page_title: Georges René Le Peley de Pléville
section_title: Under the French Revolution
hierarchical_section_title: Georges René Le Peley de Pléville / Life / Under the French Revolution
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Serge Santucci: Hommage à Pleville Le Pelley ou Le Corsaire, statue en pied (après 2001), bronze, sur socle de granit, Granville, Manche, France. Georges-René Péville Le Pelley fut corsaire, puis Gouverneur du port de Marseille, amiral, ministre de la Marine et des Colonies, sénateur. Cette oeuvre remplace une statue précédente, disparue, de Jean Magrou, qui avait été érigée en 1907.
context_page_description: Georges-René Le Peley de Pléville was the governor of the port of Marseilles, a French admiral, minister for the navy and the colonies from 15 July 1797 to 27 April 1798, a senator, a knight of the Order of St Louis and the Order of Cincinnatus, and one of the very first Grand officiers of the Légion d'honneur.
context_section_description: He adopted the principles of the French Revolution, as did most of the officers who had served in America, but in moderation.  He was the treasurer of a revolutionaries' club at Marseilles.  He sailed to Avignon, where he disembarked, sabre in hand, to receive his orders.  During the Reign of Terror, he was sent to take command of a division charged with escorting a resupply convoy to Tunis that had not yet got through, replacing Jean Gaspard Vence after he was accused of treason.  On arrival, he realised that Vence was really in difficulties and had not failed in his duty in the slightest.  Ignoring his orders, he kept Vence in his command and simply offered him his help.  This brought de Pléville some difficulties with the authorities, but thanks to him Vence's reputation would be fully rescued.
  He fulfilled the functions of a Minister of the Navy for two years, and then reorganised the naval forces at Ancona and Corfu.  He, Letourneur and Maret were the three plenipotentiaries sent to Lille in summer 1797 for (fruitless) peace negotiations with Britain.  During his stay in Lille, on 19 July 1797, the Directory named him Minister of the Navy and the Colonies, to replace Admiral Laurent Truguet.  Also in 1797 he was made a rear admiral.
  As minister, he was once again remarked upon for his unselfishness, honesty and scrupulousness in a regime particularly marked by general corruption among the political and administrative elites.  He was made vice admiral in April 1798, but dismissed from the ministry due to his disapproval of the expedition to Egypt, for which he was convinced the navy did not have the means.  He was vindicated in this by the fleet's disastrous defeat by Nelson at the battle of Aboukir Bay.
  At the age of 72, he commanded the French naval forces in the Mediterranean for a short while, then retired to Paris.  The Consulate named him a senator in 1799, and the Empire brought him the honour of commander of the Légion d’honneur on its creation, though he died soon after the honour was bestowed.
caption: Statue of de Pléville at Granville
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