Armand-Guy-Simon de Coetnempren, comte de Kersaint (July 29, 1742 - December 4, 1793), French sailor and politician, was born at Paris. A Girondin, Kersaint held important naval posts during the early stages of the French Revolution. He was executed in 1793 on charges that he had supported the restoration of the monarchy.
Early Life and Career
Kersaint came from an old family: his father, Guy François de Coetnempren, comte de Kersaint, was a distinguished naval officer. The son entered the navy in 1755, and in 1757, while serving on his father's ship, was promoted to the rank of ensign for his bravery in action. By 1782 he was a captain, and in this year took part in an expedition to Guiana. At that time the officers of the French navy were divided into two parties--the reds or nobles, and the blues or roturiers.
The French Revolution
At the outbreak of the Revolution, Kersaint, in spite of his high birth, took the side of the latter. He adopted the new ideas, and in a pamphlet entitled Le Ban Sens attacked feudal privileges; he also submitted to the Constituent Assembly a scheme for the reorganization of the navy, but it was not accepted. On January 4, 1791 Kersaint was appointed administrator of the départment of the Seine by the electoral assembly of Paris. He was also elected as a depute suppleant to the Legislative Assembly, and was called upon to sit in it in place of a deputy who had resigned.
From this time onward his chief aim was the realization of the navy scheme which he had vainly submitted to the Constituent Assembly. He soon saw that this would be impossible unless there was a general reform of all institutions, and therefore gave his support to the policy of the advanced party in the Assembly, denouncing the conduct of Louis XVI, and on August 10, 1792 voting in favour of his deposition.
Shortly after, he was sent on a mission to the armée du Centre, visiting in this way Soissons, Reims, Sedan and the Ardennes. While thus occupied he was arrested by the municipality of Sedan but was set free after a few days' detention. He took an active part in one of the last debates of the Legislative Assembly, in which it was decided to publish a Bulletin officiel, a report continued by the next Assembly, and known by the name of the Bulletin de la Convention Nationale.
Kersaint was sent as a deputy to the Convention by the départment of Seine-et-Oise in September 1792, and on January 1 1793 was appointed vice-admiral. He continued to devote himself to questions concerning the navy and national defence, prepared a report on the English political system and the navy, and caused a decree to be passed for the formation of a committee of general defence, which after many modifications was to become the famous Committee of Public Safety. In January 1793, he had also had a decree passed concerning the navy. He had, however, entered the ranks of the Girondins, and had voted in the trial of the king against the death penalty and in favour of the appeal to the people. He resigned his seat in the Convention on January 20.
Arrest and Execution
After the death of the king his opposition became more marked; he denounced the September massacres, but when called upon to justify his attitude confined himself to attacking Marat, who was at the time all-powerful. His friends tried in vain to obtain his appointment as minister of the marine; and he failed to obtain even a post as officer. He was arrested on September 23 at Ville d'Avray, near Paris, and taken before the Revolutionary Tribunal, where he was accused of having conspired for the restoration of the monarchy, and of having insulted national representation by resigning his position in the legislature. He was executed on the 4th of December 1793.