CAMBACERES, JEAN JACQUES REGIS DE, DUKE OF PARMA (1753-1824), French statesman, was born at Montpellier on Oct. 18, 1753. In 1792 the newly organized department of Herault sent him as one of its deputies to the Convention. Cam baceres took no decided part in party strife but occupied himself mainly with the legal and legislative work which went on almost without intermission even during the Terror. He had laid down conjointly with Merlin of Douai, the principles on which the legislation of the revolutionary epoch should be codified. At the close of 1794 he also urged the restoration of the surviving Girondins to the Convention, from which they had been driven by the coup d'etat of May 31, 1793. In the course of the year 1795, as president of the Committee of Public Safety, and as responsible especially for foreign affairs, he helped to bring about peace with Spain. At the dissolution of the Convention Camba ceres was one of those on the list of candidates for the Directory, but was not elected. The moderation of his views brought him into opposition to the Directors after the coup d'etat of Fructidor (Sept. 1797), and for a time he retired into private life. Owing, however, to the influence of Sieyes, he became minister of justice in July 1799. He gave a guarded support to Bonaparte and Sieyes in their enterprise of overthrowing the Directory (coup d'etat of Brumaire 1799).
After a short interval Cambaceres was, by the constitution of Dec. 1799, appointed second consul of France. He undoubtedly helped very materially to ensure to Napoleon the consulship for life (Aug. I, 1802) ; but the second consul is known to have dis approved of some of the events which followed, notably the exe cution of the duc d'Enghien, the rupture with England, and the proclamation of the empire (May 19, 1804). He then became arch-chancellor of the empire and president of the Senate in per petuity. He also became a prince of the empire and received in 1808 the title duke of Parma. Apart from the important part which he took in helping to co-ordinate and draft the Civil Code, Cambaceres did the State good service by seeking to curb the impetuosity of the emperor, and to prevent enterprises so fatal as the intervention in Spanish affairs and the invasion of Russia (1812) proved to be. In 1815, during the Hundred Days, he took up his duties reluctantly at the bidding of Na poleon; and after the second downfall of his master, he was for a time exiled. A decree May 13, 1818 restored him to his civil rights as a citizen of France ; but the last six years of his life he spent in retirement. In demeanour he was quiet, reserved and tactful, but when occasion called for it he proved himself a brilliant orator. He was a celebrated gourmet, and his dinners were utilized by Napoleon as a useful adjunct to the arts of statecraft.