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PIERRE ETIENNE LOUIS DUMONT (1759-1829)

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 666 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PIERRE See also:ETIENNE See also:LOUIS See also:DUMONT (1759-1829)  , See also:French See also:political writer, was See also:born on the 18th of See also:July 1759 at See also:Geneva, of which his See also:family had been citizens of See also:good repute from the days of See also:Calvin . He was educated for the See also:ministry at the See also:college of Geneva, and in 1781 was chosen one of the pastors of the See also:city . The political troubles which disturbed Geneva in 1782, however, suddenly turned the course of his See also:life . He belonged to the liberals or democrats, and the See also:triumph of the aristocratic party, through the interference of the courts of See also:France and See also:Sardinia, made See also:residence in his native See also:town impossible, though he was not among the" number of the proscribed . He therefore went to join his See also:mother and sisters at St See also:Petersburg . In this he was probably influenced in See also:part by the example of his townsman See also:Pierre Lefort, the first See also:tutor, See also:minister, and See also:general of the See also:tsar . At St Petersburg he was for eighteen months pastor of the French See also:church . In 1785 he removed to See also:London, See also:Lord Shelburne, then a minister of See also:state, having invited him to undertake the See also:education of his sons . It was at the See also:house of Lord Shelburne, now 1st See also:marquess of See also:Lansdowne, where he was treated as a friend or rather member of the family, that he became acquainted with many illustrious men, amongst others See also:Fox, See also:Sheridan, Lord See also:Holland and See also:Sir See also:Samuel See also:Romilly . With the last of these he formed a See also:close and enduring friendship, which had an important See also:influence on his life and pursuits . In 1788 See also:Dumont visited See also:Paris with Romilly . During a stay of two months in that city he had almost daily intercourse with See also:Mirabeau, and a certain See also:affinity of talents and pursuits led to an intimacy between two persons diametrically opposed to each other in habits and in See also:character .

On his return from Paris Dumont made the acquaintance of See also:

Jeremy See also:Bentham . Filled with admiration for the See also:genius of Bentham, Dumont made it one of the See also:chief See also:objects of his life to recast and edit the writings of the See also:great See also:English jurist in a See also:form suitable for the See also:ordinary See also:reading public . This See also:literary relationship was, according to Dumont's own See also:account, one of a somewhat See also:peculiar character . All the fundamental ideas and most of the illustrative material were supplied in the' See also:manuscripts of Bentham; Dumont's task was chiefly to abridge by striking out repeated See also:matter, to See also:supply lacunae, to secure uniformity of See also:style, and to improve the French . The following See also:works of Bentham were published under his editorship: Traite de legislation civile et penale (1802), Theorie See also:des peines et des recompenses (1811), Tactique des assemblees legislatives (1815), Trait' des preuves judiciaires (1823) and De l'organization judiciaire et de la codification (1828) . In the summer of 1789 Dumont went to Paris . The See also:object of the See also:journey was to obtain through See also:Necker, who had just returned to See also:office, an unrestricted restoration of Genevese See also:liberty, by cancelling the treaty of See also:guarantee between France and Switzer-See also:land, which prevented the See also:republic from enacting new See also:laws without the consent of the parties to this treaty . The proceedings and negotiations to which this See also:mission gave rise necessarily brought Dumont into connexion with most of the leading men in the Constituent See also:Assembly, and made him an interested spectator, sometimes even a participator, indirectly, in the events of the French Revolution . The same cause also led him to renew his acquaintance with Mirabeau, whom he found occupied with his duties as a See also:deputy, and with the See also:composition of his See also:journal, the See also:Courier de See also:Provence . For a See also:time Dumont took an active and very efficient part in the conduct of this journal, supplying it with reports as well as See also:original articles, and also furnishing Mirabeau with speeches to be delivered or rather read in the assembly, as related in his highly instructive and interesting See also:posthumous See also:work entitled Souvenirs sur Mirabeau (1832) . In fact his friend See also:George See also:Wilson used to relate that one See also:day, when they were dining together at a table d'hote at See also:Versailles, he saw Dumont engaged in See also:writing the most celebrated See also:paragraph of Mirabeau's address to the See also:king for the removal of the troops . He also reported such of Mirabeau's speeches as he did not write, embellishing them from his own stores, which were inexhaustible .

But this co-operation soon came to an end; for, being attacked in See also:

pamphlets as one of Mirabeau's writers, he See also:felt hurt at the notoriety thus given to his name in connexion with a See also:man occupying Mirabeau's peculiar position, and returned to See also:England in 1791 . In 18or he travelled over various parts of See also:Europe with Lord See also:Henry See also:Petty, afterwards 3rd marquess of Lansdowne, and on his return settled down to the editorship of the works of Bentham already mentioned . In 1814 the restoration of Geneva to in-dependence induced Dumont to return to his native See also:place, and he soon became the See also:leader of the supreme See also:council . He devoted particular See also:attention to the judicial and penal systems of his native state, and many improvements on both are due to him . He died at See also:Milan when on an autumn tour on the 29th of See also:September 1829 .

End of Article: PIERRE ETIENNE LOUIS DUMONT (1759-1829)
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