'Auteur La f une de Napoléon était à son apogée en 1808. Régoire, considérant comme terminée la grande crise politique dont il avait été l'lm des acteurs jetait, avec le {calme d'une 'con science sans reproche un coup d'oeil sur sa car. Fière, et la mettant en présence des calomnies dont on l'avait abreuvé il voulait, non point se replonger vivant dans une polémique pénible, mais laisser après lui un portrait fidèle de lui mübe. C'est sur ce document qu'il veut être jugé par l'histoire, et l'histoire ne' lui fera point défaut; car il s'est montré là comme partout, naïf et vrai. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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("Essai sur la régénération physique morale et politique d...)
"Essai sur la régénération physique morale et politique des Juifs" par Henri Grégoire. Henri Grégoire était un prêtre catholique et homme politique français (17501831).
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( This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923....)
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ Mémoire En Faveur Des Gens De Couleur Ou Sang-mêlés De St-Domingue Et Des Autres Isles Françoises De L'Amérique, Adressé À L'Assemblée Nationale, Par M. Grégoire,... Henri Grégoire Belin, 1789
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Henri was born at Veho near Luneville, on the 4th of December 1750, the son of a peasant.
He was educated at the Jesuit college at Nancy.
Grégoire became curé of Emberménil and a teacher at the Jesuit school at Pont-a-Mousson. He was elected in 1789 by the clergy of the bailliage of Nancy to the states-general, where he soon became conspicuous in the group of clerical and lay deputies of Jansenist or Gallican sympathies who supported the Revolution. He was among the first of the clergy to join the third estate, and contributed largely to the union of the three orders; he presided at the permanent sitting of sixty-two hours while the Bastille was being attacked by the people, and made a vehement speech against the enemies of the nation.
He subsequently took a leading share in the abolition of the privileges of the nobles and the Church. Under the new civil constitution of the clergy, to which he was the first priest to take the oath (December 27, 1790), he was elected bishop by two departments. He selected that of Loire-et-Cher, taking the old title of bishop of Blois, and for ten years (1791-1801) ruled his diocese with exemplary zeal.
When on the 7th of November 1793 Gobel, bishop of Paris, was intimidated into resigning his episcopal office at the bar of the Convention, Grégoire, who was temporarily absent from the sitting, hearing what had happened, hurried to the hall, and in the face of a howling mob of deputies refused to abjure either his religion or his office. He was prepared to face the death which he expected; but his courage, a rare quality at that time, won the day, and the hubbub subsided in cries of “Let Grégoire have his way!”
Throughout the Terror, in spite of attacks in the Convention, in the press, and on placards posted at the street corners, he appeared in the streets in his episcopal dress and daily read mass in his house. After Robespierre's fall he was the first to advocate the reopening of the churches (speech of December 21, 1794). He also exerted himself to get measures put in execution for restraining the vandalistic fury against the monuments of art, extended his protection to artists and men of letters, and devoted much of his attention to the reorganization of the public libraries, the establishment of botanic gardens, and the improvement of technical education.
He had taken during the Constituent Assembly a great interest in Negro emancipation, and it was on his motion that men of colour in the French colonies were admitted to the same rights as whites. On the establishment of the new constitution, Grégoire was elected to the Council of 500, and after the 18th Brumaire he became a member of the Corps Législatif, then of the Senate (1801). He took the lead in the national church councils of 1797 and 1801; but he was strenuously opposed to Napoleon's policy of reconciliation with the Holy See, and after the signature of the concordat he resigned his bishopric (October 8, 1801). He was one of the minority of five in the Senate who voted against the proclamation of the empire, and he opposed the creation of the new nobility and the divorce of Napoleon from Josephine; but notwithstanding this he was subsequently created a count of the empire and officer of the Legion of Honour. During the later years of Napoleon's reign he travelled in England and Germany, but in 1814 he had returned to France and was one of the chief instigators of the action that was taken against the empire.
To the clerical and ultra-royalist faction which was supreme in the Lower Chamber and in the circles of the court after the second Restoration, Grégoire, as a revolutionist and a schismatic bishop, was an object of double loathing. He was expelled from the Institute and forced into retirement. But even in this period of headlong reaction his influence was felt and feared.
In 1814 he had published a work, De la constitution française de l’an 1814, in which he commented on the Charter from a Liberal point of view, and this reached its fourth edition in 1819. In this latter year he was elected to the Lower Chamber by the department of Isére. By the powers of the Quadruple Alliance this event was regarded as of the most sinister omen, and the question was even raised of a fresh armed intervention in France under the terms of the secret treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. To prevent such a catastrophe Louis XVIII. decided on a modification of the franchise; the Dessolle ministry resigned; and the first act of Decazes, the new premier, was to carry a vote in the chamber annulling the election of Gregoire. From this time onward the ex-bishop lived in retirement, occupying himself in literary pursuits and in correspondence with most of the eminent savants of Europe; but as he had been deprived of his pension as a senator he was compelled to sell his library to obtain means of support. He died on the 28th of May 1831.
During his last illness he confessed to his parish curé, a priest of Jansenist sympathies, and expressed his desire for the last sacraments of the Church. These the archbishop of Paris would only concede on condition that he would retract his oath to the civil constitution of the clergy, which he peremptorily refused to do. Thereupon, in defiance of the archbishop, the abbé Baradére gave him the viaticum, while the rite of extreme unction was administered by the abbé Guillon, an opponent of the civil constitution, without consulting the archbishop or the parish curé. The attitude of the archbishop roused great excitement in Paris, and the government had to take precautions to avoid a repetition of the riots which in the preceding February had led to the sacking of the church of St Germain l'Auxerrois and the archiepiscopal palace.
On the day after his death Grégoire's funeral was celebrated at the church of the Abbaye-aux-Bois; the clergy of the church had absented themselves in obedience to the archbishop's orders, but mass was sung by the abbé Grieu assisted by two clergy, the catafalque being decorated with the episcopal insignia. After the hearse set out from the church the horses were unyoked, and it was dragged by students to the cemetery of Montparnasse, the cortége being followed by a sympathetic crowd of some 20, 000 people.
Whatever his merits as a writer or as a philanthropist, Grégoire's name lives in history mainly by reason of his wholehearted effort to prove that Catholic Christianity is not irreconcilable with modern conceptions of political liberty. In this effort he was defeated, mainly because the Revolution, for lack of experience in the right use of liberty, changed into a military despotism which allied itself with the spiritual despotism of Rome; partly because, when the Revolution was overthrown the parties of reaction sought salvation in the “union of altar and throne. ” Possibly Grégoire's Gallicanism was fundamentally irreconcilable with the Catholic idea of authority. At least it made their traditional religion possible for those many French Catholics who clung passionately to the benefits the Revolution had brought them; and had it prevailed, it might have spared France and the world that fatal gulf between Liberalism and Catholicism which Pius IX. 's Syllabus of 1864 sought to make impassable.
Grégoire was the author of Histoire des sectes religieuses, depuis le commencement du siecle dernier jusquli tépoqiu actuelle (2 vols. , 1810); Essai historigue sur les libertés de l'église gallicane (1818); De l'influence du Christianisme sur la condition des femmes (1821); Histoire des confesseurs des empereurs, des rois, et d'autres princes (1824); Histoire du mariage des prétres en France (1826). Grégoireana, on résumé général de la conduite, des actions, et des écrits de M. le Comte Henri Grégoire, preceded by a biographical notice by Cousin d'Avalon, was published in 1821; and the Mémoires … de Gregoire, with a biographical notice by H. Carnot, appeared in 1837 (2 vols. ).
(Amongst other things this book is a devastating critique ...)
(Henri Jean-Baptiste Grégoire, également appelé labbé Gré...)
(First published in French in 1808 and translated into Eng...)
(Excerpt from Mémoires de Grégoire, Ancien Évêque de Blois...)
("Essai sur la régénération physique morale et politique d...)
( This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923....)
(Excerpt from Le Flambeau, Vol. 2: Revue Belge des Questio...)
( ...Clenard comptait à Lisbonne plus de Maures et de Nèg...)
Grégoire was a devout Catholic, exactly fulfilling all his obligations as a Christian and a priest; but he refused to budge an inch from his revolutionary principles.
He was the one, in the first session of the National Convention (September 21, 1792), who proposed the motion for the abolition of the kingship, in a speech in which occurred the memorable phrase that “kings are in the moral order what monsters are in the natural. ”
On the 15th of November he delivered a speech in which he demanded that the king should be brought to trial, and immediately afterwards was elected president of the Convention, over which he presided in his episcopal dress. During the trial of Louis XVI. , being absent with other three colleagues on a mission for the union of Savoy to France, he along with them wrote a letter urging the condemnation of the king, but omitting the words à mort; and he endeavoured to save the life of the king by proposing in the Convention that the penalty of death should be suspended.