CASIIIAChltF.S, JEAN JACQUES DE, was born at Montpellier in 1753. Ills father was an advocate, and brought him up to the emus profession, In which he soon distinguished himself, and was made Counsellor of the Cour des Comptes of Moutpellier. When the revo lution broke out be wan elected deputy to the Legislative Assembly, and afterwards to the Conventiou, where he voted for the death of Louis XVI, but with a conditioual reprieve. In the subsequent period of terror he endeavoured, though cautiously, to briug back the Assembly to legal measures, and to chock arbitrary acts. lie after wards sat In the Council of Five Hundred, and was made Miuister of Justice under the Directory, in which capacity he greatly assisted Bonaparte in the revolution of the 18th Brumaire. From that moment Ile followed the fortunes of Napoleon, and was among his most useful and subservient instruments : he was also one of the few who remained faithful to him to the lash In his capacity of Great Chancellor of the empire, he had to communicate to the senate all Napoleon'. measures for peace or war, including his frequent demands for fresh conscriptions of men, which were sanctioned by that docile assembly. Cambacbres was one of the compilers of the civil code, for
which his legal knowledge rendered him very well qualified. Ile had already written, in 1796, a' Projet do Code Civil,' which became iu a great measure the basis of the new code. After Napoleon's first abdication In 3814, Cambac6res lived in retirement at Paris. When Napoleon returned from Elba, ho appointed Cambadres Miuister of Justice, notwithstanding his exCUIC8. After the king's second return, Cambac6res withdrew again to private life, end in February 1816, ho went to reside at Brussels, being included in the list of those who were exiled from France for having voted for the death of Louis XVI. However in May 1818, the king reinstated Cambaceres in all his civil and political rights, in consequence of which he returned to Paris, where he died in 1824. Ilia manners were courteous and pleasing : be was liberal and hospitable, and had the reputation of giving the beet dinners of any of the ministers and great officers of the empire.