French military officer, lawyer.

Interested in the sciences and political economy. Warned Franklin against luxury and hereditary nobility (1779).

Author of Les Lois pénales dans leur ordre naturel (1784) and of A mon fils (1785).

Sent a copy of his Les Lois pénales … to Franklin and asked him to forward a copy of the book to Congress (1784).

Became a Girondin and was condemned to death during the French Revolution. Committed suicide before his death sentence could be carried out.

Born in Alençon.