Francois Antoine de Boissy D'Anglas, a French statesman, born at St. Jean Chambre, Dec. 8, 1756, died in Paris, Oct. 20, 1826. His family were Protestant, and had destined him to the bar; but having purchased the place of steward to the count of Provence, afterward Louis XVIII, he devoted his leisure to literary pursuits. He was chosen a member of the states general and of the convention. In the latter he for the most part sided with the Girondists. He voted for the trial of Louis XVI., for his captivity, and for his deportation, and, when extreme measures were determined upon, for an appeal to the people in his behalf, and for the postponement of his execution. These evidences of moderation rendered him obnoxious to the committee of public safety, and throughout the reign of terror he kept himself in the background; but on the downfall of Robespierre he reappeared at the tribune. He was chosen secretary of the convention, Oct. 7, 1794, and two months later a member of the committee of public safety. While superintending the provisioning of Paris, he was denounced by the populace as having caused the scarcity of bread which prevailed. In the dreadful insurrections of April 1 and May 20, 1795, his situation was exceedingly difficult and dangerous, yet he acted with firmness and judgment.

He presided over the tumultuous deliberations of the convention with like intrepidity. After the convention passed away, he was a member of the council of 500, and subsequently president. Being hostile to the directory, he he was accused, Sept. 5, 1797, of corresponding with the royalist club of Clichy, and condemned to deportation. For two years he was concealed, but at last surrendered himself a prisoner at the island of Oleron. Bonaparte released him, and in 1800 named him to the tribunate, where he was chosen president in 1803. The following year he became a member of the senate, with the title of count. On the restoration of the Bourbons in 1814, he gave in his adhesion to the new government, and was made a peer of France. He was the author of an Essai sur la vie, les ecrits et les opinions de M. de Malesherbes (2 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1819-21), and of Etudes litteraires et poetiques oVun vieillard (5 vols. 12mo, 1825).