View source for Dominique Joseph Garat

{{Short description|French Basque writer, lawyer, journalist, philosopher and politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox writer
| name         = Dominique-Joseph Garat
| image        = Dominique_Joseph_Garat.JPG
| imagesize    = 
| caption      = Portrait of Garat<br/> ([[Musée de la Révolution française]]) 
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| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1749|9|8|df=yes}} 
| birth_place   = [[Ustaritz]] near [[Bayonne]]
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1833|12|9|1749|9|8|df=yes}} 
| death_place   = Ustaritz near Bayonne
| occupation   = 
| nationality  = French
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| signature    = Dominique GaratSignature.jpg
| website      = 
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}}
'''Dominique Joseph Garat''' (8 September 1749{{snd}}9 December 1833) was a [[French Basque Country|French Basque]] [[writer]], [[lawyer]], [[journalist]], [[philosopher]] and [[politician]].

== Biography ==
Garat was born at [[Bayonne]], in the [[French Basque Country]].  After a good education under the direction of a relation who was a ''curé'', and a period as an advocate at [[Bordeaux]], he came to Paris, where he obtained introductions to the most distinguished writers of the time, and became a contributor to the ''Encyclopedie méthodique'' and the ''[[Mercure de France]]''. He gained a reputation by an ''éloge'' on [[Michel de l'Hôpital]] in 1778, and was afterwards crowned three times by the [[Académie française]] for ''éloges'' on [[Suger]], [[Charles de Sainte-Maure, duc de Montausier|Montausier]] and [[Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle|Fontenelle]]. In 1785 he was named professor of history at the Lycée, where his lectures were as popular as those of [[Jean-François de La Harpe]]{{efn|Encyclopædia Britannica refers to La Harpe as "G. F. LaHarpe", but this clearly refers to Jean-François.}} on literature.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Garat, Dominique Joseph |volume=11 |page=456}}</ref>

Elected as a deputy to the [[Estates-General of 1789|Estates-General]] in 1789, Garat rendered important service to the popular cause by his narrative of the proceedings of the Assembly, in the ''[[Journal de Paris]]''.<ref name="EB1911"/> His elder brother, Dominique (1735–1799), with whom he is sometimes confused, was also a deputy to the states-general.<ref name="EB1911"/> [[Georges Danton]] named him minister of justice in 1792, and in this capacity entrusted to him what he called the ''commission affreuse'' of communicating to King [[Louis XVI]] his sentence of death. In 1793 Garat became minister of the interior, in which position he proved quite inefficient. Though himself uncorrupt, he overlooked the most scandalous corruption in his subordinates, and in spite of a detective service which kept him accurately informed of every movement in the capital, he failed to maintain order.<ref name="EB1911"/>

At last, disgusted with the excesses which he had been unable to control, he resigned on 20 August 1793. On 2 October he was arrested for [[Girondist]] sympathies but soon released, and he escaped further molestation owing to the friendship of [[Paul François Jean Nicolas Barras|Barras]] and, more especially, of [[Maximilien Robespierre|Robespierre]]. On the [[French Revolutionary Calendar|9th Thermidor]], however, he took sides against Robespierre, and on 12 September 1794 he was named by the convention as a member of the executive committee of public instruction.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Last representative of Labourd and Basque autonomist==
He was elected along with his brother Dominique, dubbed ''the Old'', to be representative of [[Labourd]] (Biltzar or Assembly of Ustaritz) in Paris for the third estate on the strength of certain diplomatic gains achieved for Labourd before King [[Louis XVI]]. When French Revolution broke out in Paris, both brothers attended the last Third Estate session turned into National Assembly (1790). He was confronted with traumatic decisions regarding a makeover of the institutional reality in Labourd. Up to that point the Basque province was ruled according to its native, [[Fuero#The end of the fueros|''foral'' system]]. Like the other Basque representatives, he was overwhelmed by the clean sweep proposal for all French administrations, but eventually voted in favour persuaded that it could give him and other Basque representatives a say in future institutional decisions. He was bitterly criticized and even disenfranchised back by the Assembly of Ustaritz for his vote.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bolinaga |first=Iñigo |date=2012 |title=La alternativa Garat |location=Donostia-San Sebastián |publisher=Txertoa |page=44 |isbn=978-84-7148-530-4}}</ref>

In 1790 and 1791, Joseph delivered outstanding addresses in the [[National Assembly (France)|National Assembly]] defending before a hostile audience the Basque particularism and a Basque department. Despite his oratory skills that drew [[Napoleon|Napoleon Bonaparte's]] attention, the assembly passed a new French institutional design for France with a complete disregard to different institutional make-ups or identities, including the Assembly of Labourd (the Biltzar),<ref>Bolinaga, I. 2012, pp. 50-53, 70-71</ref> whose democratic nature Garat defended.

In the following years (1793–1795) reports of over-zeal and abuses committed against the [[History of the Basque people#Revolution and war|Basques]] of Labourd and [[Gipuzkoa]] got to Garat, who received the news with great dismay. The crimes taking place during the period of the [[War of the Pyrenees#Western Pyrenees|War of the Pyrenees]], included mass deportation of civilians and property seizures in Labourd, ordered by the Republican authorities in Bayonne, spearheaded by [[Jean-Baptiste Cavaignac]] and Jacques Pinet, whom Garat despised.<ref>Bolinaga, I. 2012, pp. 86-88</ref>

The senator Garat got in contact with Bonaparte in Paris, and Garat was commissioned by him both during his tenure as First Consul and Emperor with several reports on the institutional make-up, historic roots and economic assets of the [[Basque Country (greater region)|Basque Country]].<ref>Bolinaga, I. 2012, pp. 123-127</ref> Garat went on to elaborate a blueprint for the creation of a cross-border Basque principality attached to France (to be called ''New Phoenicia'',<ref>[[Joxe Azurmendi|Azurmendi, Joxe]] (2020): "Dominique Joseph Garat" in ''Pentsamenduaren historia Euskal Herrian'', Andoain, Jakin. pp. 215, 216, 226-236. ISBN 978-84-949759-0-5.</ref> after the alleged kinship of [[Basque language|Basque]] and Phoenician). This new territory would include two or three districts, namely the present-day [[Basque Autonomous Community]] ("Biscay"), [[Navarre]], and [[French Basque Country]].<ref>Bolinaga, I. 2012, p. 140</ref>

However, the new French Emperor postponed any decision in that direction. The [[Bayonne Statute|Constitution of Bayonne]] signed at the [[Castle of Marracq]] in that town in June 1808 prioritized an understanding with officials in Madrid and included the [[Southern Basque Country]]—''Biscay'' and Navarre—in Spain, but left open the debate over its separate status.

On 5 February 1809, after a plot was discovered to overthrow Bonaparte, Garat was summoned to his presence after the senator's delivery of a speech fraught with flattery to him. Dominique Joseph Garat was actually involved in the conspiracy, but he was not detained, he was required to retreat back into his home town of [[Ustaritz]]. The project of ''New Phoenicia'' was stalled, but as war events in Spain wore on the French Emperor opted for the attachment of all territories between the river [[Ebro]] and the Pyrenees to France (1810), divided into Catalonia, Aragon, Navarre, and [[Basque Country (autonomous community)|Biscay]].<ref>Bolinaga, I. 2012, pp. 225-226</ref> Any institutional alterations to these districts were ultimately overridden by [[Peninsular War|military concerns on the ground]].

After Garat's failure to progress in politics, he showed a deep concern in defending his determined effort to save Basque institutions and identity at all times, going on to write an essay published posthumously in 1869 with a summary of his views on the origins of the Basques, the ''Origines des Basques de France et d'Espagne''.

==Works==
His works include, besides those already mentioned, [https://archive.org/details/considerationssu00gara/page/n3/mode/2up ''Considérations sur la Révolution françoise, et sur la conjuration des puissances de l'Europe, contre la liberté et contre les droits des hommes, ou, Examen de la proclamation des gouverneurs des Pays-Bas''] (1792); ''Mémoire sur la Révolution, ou exposé de ma conduite'' (1795, in 1797 translated as: [https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_memoirs-of-the-revolutio_garat-dominique-joseph-_1797 ''Memoirs of the revolution; or, an apology for my conduct, in the public employments which I have held'']); [https://archive.org/details/mmoireshistoriq04garagoog/page/n4/mode/2up ''Mémoires historiques sur le XVIIIe siècle, et sur M. Suard''. Tome I]; [https://archive.org/details/mmoireshistoriq05garagoog/page/n13/mode/2up Tome II],  [https://archive.org/details/elogefunebredejo00gara ''Eloge funèbre de Joubert, commandant en chef de l'armée d'Italie : prononcé au Champ-de-Mars le 30 fructidor an 7''], [https://archive.org/details/elogefunebredesg00gara/page/n1/mode/2up ''Éloge funèbre des généraux Kléber et Desaix : prononcé le 1er. vendém. an 9, à la place des Victoires'']; several notices of distinguished persons; and a large number of articles in periodicals.<ref name="EB1911"/>
===Further writings===
* 1792 - [https://archive.org/details/discoursdedomini00gara ''Discours de Dominique-Joseph Garat, ministre de la justice, a la Convention nationale'']
* 1793 - [https://archive.org/details/discoursduminist00gara_0 ''Discours du ministre de la justice, prononcé lors de son acceptation du ministère de l'Intérieur, le 15 mars 1793, l'an deuxième de la République'']
* 1799 - [https://archive.org/details/discoursprononce00gara_3 ''Discours prononcé par Garat après la lecture du message sur l'assassinat des ministres à Rastadt. Séance du 16 floréal an 7'']
* 1799 [https://archive.org/details/rapportfaitparga00gara_1 ''Rapport fait par Garat sur la résolution du 29 prairial an 7, relative aux délits de la presse. Séance du 23 messidor an 7'']
* 1862 - [https://archive.org/details/mmoiresdegarat00garagoog/page/n11/mode/2up ''Mémoires de Garat'']
* 1869 - [https://archive.org/details/originesdesbasq01garagoog/page/n8/mode/2up ''Origines des Basques de France et d'Espagne'']

==See also==
*[[Les Neuf Sœurs]]
*[[End of Basque home rule in France]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Ministers of the French National Convention}}{{Minister of Justice (France)}}{{Académie française Seat 34}}
{{Authority control}}

==External links==
* Article about a Garat's unpublished work of 1811: [http://artxiker.ccsd.cnrs.fr/docs/00/29/17/34/PDF/11_2006_art5.pdf «D.-J. Garat et le projet de “La Nouvelle Phénicie”» (2006)]

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{{succession box|title=[[Minister of Justice (France)|Minister of Justice]]|before=[[Georges Jacques Danton]]|after=[[Louis Gohier]]|years=1792–1793}}
{{succession box
  |title=[[List of Interior Ministers of France|Minister of the Interior]]
  |before=[[Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière]]
  |after=[[Jules-François Paré]]
  |years=23 January 1793{{snd}}20 August 1793
}}
{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garat, Dominique Joseph}}
[[Category:1749 births]]
[[Category:1833 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Bayonne]]
[[Category:People from Labourd (province)]]
[[Category:Expelled members of the Académie Française]]
[[Category:French Basque politicians]]
[[Category:Members of the Sénat conservateur]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Senate (France)]]
[[Category:Members of the Chamber of Representatives (France)]]
[[Category:Ministers of justice of France]]
[[Category:French interior ministers]]
[[Category:Members of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques]]
[[Category:Members of the Council of Ancients]]
[[Category:18th-century French writers]]
[[Category:18th-century French male writers]]
[[Category:19th-century French writers]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Legion of Honour]]