Lèse-nation

Physical or moral attack against the nation

Crimes of lèse-nation were defined as attacks committed directly against the rights of society. There are two types: those who attack the physical existence of the nation and those who seek to harm its moral existence. The latter are as guilty as the former. Crimes of lèse-nation are rare in states where a strong constitution and an established government enable the enforcement of the state's monopoly on the use of force. At this point, however, the young nation was still in the process of forming. Under the Constitution of 1791, the crime was to be judged by the Haute Cour Nationale.^[7][8]

The only death sentence

The only death sentence passed under the law of lèse-nation was that of Thomas de Mahy, Marquis de Favras. The Marquis de Favras was sentenced to death on 18 February 1790. He was hanged the next day on the Place de Grève in Paris. The execution of this judgement was seen by the revolutionaries as the first experience of political justice of the French Revolution.^[2]

A Swiss baron in the dock: Complot contre Paris et l'Assamblée Nationale

However, the most famous person accused of the crime of lèse-nation was Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt, a Swiss military officer in French service. The judicial proceedings against him in connection with the Storming of the Bastille began on 20 November 1789, when the record of the dénonciation and the complaint of the King's Prosecutor were read aloud before the court at the Grand Châtelet in Paris, in accordance with the decree of the Municipal Committee of Inquiry of 18 November, which summarised the charges against him. His trial proper began the following day, on 21 November 1789, with the first judicial questioning. In the court records, the Besenval Case is referred to as: Affaire du Baron de Besenval: Complot contre Paris et l'Assamblée Nationale, 19 novembre 1789 – 1 mars 1790. The baron's case became exemplary. Not only because he was a foreigner, a close friend of Queen Marie Antoinette and one of the first accused of the crime of lèse-nation, but also because of his fame and his famous friends who campaigned for his release, such as the Marquis de Lafayette, Jacques Necker and the Comte de Mirabeau. What was ultimately important for the baron's survival: These gentlemen also enjoyed respect among the revolutionaries. Furthermore, the baron was represented in court by the best and most prominent French lawyer at the time: Raymond Desèze. He later also defended King Louis XVI in court. The court was deeply impressed by Desèze's plaidoyer. The plaidoyer was even published and was considered a reference in court cases regarding the crime of lèse-nation.^{[9][10][11][12][13][14][15]}

In addition, as early as October 1789, the report of the Commission of Inquiry revealed that the only document currently in existence that could convict the Baron de Besenval of a crime of lèse-nation is a copy of an order written to the Governor of the Bastille, Bernard-René Jourdan, Marquis de Launay, in which the baron wrote: "Monsieur de Launay will hold out to the last extremity; I have dispatched to him forces sufficient." The original of this document no longer existed and the copy was not sufficient for a conviction in court, at least that's what was officially claimed.^[16][17]

"The Baron de Besenval replied in court, with seeming confidence, that he had penned no letters to M. de Launay."

The rescue of the Baron de Besenval

Of course, there were also doubts about this official theory that the document was just a copy or a fake. After all, the document was dated and signed le 14 juillet 1789, le B. de Besenval. Critics of the Baron de Besenval saw this as an attempt by the baron's influential friends to save his neck. Later the defense strategy was changed. And on 3 December 1789, Pierre Victor de Besenval admitted in court that the document was genuine. However, circumstances had obviously changed in the meantime and this document alone was no longer enough to convict the baron.^[19][20]

The trial against the Baron de Besenval was highly political and controversial. There were many rumours, intrigues and false reports surrounding the trial, to the detriment of the baron. A fictitious correspondence between the Baron de Besenval and the Marquis de Favras was even published in order to stir up sentiment against the baron. Accordingly, public opinion was largely against him. The people thirsted for revenge, whereby the people had less of an eye on individual personalities than on the nobility as a whole. A scapegoat was needed. Consequently, it is very likely that the court wanted to make an example regarding the crime of lèse-nation. Hence it was probably to the baron's advantage that the example demanded by the people was already made on the Marquis de Favras on 18 February 1790 and the people were therefore already satisfied when the baron's trial ended on 1 March 1790. Although most of the public still believed that the Baron de Besenval was guilty, calls for his execution diminished significantly after the execution of the Marquis de Favras on 19 February 1790. There was even the rumor that it was precisely for this reason that the end of the trial of the Baron de Besenval was postponed to a date after the execution of the Marquis de Favras.^[21][22]

"Favras fell a victim to Besenval."

— Comment by Jean-Charles Thilorier, legal advisor of Thomas de Mahy, Marquis de Favras. At the end of January 1790, it became clear to Jean-Charles Thilorier that the court wanted to link the two lèse-nation cases in the sense that Favras should be sacrificed in favour of Besenval^[23]

On Monday, 1 March 1790, the Baron de Besenval was acquitted of the crime of lèse-nation. A verdict that was not without controversy. Quite a few regarded this judgement as a courtesy decision in favour of the baron's influential friends.^[10][24]

"Monsieur Necker saved my life. (...) I swear loyalty and gratitude to him unto my dying day."

— Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval, in conversation with his friends when he was back at his residence, the Hôtel de Besenval^[25]