Pache, Jean Nicolas
PACHE, JEAN NICOLAS (1746-1823), French pohtician, was born in Paris, of Swiss parentage, the son of the concierge of the hotel of Marshal de Castries. He became tutor to the marshal's children, and subsequently first secretary at the ministry of marine, head of supplies (munilionnaire general des vivres), and comptroUer of the king's household. After spending several years in Switzerland with his family, he returned to France at the beginning of the Revolution. He was employed successively at the ministries of the interior and of war, and was appointed on the 20th of September 1793 third deputy suppleant of Paris by the Luxembourg section. Thus brought into notice, he was made minister of war in the following October. Pache was a Girondist himself, but aroused their hostility by his incompetence. He was supported, however, by Marat, and when he was superseded in the ministry of war by Beurnonville (Feb. 4, 1794) he was chosen mayor by the Parisians. In that capacity he contributed to the fall of the Girondists, but his relations with Hebert and Chaumette, and with the enemies of Robespierre led to his arrest on the loth of May 1794. He owed his safety only to the amnesty of the 25th of October 179s- After acting as commissary to the civil hospitals of Paris in 1799, he retired from pubhc life, and died at Thin-le-Moutier on the 18th of November 1823.
See L. Pierquin, Memoires sur Pache ((Charleville, 1900).
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
