CONDORCET Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis of (1741–1794).

He passes on to him a memorandum from the Prince of SALM, who seeks the opinion of the ‘patriotic members of the diplomatic committee’. He asks Brissot to speak to the Minister of Finance, CLAVIÈRE, regarding the matter of Camille DESMOULINS, ‘who is seeking the post of director in the customs administration’. These gentlemen are postponing the matter for a month; that is to say, within a month they expect a counter-revolution, the entry of the enemy into France, and the removal of Mr Clavière. […] It is important to give this post to a patriot without delay’… And we must ‘take prompt measures to ensure that we no longer have people working against us whom we pay’. We must also prevent Admiral d’ESTAING from commanding in Alsace; he is ‘a madman’, whose conduct as commander of the Versailles Guard during the October Days Condorcet recalls: ‘you need look no further to realise that he can do much harm and that he cannot be of service’; This is also the view of DUMOURIEZ, who judges him to be “a man who is brave and cowardly, base and proud, sensible and extravagant, speaking intelligently of his profession, and spouting unintelligible jargon, all within the space of an hour”…