HERAULT DE SECHELLES, MARIE JEAN (1759 1794), French politician, was born at Paris on Sept. 20, 1759 He made his debut as a lawyer at the Chatelet, and later was avo cat general to the parlement of Paris. He devoted himself to lit erature, and his account of his visit to the Comte de Buffon at Montbard has with some justice been called a masterpiece of interviewing, before the day of journalists. Herault took part in the taking of the Bastille, and on Dec. 8, 1789, was appointed a judge in Paris. On his return from a mission to Alsace (Jan.— April, 1791) he was appointed commissaire du roi in the court of cassation. He was elected as a deputy for Paris to the Legislative Assembly, where he gravitated towards the extreme left, and, as a member of the diplomatic committee, presented a famous report demanding that the nation should be declared to be in danger (June 1793) . After the revolution of Aug. I o, 1792 (see FRENCH REVOLUTION), he co-operated with Danton, and on Sept. 2, was appointed president of the Legislative Assembly. Herault was several times president of the Convention, notably on June 2, 1793, the occasion of the attack on the Girondins, and on Aug. 1o, 1793, when the passing of the new constitution was celebrated. On the rejection of the projected constitution drawn up by Con dorcet, he was entrusted with the task of preparing a fresh one; his plan became the Constitution of 1793, which was passed, but never applied. As a member of the Committee of Public Safety Herault was employed on a mission in Alsace (Oct.—Dec. 1793) which made him an object of suspicion to the other members of the Committee of Public Safety, and especially to Robespierre. He was accused of treason, condemned with Danton, and executed on the 16th Germinal in the year II. (April 5, See the Voyage a Montbard, published by A. Aulard (1890) ; A Aulard, Les Orateurs de in Legislative et de la Convention (2nd ed. 1906) ; J. Claretie, Camille Desmoulins . . . etude sur les Dantonistes (1875) ; Dr. Robinet, Le Proces des Dantonistes (1879) ; "Herault de Sechelles, sa premiere mission en Alsace" in the review La Revolution Francaise, tome 22 ; E. Daudet, Le Roman d'un conventionnel. Herault de Sechelles et les dames de Bellegarde (1904) . His Oeuvres litteraires were edited (1907) by E. Dard.