Editing Jean Sylvain Bailly

{{short description|French astronomer, mathematician, freemason, and political leader (1736–1793)}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2014}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image               = Jean Sylvain Bailly, Maire de Paris.png
| caption             = Portrait by [[Jean-Laurent Mosnier]], 1789
| name                =
| office              = 1st [[Mayor of Paris]]
| term_start          = 15 July 1789
| term_end            = 12 November 1791
| predecessor         = [[Jacques de Flesselles]] ([[Provost (civil)|Provost of the Merchants]])
| successor           = [[Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve]]
| office2             = [[List of Presidents of the National Assembly of France|1st]] President of the [[National Constituent Assembly (France)|National Constituent Assembly]]
| term_start2         = 17 June 1789
| term_end2           = 3 July 1789
| predecessor2        = ''Office established''
| successor2          = [[Jean Georges Lefranc de Pompignan]]
| office3             = [[Estates-General of 1789|Deputy of the Estates-General]]
| constituency3       = [[Paris]]
| term_start3         = 5 May 1789
| term_end3           = 9 July 1789
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1736|9|15|df=yes}}
| birth_place         = Paris, France
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1793|11|12|1736|9|15|df=yes}}
| death_place         = Paris, France
| death_cause         = [[Guillotined]]
| nationality         = [[French people|French]]
| residence           = {{ubl|Paris (1736–1791)|[[Nancy, France|Nancy]] (1791–1793)}}
| party               = [[Society of 1789|Patriotic]] (1790–1791)
| alma_mater          = {{indented plainlist|
*[[French Academy of Sciences|Academy of Sciences]]
*[[Académie française|French Academy]]}}
| occupation          = {{hlist|Astronomer|mathematician|politician}}
| signature           = Signature Bailly 1790.svg
}}

'''Jean Sylvain Bailly''' ({{IPA|fr|ʒɑ̃ silvɛ̃ baji|lang}}; 15 September 1736 – 12 November 1793{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}) was a French [[astronomer]], mathematician, [[freemason]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Dictionnaire universel de la Franc-Maçonnerie|first1= Monique|last1= Cara|first2=Jean-Marc|last2= Cara|first3= Marc |last3=Jode|language=fr|publisher=Larousse|date= 2011|isbn= 9782035861368}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ImBge5zWOzoC|title=Le Paris des Francs-Maçons |first1= Emmanuel|last1= Pierrat|first2=Laurent|last2= Kupferman|language=fr|publisher=Le Cherche Midi|date= 2013|isbn=9782749131429}}</ref> and political leader of the early part of the [[French Revolution]]. He presided over the [[Tennis Court Oath]], served as the [[Mayor (France)|mayor]] of Paris from 1789 to 1791, and was ultimately [[guillotine]]d during the [[Reign of Terror]].

==Scientific career==
Born in Paris, Bailly was the son of Jacques Bailly, an artist and supervisor of the [[Musée du Louvre|Louvre]], and the grandson of Nicholas Bailly, also an artist and court painter. As a child he originally intended to follow in his family's footsteps and pursue a career in the arts. He became deeply attracted to science, however, particularly [[astronomy]], by the influence of [[Nicolas de Lacaille]]. An excellent student with a "particularly retentive memory and inexhaustible patience",<ref name=Stephens51>Stephens, p. 51.</ref> he calculated an orbit for the next appearance of [[Halley's Comet]] (in 1759), and correctly reduced Lacaille's observations of 515 stars.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Edwin Burrows |date=September 1954 |title=Jean-Sylvain Bailly: Astronomer, Mystic, Revolutionary 1736–1793 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1005705 |journal=Transactions of the American Philosophical Society |volume=44 |issue=4 |page=430 |doi=10.2307/1005705 |jstor=1005705 }}</ref> He participated in the construction of an observatory at the [[Louvre]].  These achievements along with others got him elected to the [[French Academy of Sciences]] in 1763.<ref name=Stephens51/> In the years prior to the [[French Revolution]], Bailly's distinctive reputation as a French astronomer led to his recognition and admiration by the European scientific community.<ref name="Brucker">{{Cite book|title=Jean-Sylvain Bailly: Revolutionary Mayor of Paris|last=Brucker|first=Gene A|publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]]|year=1950|location=Illinois}}</ref>{{rp|1}} Due to his popularity amongst the scientific groups, in 1777, Bailly received [[Benjamin Franklin]] as a guest in his house in Chaillot.<ref name = "Brucker" />{{rp|2}}

===Scientific and other writing===
Bailly published his ''Essay on The Theory of the Satellites of Jupiter'' in 1766.{{Ref|fn_a|a}} The essay was an expansion of a presentation he had made to the academy in 1763. He later released the noteworthy dissertation O''n the Inequalities of Light of the Satellites of Jupiter''{{Ref|fn_b|b}} in 1771. In 1778, he was elected a foreign member of the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]].
[[File:Lettres sur l'origine des sciences - et sur celle des peuples de l'Asie.jpg|thumb|Front page of the 1777 copy of "''Discourse on the Origin of the Sciences and the Peoples of Asia''"]]
Bailly gained a high literary reputation thanks to his ''[[Eulogy|Eulogies]]'' for King [[Charles V of France]], [[Nicolas Louis de Lacaille|Lacaille]], [[Molière]], [[Pierre Corneille]] and [[Gottfried Leibniz]], which were issued in collected form in 1770 and 1790. He was admitted to the [[Académie française]] on 26 February 1784 and to the [[Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres|Académie des Inscriptions]] in 1785. From then on, Bailly devoted himself to the [[history of science]]. He published ''A History of Ancient Astronomy'' {{Ref|fn_c|c}} in 1775, followed by ''A History of Modern Astronomy'' (3 vols., 1782).{{Ref|fn_d|d}} Other works include ''Discourse on the Origin of the Sciences and the Peoples of Asia'' (1777),{{Ref|fn_e|e}} ''Discourse on [[Plato]]'s [[Atlantis#Plato.27s account|'Atlantide']]'' (1779),{{Ref|fn_f|f}} and ''A Treatise on Indian and Oriental Astronomy'' (1787).{{Ref|fn_g|g}} Though his works were "universally admired" by contemporaries,<ref name=Stephens51/> later commentators have remarked that "their erudition was... marred by speculative extravagances."{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==During the French Revolution==

In a short period of time, Bailly made his way up the judicial ranks. From being the deputy of Paris, he was elected [[Estates-General of 1789|Estates-General]] on 20 May 1789.<ref name = "Longman">{{cite book|title=Chronicle of the French Revolution|publisher=[[Longman]]|date=1989}}</ref>{{rp|96}} Soon after he was elected inaugural president of the [[National Assembly (French Revolution)|National Assembly]] (3 June 1789)<ref name = "Longman" />{{rp|98}} and led the famous [[Tennis Court Oath|proceedings in the Tennis Court]] on 20 June, being the first to take the Tennis Court Oath.<ref name = "Schama">{{cite book|title=Citizens|last=Schama|first=Simon|publisher=Penguin|date=1989}}</ref>{{rp|359}} In the [[National Assembly (French Revolution)]] Bailly was one of the deputies who secured the passage of a decree that declared Jews to be French citizens on 17 September 1791. He was met with threats and ridicule for this action. This decree repealed the special taxes that had been imposed on the Jews, as well as all the ordinances existing against them.<ref>{{Jewish Encyclopedia|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?letter=B&artid=139|article=Bailly, Jean-Sylvain|year=1906|pages=455–456|inline=1}}</ref>

Bailly was a member of the ''[[Society of 1789|Club de 1789]]'', one of the best-known societies at the time.<ref name="Brucker" />{{rp|98}} Though calls on his time from his mayoral duties restricted his involvement in the group, by May 1790, Bailly had risen to presiding officer of the club. In 1791, Jean Sylvain Bailly joined the Jacobin Club, but took no active role in it.

Shortly after the [[storming of the Bastille]] on 14 July 1789, he became the first [[mayor of Paris]] under the newly adopted system of the ''[[Paris Commune (French Revolution)|Commune]].''<ref name = "Schama" />{{rp|348}}

[[Image:Le Serment du Jeu de paume.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Sketch by [[Jacques-Louis David]] of the Tennis Court Oath. Bailly is pictured in the centre, facing the viewer, his right hand raised. ]]
[[File:Jean Silvain Bailly Garneray David Alix BNF Gallica.jpg|thumb|J.S.Bailly, by Garneray and Alix, after David scene above]]

==Mayor of Paris==
On 15 July 1789, Bailly took office as the mayor of Paris. Two days later he was met by [[Louis XVI]] at the [[Hôtel de Ville, Paris|Hôtel de Ville]] who was there to endorse the Revolution. Bailly presented him with the new symbol of the revolution: the [[cockade of France]].<ref name = "Schama" />{{rp|424}}

In his function as [[Mayor (France)|mayor]], he was attacked by [[Camille Desmoulins]] and [[Jean-Paul Marat]] as too conservative.<ref name = "Schama" />{{rp|499}} Bailly continuously sought to promote the authority of the mayor while limiting the power of the General Assembly of the Commune.

=== Maintaining order ===
Jean Sylvain Bailly sought to be in full control of his administration as the mayor of Paris. He envisioned being in a position where all answered to him, and only his orders were to be followed. Creating a centralized government within Paris was his plan, however Parisians were not keen with this vision.<ref name="Brucker" />{{rp|38}} His views are depicted in the following passage of his ''Mémoires:''

<blockquote>"... in the executive assembly, the mayor who presides over it is a specific officer of the commune. This Assembly possesses the totality of power, but its chief is its agent, its executive authority, who should be charged with the execution of its orders and the maintenance of its regulations. Moreover, since he is at the head of the administration, he understands all of its branches and has all of its strings in his hands. He is in a better position to detect the difficulties and the dangers than the other members who do not have the same information. If the law does not demand it, reason dictates that no important step be taken and no important questions be decided in his absence, unless he be allowed at least to make observations..."<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=Mémoires D'un Témoin de la Révolution, ou Journal.|last=Bailly|first=Jean Sylvain|publisher=Baudouin frères.|year=1821|location=Paris|pages=106–107}}</ref></blockquote>

=== Food crisis ===
During the early years of the French Revolution, Paris was going through a major food shortage. Bailly's actions to circumvent the situation were of great importance in keeping the revolution alive. Bailly had deputies gather grain that was being hoarded, made the sale of wheat mandatory by farmers, and helped the bakers by making them first in line in the village markets.<ref name="Brucker" />{{rp|42}} Convoys that transported grain obtained by deputies were often attacked. To deter these attacks, Bailly signed a decree imposing a fine of five hundred livres on anyone found obstructing such convoys.<ref name="Brucker" />{{rp|43}} Not only did the mayor control the supply of grain in the city, but he also imported grain from Africa to increase the city's reserve. A provisional regime was established in October, 1789, in order to stabilize the administration of the government.<ref name="Brucker" />{{rp|40}} Doing so led to order being established within the different jurisdictions, allowing The Communal Assembly, with the help of Bailly, to gain control of the food crisis. By February, 1790, the situation in Paris had improved.<ref name="Brucker" />{{rp|41}}

=== National Guard ===
The [[National Guard (France)|National Guard]], formed during the revolution by The Communal Assembly, was weak and underfunded. Lafayette, chief of the militia, could only do so much to strengthen this newly formed military. It took persuading to get funding from the Assembly to cover the cost and wages brought on by the troops.<ref name="Brucker" />{{rp|49}} Bailly saw the importance of having a military that was well-equipped. In the fall of 1789, Bailly was able to acquire ammunition for the troops. In October 1789, Bailly was involved in the establishment of the National Guard department, whose purpose was to arm the military. The mayor not only played a role in strengthening the National Guard, but also issued orders to Lafayette when trying to maintain civility within the city.<ref name="Brucker" />{{rp|50}} Bailly's use of troops was to secure the prisons, certify the ''droits d'entrée'' would be collected, and to ensure that beggars would not congregate in the city.

=== Church property ===
In an unsuccessful attempt at financial reconstruction, the National Assembly had taken control of church property, making it available to buyers through the issue of non-negotiable bonds known as "[[assignat]]s".<ref name="Brucker" />{{rp|53}} Bailly, along with the Municipal Bureau, then came up with a proposition on 10 March 1790, asking the government to give the city of Paris 200,000,000 livres worth of church land for it to sell to private investors in a period of three years. For their work in selling the land, Bailly and his administration would retain 50,000,000 livres. The National Assembly agreed to this deal.<ref name="Brucker" />{{rp|53–54}} On 2 August 1790, Bailly was reelected as mayor.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=TU1gDwAAQBAJ&dq=jacobin+club+%C3%A9lection+maire+1790+Bailly&pg=PA181 Petites et Grandes Révolutions de la Famille de Milly: Recherches sur et ... by Alexandre Blondet, p. 181, 185]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=e9EaAAAAYAAJ&dq=jacobin+club+%C3%A9lection+maire+1790+Bailly&pg=PA250 Les lundis révolutionnaires: 1790 by Jean-Bernard, pp. 250–251]</ref> He allowed investors to begin the purchasing of church property.<ref name="Brucker" />{{rp|55}} Before a year had passed, 28,000,000 livres worth of land had already been sold.<ref name="Brucker" />{{rp|56}} Bailly's proposal proved successful in generating revenue for Paris and the French state.

===Fall from favour===
After a [[Flight to Varennes|failed attempt]] by the royal family to flee the country, Bailly tried to contain the growing republican crowds asking for the King to step down. On the morning of 17 July 1791, tensions were rising as suspicion of treason grew. Citizens suspected of criticising the government or National Guard were being interrogated and detained.<ref name = "Andress">{{Cite book|title=Massacre at the Champ de Mars: popular dissent and political culture in the French Revolution|last=Andress|first=David|publisher=Royal Historical Society: Boydell Press|year=2000|location=Rochester}}</ref>{{rp|174–190}} Bailly soon heard of a gathering at the [[Champ de Mars]], where citizens were meeting to sign petitions calling for the overthrow of the King. Imposing martial law, he ordered the National Guard to disperse the large riotous assembly that had gathered. A violent response ensued and many people died, for which Bailly, along with [[Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette|Lafayette]], was considered responsible. What was to become known as the [[Champ de Mars Massacre]] was taken by the revolutionaries as an exemplar for oppression by the government.<ref name = "Andress" />{{rp|174–190, 213}} Having thereby become extremely unpopular, Bailly resigned on 12 November and was replaced four days later by [[Jerôme Pétion]]. Bailly moved to [[Nantes]], where he composed his ''Mémoires d'un Témoin'' (published in 3 volumes by MM. Berville and Barrière, 1821–1822), an incomplete narrative of the extraordinary events of his public life.

== Execution ==
[[File:Death of Bailly.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Bailly on the guillotine]]
In July 1793, Bailly left Nantes to join his friend [[Pierre-Simon Laplace]] at [[Melun]], but was recognized there and arrested. On 14 October, he was pressed to [[Marie Antoinette#1793: "Widow Capet," Trial, and Death|testify against Marie Antoinette]] but refused. On 10 November 1793, he was brought before the [[Revolutionary Tribunal]] in Paris, speedily tried, and sentenced to death the next day. On 12 November 1793, he was guillotined at the [[Champ de Mars]], a site selected symbolically as the location of his betrayal of the republican movement. The little red flag he had used to give the order to fire on the crowds on the Champs de Mars was tied to the cart that took him to his death, and burned in front of him before he was executed.<ref name="Aykroyd2014">{{cite book|author=W. R. Aykroyd|title=Three Philosophers: Lavoisier, Priestley and Cavendish|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bia0BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA168|date= 2014|publisher=[[Elsevier Science]]|isbn=978-1-4831-9445-5|page=159}}</ref> It was the revival of this event as a part of republican heritage after 10 August 1792, as well as a campaign of municipal persecution led by Marat, that ultimately resulted in Bailly's execution, as well as that of "many of his colleagues".<ref name = "Andress" />{{rp|213}} Before his death, he was forced to endure the freezing rain and the insults of a howling mob. When a scoffer shouted, ''"Tu trembles, Bailly?"'' ("Do you tremble, Bailly?"), he responded, ''"Oui, mais c'est seulement de froid"'' ("Yes, but it is only the cold").{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

==See also==
* [[Royal Commission on Animal Magnetism]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Works===
* {{note|fn_a| a:}} [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/488962152 ''Essai sur la théorie des satellites de Jupiter''], 1766
* {{note|fn_b| b:}} [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/30829602 ''Sur les inégalités de la lumière des satellites de Jupiter''], 1771
* {{note|fn_c| c:}} [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/637912781 ''Histoire de l'astronomie ancienne''], 1775
* {{note|fn_d| d:}} [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/636853990 ''Histoire de l'astronomie moderne''], 1782
* {{note|fn_e| e:}} [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/535639894 ''Lettres sur l'origine des sciences et sur celle des peuples de l'Asie''], 1777
* {{note|fn_f| f:}} [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/2620723 ''Lettres sur l'Atlantide de Platon et sur l'ancienne histoire de l'Asie''], 1779
* {{note|fn_g| g:}} [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/421821411 ''Traite de l'astronomie indienne et orientale''], 1787

===Sources===
* {{Cite encyclopedia | last=Chapin | first=Seymour L. | title=Bailly, Jean-Sylvain | encyclopedia=[[Dictionary of Scientific Biography]] | volume=1 | pages=400–402 | publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons]] | location=New York | date=1970 | isbn=978-0-684-10114-9}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Bailly, Jean Sylvain|volume=3|page=220}}
* {{Cite book|last=Stephens|first=Henry Morse|author-link=Henry Morse Stephens|title=A History of the French Revolution|date=1886|publisher=[[C. Scribner's Sons]]|location= New York|url=https://archive.org/details/ahistoryfrenchr01stepgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/ahistoryfrenchr01stepgoog/page/n97 51]|access-date=1 September 2011}}
* Bailly, J.-S., "Secret Report on Mesmerism or Animal Magnetism", ''International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis'', Vol.50, No.4, (October 2002), pp.&nbsp;364–368. [https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00207140208410110 doi=10.1080/00207140208410110]
* Franklin, B., Majault, M.J., Le Roy, J.B., Sallin, C.L., Bailly, J.-S., d'Arcet, J., de Bory, G., Guillotin, J.-I. & Lavoisier, A., "Report of The Commissioners charged by the King with the Examination of Animal Magnetism", ''International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis'', Vol.50, No.4, (October 2002), pp.&nbsp;332–363. [https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00207140208410109 doi=10.1080/00207140208410109]

===Further reading===
{{Commons category|Jean Sylvain Bailly}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* ''Eloges'' by Merard de Saint Just, Delisle de Salles, [[Jérôme Lalande]] and Lacretelle
* A memoir by [[François Arago]], read on 26 February 1844 before the Académie des Sciences, and published in ''Notices biographiques'', t. ii. (1852)
* Delambre, ''Histoire de l'astronomie au 18<sup>me</sup> siecle'', p.&nbsp;735
* Jérôme Lalande, ''Bibliographie astronomique'', p.&nbsp;730.

==External links==
* [http://digitalcollections.ucsc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p265101coll10/id/1475/rec/1 Portrait of Jean Sylvain Bailly from the Lick Observatory Records Digital Archive, UC Santa Cruz Library's Digital Collections] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414205214/http://digitalcollections.ucsc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p265101coll10/id/1475/rec/1 |date=14 April 2019 }}
* [https://2lib.org/book/12081720/76f542 Lettres sur l'origine des sciences et sur celle des peuples de l'Asie : adressées à M. de Voltaire / par M. Bailly, et précédées de quelques lettres de M. de Voltaire à l'auteur. 1777] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420060653/https://2lib.org/book/12081720/76f542 |date=20 April 2021 }}
* [https://2lib.org/book/12099278/209353 Lettres sur L'Atlantide de Platon et sur l'ancienne histoire de l'Asie, pour servir de suite aux lettres sur l'origine des Sciences, adressées à M. de Voltaire par M. Bailly. 1779] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420060656/https://2lib.org/book/12099278/209353 |date=20 April 2021 }}
* [https://2lib.org/book/12089864/8bcb91 Histoire de l'astronomie ancienne, depuis son origine jusqu'à l'établissement de l'Ecole d'Alexandrie. 1781] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420060654/https://2lib.org/book/12089864/8bcb91 |date=20 April 2021 }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailly, Jean Sylvain}}
[[Category:1736 births]]
[[Category:1793 deaths]]
[[Category:Scientists from Paris]]
[[Category:Members of the National Constituent Assembly (France)]]
[[Category:Mayors of Paris]]
[[Category:18th-century mayors of places in France]]
[[Category:18th-century French astronomers]]
[[Category:French Freemasons]]
[[Category:Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres]]
[[Category:Members of the Académie Française]]
[[Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:French people executed by guillotine during the French Revolution]]