J P Brissot De Warville 1st Ed 1792 New Travels In The United States Of America

Up For Sale Today is

New Travels
In The
United States Of America.
Performed In 1788

by

J. P. Brissot De Warville
Translated from the French

Hardcover. 8vo. Published by Printed for J.S. Jordan, No. 166, Fleet-Street, London, UK. 1792. 483 pgs. First Edition/First Printing.

Bound in full leather with titles present to the spine. Spine rebacked. Boards have wear present to the extremities of the boards (boards are scuffed and worn). Previous owner's name present to the FFEP. Text is clean and free of marks. Binding tight and solid.

For Brissot, leader of the moderate Girondin party, guillotined by Robespierre in October 1793, and described with sympathy and insight by Coleridge in Conciones ad Populum (1795), the young United States was the inspiration of France in her quest for a stable egalitarian government. He was not uncritical of what he found on his travels, but he saw in all walks of life much to admire in this post-revolutionary period of consolidation and the testing of ideals.

Jacques Pierre Brissot (15 January 1754 – 31 October 1793), also known as Brissot de Warville was a French journalist, abolitionist, and revolutionary leading the faction of Girondins (initially called Brissotins) at the National Convention in Paris. The Girondins favored exporting the revolution and opposed a concentration of power in Paris. He collaborated on the Mercure de France and the Courier de l'Europe, which sympathized with the insurgents in the American colonies.

In February 1788, Brissot founded of the anti-slavery Society of the Friends of the Blacks. With the outbreak of the revolution in July 1789, he became one of its most vocal supporters. As a member of the Legislative Assembly, Brissot advocated for war against Austria and other European powers in order to secure France's revolutionary gains, which led to the War of the First Coalition in 1792. He voted against the immediate execution of Louis XVI which made him unpopular by the Montagnards. He was friendly with Jean-Paul Marat, but in 1793 they were the greatest enemies.

On 3 April 1793, Maximilien Robespierre declared in the Convention that the whole war was a prepared game between Dumouriez and Brissot to overthrow the First French Republic. Conflicts with Robespierre, who accused him of royalism eventually brought about his downfall. On 8 October, the Convention decided to arrest Brissot. Like Madame Roland and Pétion, Brissot was accused of organising (or taking part in) conspicuous dinners. At the end of October 1793, he was guillotined along with 28 other Girondins by Charles-Henri Sanson.